Christmas Decor

11/30/12...After 5 long years of not feeling up to do anything festive, I am decorating for the Holidays. It is so much fun! I'm making some things and buying others.

I started decorating my dining table and noticed it was lacking something. I cannot find place mats, napkin rings or napkins that I like. What to do? Make my own! Of course! I have no pattern, but how hard could it be?


I start by creating a paper pattern for the place mats. I make it a long octagon shape. I had to use 2 sheets of printer paper and tape them together, to get the size I want.


I'll use bright red, sparkling fabric and deep green lace to add as a border.


I Start by pinning my pattern onto my red fabric. I'll make 4 place mats, so I'll make 8 pieces. I'll add batting and quilt it with gold thread, for a more polished look.


I cut out 4 pieces from my batting.


Keeping my right sides out, I pin one piece of batting between two pieces of my fabric.


I sew a 3/8 inch seam around each place mat.


I trim each seam allowance, close to the seam, with my pinking shears. This will help prevent any fraying.


I really want to quilt them, but I'll do it on my machine, to make it easier and faster. I use my Dritz pen and ruler to mark diagonal lines.


I mark them in the opposite direction to kind of make it look like diamond tuck. Now, they're ready to quilt.


I had planned on using gold thread that I already had. The more I looked at it, the less I wanted to use it. I made a quick trip to JoAnn's. I bought some shiny green. I think I'll like it better. Instead of a straight stitch, I decide on a decorative, scalloped stitch. It is for a festive place mat, after all. If it were for every day, I would probably make it more plain. Or not! Muhahaha I begin the LONG process of sewing my lines. It takes a long time, because there are a ton of stitches to get the scalloped effect.


One down, three more to go.






All four 'quilted' and ready for trim. I get out my green lace and hope I bought enough. I had no idea how much I would need when I got it. I just knew I wanted to make some place mats. Haha





I start pinning the lace around each place mat.





One down!





All finished and I had about a foot left over. I'm pretty good at guesstimating, I guess! I'm also cross eyed from all the sewing lines and pinning lace. Almost done though.





I just sew the lace in place with a zig zag stitch on all four. Then head to my table to see how I like them.





I definitely LOVE them. Even more so because they are my own, original design and nobody has any quite like mine! If you notice, the napkins totally match them. Wonder why? For the answer, click HERE! =D I made the Napkin Rings too!


Now, more creating. I have tons of ideas!

-November 30, 2012