Molly's Sketchbook: Woven Felt Placemats

2009-07-09T20:28:01Z

Handmade placemats are a great way to add some color and a unique touch to your table. I wanted to create a modern set that would work well for outdoor dining in the summer that would also be easy to make. These woven felt placemats require no sewing so they can be a fun all-family project!

Materials

These materials will make a set of six 11-inch x 17-inch place mats:

Six 18-inch x 18-inch pieces of Ecru Wool Flannel (color of 91)
Two Wool Felt Bundles. I used Spring but any of the bundles could be beautiful. The bundles pictured above are, clockwise from top left: Spring, Dahila, Water, and Spice.
OK-To-Wash-It Fabric Glue
water soluble fabric marker

Finished Measurements

11-inches wide x 17-inches long

Cutting

Cut each of the ecru felt pieces to be 12-inches x 17-inches (you'll be cutting the width down to 11-inches in the last cutting step).

Cut all of the green felt pieces into as many 12-inch x 1-inch strips as you can (make sure you have at least 84 strips total.) Each of the green felt pieces is 12-inches by 8-inches to begin with so cut them lengthwise.

Mark and cut one of the ecru pieces with a water soluble fabric marker as follows:

Arrange the ecru felt piece with its long sides going vertically.
Mark a line 1-inch from the top and bottom edges.
Mark a line, 1-inch from the left hand side of the piece, starting and ending at the top and bottom markings.
Make another vertical mark 1-inch to the right of the previous vertical mark. Repeat this step until you have 10 vertical markings.
Trim the piece 1-inch to the right of your tenth and last vertical marking, all the way from bottom to top with your rotary cutter, this will ensure that your placemat is exactly 11-inches wide.

Using a rotary cutter cut along all 10 of your vertical marks. Start and end your cuts a little shy of the horizontal markings being careful not to cut beyond the horizontal marks.

Using a pair of scissors cut the vertical slices so that they meet up exactly with the horizontal markings.

Weaving

Pick out 14 of the green strips and arrange them in a pleasing spectrum. Make sure to use at least one of each of the 8 colors.

Flip the ecru felt piece over so the markings are hidden.

Take the first of your 14 green strips and weave it over and under the vertical slices of the ecru piece starting at the bottom of the ecru piece.

Pull the first strip down as far as it will go along the vertical slices and make sure it lays flat. The strip should go beyond the left and right sides of the ecru felt by a little bit.

Weave the second 1-inch strip of green felt through the vertical slices of the ecru felt directly above the first green strip but in the opposite way, going under and then over.

When you are done weaving the second strip pull it towards the first one so they are flush and both laying flat.

Repeat this weaving with the green felt strips until only one strip remains.

It may seem like there is no room for the last strip but it will fit if you pull all of the previous strips downward a bit, one at a time, staring from the bottom of your work. Once you get to the top of the work there should be enough room for the last piece to fit in like a glove.

Once all the pieces are woven together make any last minute adjustments to straighten the piece.

Finishing

Put a healthy dollop of glue at each end of the green strips and press down.

Let the place mat dry and make sure all of the strips are firmly glued down. Sometimes it takes two rounds of gluing to secure the strips firmly.

Once the placemat is totally dry and secured trim the ends of the green strips.

If the placemat is a little wobly on the sides feel free to trim the sides slightly with your rotary cutter to straighten it.