DIY: Picnic Placemat

I had so much fun making picnic placemats for my friend's birthday. I couldn't find a pattern in any of my sewing books, so I decided to wing it. The process was very simple (even though I was going to initially make eight of them and decided to make two...).

First, I cut two pieces of fabric for each component:

• 2 pieces of 16" x 22" for for the placemats (canvass material from IKEA)
• 2 pieces of 6" x 6" for the napkin/knife pocket
• 2 pieces of 4.5" x 6" for the fork/spoon pocket
• 2 pieces for the napkin

I followed the same steps for sewing everything:

1. Put right-side of fabric to right-side and sew almost around the entire area.
2. Clip the corners in a diagonal to make the corners more crisp when you flip it.
3. Flip everything right-side out.
4. Iron.
5. Fold the remaining hole in place and iron.
6. Sew around the top of the fabric to close up the hole and produce a nice finish.

First I did the place mat pieces (and I put two pieces of ribbon inside the two pieces of fabric before I sewed it shut to create the ties).

Next I cut a piece of quilt batting to size and fit it inside each placemat.

I sewed everything shut.

Then I sewed on each of the pockets, which helped to quilt the fabric and batting into place. I sewed a line down the center of each pocket to make a divider for the cutlery and napkin.

Finally, I made the napkin following the same steps above.

The process was fairly painless. I do wish I would have picked a better ribbon. The little flowers on mine make it hard to tie it smoothly.

I've also seen something similar done with sushi mats, which is a cute option, too!