In this article I will show you how to make quilted placemats using either one twelve-inch quilt block or two nine-inch quilt blocks.
For my first placemat I made a twelve-inch quilt block using my Wine for Two quilt block pattern. Then I cut two one-and-a-half-inch strips to sew on both sides. This makes a twelve by sixteen-inch placemat. Standard placemats are twelve by eighteen, however for smaller tables, twelve by sixteen is quite acceptable. If I wanted to make the placemat eighteen inches wide, I could have added another one-and-a-half-inch strip of a different fabric to each side or I could have increased the size of the strips to two inches wide.
Next layer your placemat just like you would for a quilt with the front, batting, and backing. Then quilt the placemat and bind it. The placemat is complete.
For the second placemat, I made two nine-inch quilt blocks using my Music Note quilt block pattern. I sewed these blocks together and they are now the right width for my placemat, however I need some more height. To make my placemat twelve by eighteen inches, I need to sew two-inch strips to the top and bottom of the quilt blocks.
Finish the placemat by layering it, quilting, and binding. For small projects like this, I like to use a binding with mitered corners.
To make the binding, cut strips on the bias. My binding for this project is thin, so I cut my strips to 1 3/8 inch.
Sew the strips together and press the seams open. You will want the strips to measure about six to twelve inches longer than the total perimeter of the placemat.
Pin up the binding on one side starting about a third of the way from the edge. Make sure to leave a few inches of binding loose at the starting point. Determine what size seam you are sewing and sew until the end minus that amount. I sewed my binding slightly over a quarter of an inch. It was probably about 5/16 inch.
When you get to the end of the first side, fold the binding up so it makes a forty-five-degree angle and press. Then fold it down so the fold is in line with the first side sewn,and pin it up along the second side. Sew this just like you did the first side. Repeat until you are back to the first side.
Once you are back to the first side, trim the binding strips so they overlap by half an inch. This will allot for the quarter-inch seam allowance. Sew the strips together and press open. Then sew this to the placemat. Turn the binding over onto the back and sew by hand. the placemat is finished.
