This tutorial is unique because the project used pre-quilted fabric with 1/8" batting. The quilting is a diamond shape and is stitched every 1". Okay. Here we go!
What You'll Need*:
- Fabric for the body of your place mats (one kind if you're using pre-quilted, two kinds if you're making your quilted place mats.
- Fabric for the ruffles.
- Fabric for the binding (can be the same or different from the fabric for the ruffles).
- Matching thread (or contrasting thread just to shake things up).
- Sewing machine.
- Serger (optional).
Step 1: PREWASH ALL FABRICS BEFORE CUTTING to reduce shrinkage.
Step 2: Cut
Decide the shape and size of the placemats you want to make, and cut them out. I used an old, oval-shaped place mat that was provided to me by the person who wanted these new ones. I traced around it on the pre-quilted fabric using a chalk.
Because I used pre-quilted fabric, I only had to cut one piece (or body) for each place mat. Note: If you're using regular fabric, you'll have to cut three pieces; one top, one batting, and one bottom. Once you have your three pieces cut out, sandwich the batting between the top and bottom pieces and quilt it to create a body. Using the pre-quilted stuff saves a lot of cutting (and quilting) time.
Step 3: Measure
Once you have all your bodies cut out (and quilted for all you go-get-'em kind of folks out there), measure the perimeter of the place mat. Mine came out to be about 54". I bought 4 yards of 45" fabric to make ruffles AND binding from.
And this is the math my husband did for me to help figure out how many strips of fabric I would need to cut out to make all those ruffles and bindings. If you don't have a resident engineer, this might be tough. If that's the case, you're on your own.
** Edit ** Technically, I did this part wrong. Instead of cutting the binding strips on the straight grain, I SHOULD have cut them on the bias (45 degrees from the selvage). This would have made attaching them to the body of the placemats a ton easier because they go around the curves better. So make sure you calculate in that you'll be cutting on the bias (and joining strips as necessary).
Except this time, it's for the ruffles AND binding. My ruffle strips were cut 2" wide, folded in half to make a 1" ruffle, that ultimately made a 1/2" ruffle - I hope that makes sense. My binding strips were cut 1" wide to ultimately make binding that ultimately came out to be about a1/4", give or take. And because I had to fold my fabric a couple of times to get it to fit on my self-healing mat, I ended up having to sew the ends of some of the strips together to make sure they were long enough to go around one or two place mats. By the way, using an aluminum yard ruler and rotary cutter help me cut straight - HUGE advantage!
**TIP** Using painters tape to hold fabric once you have it squared - one of its many uses!
Step 5: Make Ruffles
I folded my 2" strips of fabric in half with wrong sides together and used my sewing machine's ruffle foot accessory to make perfect ruffles. If you don't have a ruffle foot, you'll have to make your ruffles another way. You can also buy a generic ruffler foot attachment like this one. Remember, adjusting your upper thread tension and stitch length both factor in when making ruffles. Higher tension=more ruffles, Longer stitch = bigger ruffles.
To make my ruffles, I basted about 1/4" from the raw edge of the fabric.
Step 6: Add First Binding Strip to Ruffle
Once the ruffles are prepared, it's time to sew on the 1" strips of fabric that will make the binding. I lined up one edge of the binding strip (right sides together) with the seam I sewed when making the ruffle and then sewed another 1/4" in from the edge of the 1" strip.
Step 7: Add Second Binding Strip to Ruffle
Because the fabric I used could potentially dangerously ravel and effect the application of the ruffled binding, I decided to use my serger for this step, but you could use your sewing machine and stitch the second strip on the same way you did the first. And if you're REALLY good, you could sew both strips on at the same time (which I'm not skilled or coordinated enough to master).
Step 8: Pressing (Not Ironing)
I recently learned that there's actually a difference between these two things and discovered that pressing is exactly what you want to do with this binding. If you don't press, the binding can wrinkle, iron unevenly, and bend in ways you don't want it to. Fold the strips on each side like a single binding, with one side 1/8" wider than the other and press.
Step 9: Apply Binding
To apply the binding, work with the body of the place mat right side up. Wrap the binding around the edge with the wider side beneath. You can either pin the binding in place before sewing, or sew as you go. I chose option two. Make sure to leave 1" to 3" unstitched at the beginning of the binding so you can close it.
Topstitch close the inside edge of the binding (you will catch the other side since it's wider than the front) to within 1" to 2" of the starting point. Cut excess binding at the free end so that it overlaps the the starting end by enough to fold under. ***You may have to take some of the stitching out of the ends to fold them together.
Step 10: Closing Binding
Slipstitch around the fold, then topstitch to connect the topstitch lines on each side. Pull loose top stitch threads through to the back of the place mat and tie off.
If you choose to have a second topstitch like I did just to make sure everything is secure, now's the time. Pull loose topstitch threads through to the back of the placemat and tie off.
Step 12: Tie Up Loose Ends
Cut any loose threads and remove any visible basting that you may have.
Viola!! You're done. If you have any questions, or want to leave any comments, please do! This is my first tutorial, so please let me know if I've done a good job or what can be improved.
Thanks for reading!
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Thank you so much for this tutorial! I am going to give it a try.
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