Circle Placemat Tutorial with Baby Lock Victory

This Thanksgiving was extra special for our family. Both of our sons got married in the past two years and our daughter is engaged to be married next year. All eight of us were going to have Thanksgiving dinner together. We also invited a couple missionaries over to have dinner with us. I am usually a bit more casual about our Thanksgiving dining, but I wanted to set the table for this occasion. I had a few days to prepare, and I decided to make 10 placemats. Shopping and cooking for Thanksgiving sounds busy enough and sewing placemats may sound crazy, maybe I am crazy, but it really wasn't that bad! Using my Baby Lock serger Victory made the process so easy and quick. I will share what I did.

* You Will Need (10 pieces of 15" diameter placemats)

Fabric for the front - about 2 yards
Fabric for the back - about 2 yards
Stiff interfacing - about 2 yards
Threads that matches the fabric

* How to
1. Iron both fabrics to ensure that the fabrics are wrinkle free and smooth. The finished project will look much better. I used a 15" diameter placemat. I had to trace 10 circles on one fabric.

2. Cut them out. It was kind of satisfying to see all the circles on the table. At this stage, they look nothing more than a bunch of wheat tortillas. Ha ha!

3. Lay the circle fabric onto the fusible interfacing and fuse them together with an iron. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for this process. Repeat the process with all the fabrics.

4. Lay the circles you have created on step 3 onto the back fabric. Make sure to smooth out any wrinkles when you are doing this process. Cut around the edge. Now you have three layers to create a placemat.

5. Now for the exciting part! I did three thread overlock-narrow 3.5 length / 3 width and serged all around the circle. Hide the end of the thread by threading through stitches for a clean finish.

It took me about 2 - 3 hours to sew all of them. Then I got to set the table for the feast.

I like things that are versatile and these placemats are definitely that. I fully intend to use them for Christmas dinner as well. Just switching some decorations, Voila! The table is set for Christmas.

There are other ways to sew placemats for sure, but I love how using my Baby Lock Serger Victory made the process so quick and easy. The next big Holiday after Christmas is Valentine's Day. Hmmm Red Placemats might be fun to have...