My Creative Space :: A Simple Placemat How-To

Since fixing up the table I have become a bit, how shall I put it, attentive to avoiding spills and stains from messing up all of that hard work.

As I noticed myself crying "don't spill anything on the table" way too many times, I came up with the answer to protecting my newly sanded tabletop from inevitable splashes and smudges from little hands: Placemats. Too simple. Who woulda thunk it?

In my recent cleaning-out of cupboards in preparation for our upcoming move, I also re-discovered this retro cotton fabric I'd stashed away for exactly this purpose and sewed up half-a-dozen of these little placemats. They are made of light-weight cotton, just backed with calico, no batting in between and can be thrown in the wash as needed and are dry again in to time at all.

The kids like them and use them and the table stays unstained. Win!

Here's how I made these simple fabric placemats:

1.Cut out 2 pieces of fabric. I traced around a baking dish as a template for the shape and size.

2. Right sides facing together, sew your two pieces together, leaving a gap to turn inside-out.

3. Turn right side out, press with and iron and pin closed the gap.

4. Sew along the very outer edge to start with, closing the gap as you go, then just keep sewing in a spiral until you get to the centre. You can use a contrasting thread if you like, to make a feature of the spiral.


5. You're done! the placemate will be lightly quilted, but thin enough to dry out quickly.

This is how they look on the reverse side.

I'd love to hear about it if you have a go at these.

More creative spaces over at http://www.kootoyoo.com/

x