How to Make Placemats
While dining, an empty, plain table is never tempting or inviting. Which is why, we lay the table with beautiful placemats that match the dinnerware. This way, even if you're having a non-social, private lunch or dinner, you can still make it special. Keeping this in mind, many people shop for attractive placemats that will go with the dcor of their dining area and the dinnerware they have. Although sometimes, if you want placemats that are more on the attractive side, rather than just for daily use, your table decoration plans can get expensive. So to avoid that dilemma, you can learn how to make placemats at home. But before we begin, first things first - how big is your table? Does it seat 2, 4, 6 or more people? Whether you're looking to make table placemats for 2 or 10, once you learn to make the first placemat, it's all downhill from there.
Placemats for Kids
When kids are bored and would like to do something fun, or perhaps they have some art and crafts project at school, learning how to make table placemats from cloth can be very interesting. With simple material, see how kids can easily make these table placemats.
Step 1 - Let's gather the material you'll require - plain white vinyl placemats, scissors, markers, glue stick, clear contact paper, and 8'' 11'' white papers. You can use stick-on alphabet letters to decorate the placemats or have the kids draw something on the white papers. The kids can also stick cutouts from magazines (nature and animals) to glue on their placemats. This way, you will have a collection of various placemats. The choices are endless.
Step 2 - If you're using magazine cutouts, help the kids cut the pictures. You will arrange these pictures on the vinyl placemats; don't glue them yet. When the design and arrangement of the pictures are perfect, use the glue to stick them in place. Here, you can also stick alphabet letters (most common is the kids' names).
Step 3 - Another variation is to draw some images using markers or crayons on the white papers. Whether it's their favorite cartoon character, animals, or even a family portrait, the placemats will come out amazing.
Step 4 - After you have glued the picture or drawing on the vinyl placemat, leave it aside to dry for few hours. Next, you will measure the clear contact paper to cover the original placemat. Here, make sure you take clear contact paper a size smaller than the original mat. It would be ideal if you left about '' of space on all 4 sides.
Step 5 - All there's left to do is wipe the placemat properly and place it on the table. With different images, pictures, or alphabet letters (one for each family member), you can decorate your table with style.
Quilted Placemats
When you wish to make personalized placemats, what's the first thing that comes to mind? I usually like quilted mats on my dining table. They are attractive, creatively made, and can be used at several occasions. You may have apprehensions towards quilting, but the following steps might just change your views. Take a look.
Step 1 - Let's gather the materials you'll require - yard cotton fabric (for top placemat layer and cotton backing fabric each), batting piece, threads matching the top fabric, sewing machine, safety pins, sewing pins, and iron. Now we will begin the steps on how placemats are made.
Step 2 - First, wash all the fabric in washing machine and iron them properly. When you are ready, cut rectangular-shaped pieces of the cotton fabric for top layer and the batting piece. Make sure they are 12'' 18'' in size; keep the pieces on the side. Next cut rectangular-shaped, 13'' 19'' backing fabric.
Step 3 - The backing fabric goes on your workstation first. Keep it facing down. On top of the backing fabric, place the batting piece. Make sure that the pieces are placed properly. And in the end, you will place the top cotton fabric piece. This piece needs to be kept facing up (which means, the design will face you).
Step 4 - Now comes the sewing part. You can either sew all the sides of the placemat by hand or with the sewing machine. Use safety pins to secure the middle and all four sides before you begin to sew. To sew the sides, you need to start from the seams and sew the top and backing fabric to the batting piece. When you sew both fabric to the batting piece, make sure you don't sew it through completely. The top fabric gets sewed to the batting piece and the backing fabric gets sewed to the batting piece.
Step 5 - Along with the 2 fabrics on each side of the placemat, you can also sew strips of different pieces and sew them in various patterns and shapes. As you move along with stitching, keep removing the safety pins as well. In the end, all you need to do is iron the placemat and begin with another.
These were some simple steps and tips on how placemats are made. Besides the easy to make placemats we discussed above, you can easily add your own creativity and come up with personalized placemats for your table. Design and color code them as per festivals and holidays, and you've got yourself covered for the entire year with a fantastic table decorating idea. It's a fun project for kids as well as adults.
