makin' it in the mommyhood - arcadia placemat & tablerunner

we were away on the weekend attending our close friends chris & jill's wedding. we camped, and yes, getting ready with a 2 year old for a wedding in a tent was quite the experience - thankfully the groom's parents had an extra hotel room that they offered usage of the bathroom to us! thanks guys! it sure came in handy being married to the best man :)

chris & jill know i love making gifts so for their wedding present i decided to sew them up a lovely set of placemats & tablerunner for their new apartment! i hope they love them as much as i do. it was incredibly hard to part with one of my favorite fabric lines - arcadia by moda for sanae. this stuff could easily be plastered all over my whole house. it's tough to find in yardage, but i managed to scoop some from the lovely shop "the sproutz store". their service was friendly, fast and reliable! i highly recommend them and you all know how picky i am when it comes to fabric shops - thanks again sharon, i appreciate it :)

wanna make a set of your own? here's the how to:

before you start always remember to wash your material first, you'll thank me later. iron the fabric before cutting and iron again before doing your topsticthing if needed.

pretty little placemats

1) cut out 8 rectangles of your fave fabric to the size of your liking. i did 20" x 15", i cut horribly so always leave room for myself to even things out, yes, it's embarrassing, but hey, we all have our faults..haha.
2) cut out 4 pieces of batting the same size.
3) make your sandwich & remember your batting goes on the outside for the sewing so when you flip it right side out your batting ends up being the peanut butter in your whole wheat sandwich :P
4) sew all 3 sides together and then leaving a 4 -5 inch opening sew the 4th side closed. pull your fabric right side out.
5) handstich the opening shut. topstich around the outer edge of the placemat about 1 - 1/2" in from the outside border or quilt the top of the placemat in whatever manner you so desire! have fun with it and play with your pattern. you could also add a bias trim to the edges or use contrasting thread, the options are endless and totally up to lil ol you.


twirly table runner:

1) cut out out two long pieces of fabric to your liking. this would be based on the length and width of your table. you want it to run centered down the table (usually) and not take up the whole table.
2) sew those pieces together on all 3 sides and then leaving about a 2-3 inch opening close up the 4th side.
3) pull right side out. iron. handstitch the opening closed. i have one of these in my home made from a repurposed pillow case and i love the top stitch effect on the ends of the runner so i decided to top stitch one straight line and then add a fancy twirly one to go with. you could add any detail you want here, or ever stitch on the whole runner.

i wish i had pics of the wrapping job i did in the tent..haha. that was part of the fun for me, but it was not good lighting and the pics just didn't make it. hint - i used fresh lavender, buttons, chocolate brown ribbon and a cute little tag that got rolled up with some lovely dark brown linen napkins i found in town that matched the fabric perfectly.

what do you guys think? have you made this for yourself or as a gift? make sure to add your creations to our flickr group!