Place Mat Party!

This Monday, the Girls Team decided to sew place mats to brush up on our sewing skills! It had been a while since my mom worked on a sewing project, and I was starting from square one!


First, we chose our fabric - 2 1/2 yards of decorator's fabric for the top piece, and 2 1/2 yards of cotton fabric for the backing. Adding to the excitement of selecting our fabric was the fact that we were able to use coupons at Joann's and get the prices down a bit. After washing and ironing the fabric, we were ready to cut!

The amount of fabric we purchased was for 8 place mats. So we cut 16 (21 in. by 13 in.) rectangles, 8 in the decorator's fabric, and 8 in our backing fabric. The Girls Team forgot how much math was involved with sewing, so the cutting step took a bit longer than we had planned. 

After cutting our fabric, it was time to pin! The place mats need to be sewn inside out, so we pinned the backing fabric onto the front side of the top fabric. 

Let the sewing begin! The Girls Team is lucky enough to have two sewing machines, so we could each work at our own pace without holding the other team member back. 

The seam ripper made quite a few appearances :)

After sewing three sides together, we left a 3 in. open space on the fourth side. This is where we would flip the place mat so it was no longer inside out. At first I was having a hard time with this because I was nervous I would accidentally rip the seams out...

But my mom taught me to be more aggressive with the fabric and to use a chopstick to help poke out all of the corners. Clever! 

The next step to this project was to sew the 3 in. opening closed by hand. There are no pictures of this process because we were busy sewing, and I was busy becoming frustrated. Did I mention I am a novice sewer? My other Girls Team member helped me out and hand sewed some of my place mats. Teamwork! 

My mom ironed her place mats before sewing the 3 in. opening closed which I think I would do next time. My place mats were a little more "fluffy" that hers, and I liked how flat and formal hers turned out in comparison. 

To make the place mats appear more finished, we sewed around the edges (3/4 in.) of our mats. Before I started this finishing seam, I ironed my place mats, but like I said, I think this step would have been more effective if I had ironed one step earlier. So, let's have my mom demonstrate this:

Three nights later, we had 16 finished place mats! Quality takes some time, so we can't always completely Make It Happen on Monday nights alone :)

My finished place mat:

My mom's finished place mat: 

Both Girls Team members really enjoyed this project. My mom has far more sewing experience than I do (her portfolio includes most of my awesome childhood Halloween costumes) so this was a great project for her to guide me through the basics, as she simultaneously brushed up her skills. 

If we were to make these place mats again, we would also use decorator's fabric for the backing. The thinner fabrics were a little tougher to keep in line and sew, and since we plan to wash these mats after using them, the decorator's fabric seems like it would hold up a bit better after frequent washing.

I like to think a MIHM project is successful if, after finishing it, I want to make the craft again in the future. And this week's projects fits that criteria for success! I would make these place mats again as gifts, and now that I have the basics covered, I am interested in branching out and seeing what else I can sew. My mom and I have some ideas up our sleeves, so stay tuned for more sewing projects from the Girls Team! 

P.S. Happy St. Patrick's Day! We're celebrating by snacking on special Irish Bread :)