STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE

How to make a padded placemat

Placemats are on the list of useful items that everybody needs at some time, whether it's to protect a polished wooden surface or to add colour to a table setting. This fab guide to making your own is from Cath Kidston's new book Sew! Use fabric that co-ordinates with your cutlery, crockery and glassware and make mealtimes fun.

How to make a padded placemat

You will need:

  • 35 x 85cm laundered cotton duck fabric
  • 30 x 40cm pre-shrunk cotton wadding
  • Matching sewing thread
  • Sewing kit
  • Ruler
  • Sewing machine

    1. Cut out your fabric
    Cut two 30 x 80cm rectangles from the cotton duck fabric, making sure the lengthwise grain of the fabric is on the vertical. You will also need to cut out one rectangle measuring 30 x 80cm from the wadding. Then trim this by 12mm on one long side and one short side.

    2. Mark & pin your rectangles
    Use a fading pen and a ruler to mark a rectangle, 5cm in from the edge, on the right side of the front panel. Pin the padding to the wrong side of this panel, centring it so that there is a 5mm margin all round. Tack it in place.

    3. Pin the back to the front
    Now pin the back panel to the front panel with right sides facing, so that the front panel is sandwiched between the padding and the back.

    4. Stitch it all together
    Machine stitch the three layers of fabric and padding together, leaving a 20cm gap along the centre of the bottom edge. Sew 5mm from the edge, so that the stitches run just outside the edge of the wadding.

    5. Turn it inside out
    Press back the seam allowance along each side of the opening, clip the corners and turn the placemat right sides out through the gap. Tack the opening, making sure the seam allowances lie flat, and slip stitch to close.

    5. Top stitch to finish
    Machine stitch along the marked line on the front using thread to match or contrast with the main fabric. Finish off with a round of top stitch, 3mm from the outside edge.

    Adapated from Sew! by Cath Kidston, £14.99, Quadrille.

    • Related sections: Country , Craft projects

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