Since I first posted my original Patio Placemat Tutorial back in 2012, it's received almost 80,000 page views, making it the fourth most popular tutorial on my blog. (The Ellie Travel Case comes in first place, followed by the Malibu Satchel and then the Pixie Basket, for those of you who were wondering! See below for more details...*) When Riley Blake asked me to design a placemat panel to go with the Shortcake collection, I thought it would be fun to create one that could be used with that original tutorial.
The result is a fun panel, available in 2 colorways, that can be used in 3 ways:
1. Make 4 standard placemats with a simple front and back. The rectangles on the panel are your placemat fronts, and all you need are some batting and backing fabric to sew them up.
2. Make 2 pocket placemats. These include a pocket for the plate and silverware -- really handy for breezy days on the patio so that your paper and plastic tableware doesn't blow away! Pick 2 of the panel rectangles to be the pockets and 2 to be the placemat fronts. You'll add batting and backing fabric to finish them.
3. Use the panel as a pattern sampler. There are 5 extra prints on here along with 8 retro fruit crate label squares, just perfect for fussy cutting a sweet little project of your own design!
Directions are included on the panel for both types of placemats, but I thought I would do a post on here using the fabric so that you can have a step-by-step visual to help you along the way. Here's how you make one pocket version of the Patio Placemat:
1. Cut out the 2 rectangles of your choice -- 1 for the pocket and 1 for the placemat front. Seam allowance is included, but sometimes shapes can get a little wonky when they're printed. Don't worry if the rectangle is skewed slightly by 1/8" or so. You need a rectangle that measures 11" x 18". If there's a bit of white along the edges, that will get caught up in the seam allowance and won't show in the end, so don't worry about it!
2. Fold the pocket rectangle in half lengthwise with the wrong sides of the fabric together. Topstitch 1/8" below the fold.
3. Use adhesive basting spray to fuse the wrong side of your placemat front rectangle to an 11" x 18" batting rectangle. (Pins or binding clips will work too, but the spray is so quick and easy!)
4. Place the pocket piece on top of the placemat front along the lower edge. Baste in place along the right, lower, and left edges of the pocket to hold it in place.
5. Measure a line on the pocket 5" from the right edge and sew down that line, backstitching at the start and finish. This will divide your pocket into two sections -- one for the plate and one for the silverware.
6. Cut out a 11" x 18" rectangle from another piece of backing fabric and use pins or binding clips to hold it right sides together with your placemat front.
7. Stitch 1/4" from the edge all around the outside of the placemat, backstitching at the start and finish, but leave a 4" gap in the lower edge for turning. Trim the corners and any loose threads.
8. Turn the mat right side out through the gap int he lower edge, gently pushing out the corners and edges with a knitting needle.
9. Tuck the raw edges inside the gap in the lower edge, give the whole mat a good pressing, and then topstitch 1/8" from the edge all around the mat to finish.
That's it! To make a standard placemat, just follow the directions above but eliminate the pocket. The wonderful thing about this project is that it's so quick. You can easily make yourself a set of placemats in an hour or less, and these are just the thing for summer picnics and patio parties. If you sew with the panel or any of the other prints, be sure to share photos with me with the tag #shortcakefabric and @fabricmutt. I would love to see how you're sewing with Shortcake!
* For those of you who may have viewed this post before I edited the stats, I had my numbers mixed up the first time around -- sorry about that. The official count of page views for the top four posts on Fabric Mutt (as it stands at the writing of this post) is:
1. Ellie Travel Case Tutorial - 201,021
2. Malibu Satchel Tutorial - 121,505
3. The Pixie Basket Tutorial - 84,963
4. Patio Place Mat Tutorial - 79,891
Nothing makes me happier than knowing that you're all using and enjoying these tutorials that I write for you. It absolutely makes my day!
What a great idea with this pocket placemat tutorial! Love your fabric and how you have designed a placemat panel within it. Thank you for sharing this tutorial Heidi!
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