DIY Placemats for the Holidays Personalize for your Guest! ♥ Fleece Fun

Holiday Sewing Project: These DIY Placemats for the holidays are the perfect addition to your tablescape. Made with lots of different coordinating fabrics this can also be a great scrap buster as well!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.

This year I’m hosting Christmas Eve for my family. That means dinner, our traditional talent show, and all around Christmas cheer! To add to the decor I’ve come up with these cute DIY Placemats that have Christmas Presents on them. I can individualize each place setting with a personalized tag for each guest! The best part is the tags are removable so the placemats can be used year after year for different guests.
There are so many wonderful Christmas themed fabric collections this time of year, and this project is a great way to showcase them. Also if you have some Christmas fabric leftover from a project this is a great way to use up the rest of the fabric!

The same goes for the vinyl in this project. Use the placment feature in the Dricut Design app to use up HTV scraps that are used for the bows on the DIY placemat.

For this project you will need:

Cricut Maker

Rotary blade for the Maker

Fine Point Blade for the Maker

Rotary Blade. Ruler and Mat

This Project File in Cricut Design Space

Iron On (In Four colors – some of these variety packs work great)

EasyPress Mini

EasyPress 6 x 7 or larger

EasyPress Mat

12 x 24 Fabric Mat

12 x 12 Standard Grip Mat

Christmas Fabric in 4 Varieties (This project is designed to work with Fat Quarters – I used this pack)

1 1/2 Yards plain white fabric for the background and backing

2/3 yard Cotton low loft quilt Backing (like this one)

Thread

1 yard Ribbon

Sewing Essentials ( Sewing Machine, pins, etc.)

Step 1 – Cut out all of the Elements for the Placemat

Project Yields 4 Placemats.

Using the file I have ready to go in Design Space cut out the elements.

You will need to prep 4 sheets of white fabric.

Four sheets of Christmas fabric. Note: The Rectangle will be a little shorter than 24″, but pattern is made so it can be cut out using the shorter fabric. Just be sure to line it up properly on mat.

While you’re cutting out fabric, cut 4 rectangles that are 12″ by 18″, and four rectangles from the low loft batting that are also 12″ by 18″

Using the Cricut Maker with the Rotary Blade, cut out the fabric elements.

Switch to the Fine Point blade and Cut out the iron on elements. Weed the iron on elements and set aside.

Step 2 – Begin Assembly of the front of the Placemat

Organization with this project is important. Set the “Tags” aside, we’ll get to those in a little bit.

Place all the elements in each pile so you can keep them straight. (Tip: I like to use a clean cookie sheet to lay out pieces on and to keep them from getting wrinkled/lost).

Refer to the picture in Design Space to help you see where all the pieces go.

Mix the Christmas fabric so you can get a nice assortment of colors for each mat. For the silverware pocket (the present on the right) there should be two rectangles. I’ve given each element a number so you can refer to this picture to see what I’m talking about. Let’s get sewing!

Step 3 – Start to sew the Christmas Placemat

All seam allowances are 1/4 inch unless otherwise stated.

Start by sewing rectangle 1 to the left side of rectangle 2.

Press towards the darker fabric. By the way I love using the EasyPress mini for pressing seams – it’s perfect.

Next sew the block you just made to white fabric #3. Press the seam.

Now Sew the 4 ( the large middle present) to 5 ( the white fabric above it). Press the seam.

Now it’s time to make the silverware pocket.

Take fabric 7 and 8 and with right side together sew around 3 sides of the fabric.

Clip the corners turn right side out and press. Set aside for a moment.

Now it’s time to sew each of the columns we made together. Take column 1 (blocks 1,2 and 3) and sew them to column two (blocks 4 and 5) right sides together (see photo). Press.

Now it’s time to add the pocket. Line up the bottom of the pocket with the bottom of the column 2 ( blocks 4 and 5) with the raw edge on the right ( so it is sewn into the seam) place block 6 on top lining it up with the top and bottom, making a “sandwich” with the pocket in the middle. Sew. Press.

Last, let’s sew the long strip (9) to the bottom of all the columns

That’s the front of the Placemat all sewn!

Step 4 – Add the Iron on to the front

I found that this is the easiest time to add the Iron On. Refer to the design space file for the placement of each bow. Using your EasyPress and mat add the bows to the presents.

Step 5 – Quilt the Placemat

Now it’s time to add the back and the batting to the placemat! Now there are different ways to finish the mat, and this is the way I chose to.

Make a placemat sandwich. Place the placemat backing so it’s right side up, then place the front of the placemat (right side down – so right sides are touching), then place the batting on top.

Pin, and sew using a 1/2 seam allowance, leaving a 3-4″ gap for turning. Trim the seam allowance down to 1/4 inch.

Clip the corners and turn right side out.

Tuck the fabric from the turning gap in, pin and top stitch around the edge, sewing the turning gap shut. Quilt as desired ( I just stitched int eh ditch around the presents). Sew the right side of the pocket down by top stitching along the edge.