Sew an Easy Quilted Reversible Placemat (Free Pattern)

Placemats are fun to use in the kitchen to decorate your table. Our easy placemat pattern, video, and step-by-step free tutorial will show you how to sew reversible placemats customizable to any decor.

These DIY placemats use two fat quarters to make one. You can also make reversible placemats by using two different fabrics of your choice.

A set of placemats would make a wonderful for the holidays. A set of 4 or 6 placemats with matching cloth napkins can be made quickly. This easy project is a wonderful beginner sewing project to teach kids or adults how to sew.

Want napkins to go with the placemats?  Try our simple cloth napkin tutorial.

I received some inspiration for this tutorial from a tutorial by Polka Dot Chair, Quilted Placemat Patterns; A Fat Quarter Project.

Read or watch our video tutorial on making this Quilted Placemat Pattern.  We have many suggestions for quilting the placemats, so look below for photos of many options.

INSTRUCTIONS

STEP 1: CUT FABRICS

For each placemat, cut two rectangles from the fabric and the fusible fleece or cotton batting. Placemats can be made from many types of fabric. I prefer to use quilter's cotton because of its soft feel. If I make outdoor placemats, I may want to use an outdoor or more waterproof fabric.

The finished rectangular placemats will be 14 1/2" by 17 1/2". By making placemats this size, four placemats can be made from one yard of fabric. Standard size placemats are 12" x 18" or 14" x 20", so these fit between the standard sizes.

Cut:

• From one fat quarter or fabric cut a piece sized 15" x 18"
• From the second fat quarter or fabric cut a piece sized 15" x 18"
• From the fusible fleece or cotton batting, cut a piece 14" x 17"

If your fabrics are directional, cut the fabric in the correct direction.  If you look at my samples below, I mistakenly cut the fabric in the wrong direction for the directional fabrics.

Feel free to adjust the sizes of the fabrics to make the placemats the desired size.  Remember that there is a 1/4 inch seam allowance on all sides, so the finished placemat will be 1/2" smaller by width and height than the cut fabric.

STEP 2: Cut corners (optional)

This step is optional. Cut off the corners to make a finished placemat that looks like the placemat below.  This gives the placemat a more octagonal look.

To cut off the corners, layer the two pieces of fabric on top of one another aligning the raw edges.  If making more than one placemat, you can layer up to about four layers and cut them all at once.

Using your 6" square ruler, line up the corner of the fabric along the 45-degree lines as shown.

Using a rotary cutter, cut along the ruler edge from corner to corner.  If you do not have a rotary cutter, mark your cutting line and cut the corner off with scissors. Cut off all four corners in the same way.

If you do not have a 6" square ruler or rotary cutter, use any ruler and measure the 3" from the corner in both directions and make a mark.  Use your ruler to mark a line connecting the two marks.  Cut along the line with scissors.

Cut the corners off of the fusible fleece or batting in the same way. The pieces will look like the photo below.

Step 3: Fuse the Fleece

Next, take one of the two fabric pieces and fuse the fleece to the wrong side of the fabric.  When fusing the fleece, the shiny side faces down towards the fabric. 

Center the fusible fleece on the fabric so there is an even amount around each edge of the fabric. Follow the directions on the fusible fleece to fuse.  See the photo below for a sample.

If using cotton batting instead of fusible fleece, spray one side of your cotton batting with the basting spray.  Place the sticky side of the batting onto the wrong side of one piece of fabric.  Center it so that the same amount of fabric is showing around the edge.

It does not have to be perfectly centered. Estimate and put it approximately in the center.

Step 4: Layer and Sew

Pin your two fabrics with the right sides together. The fleece will be on the outside.  In the photo below, the fleece is on the underside.  Using a 1/4" seam allowance, sew around the placemat, leaving a 2" - 3" opening on one side.

I prefer to leave the opening on one of the short sides, so start sewing about 3/4 of the way down one of the short sides.  Don't forget to backtack to secure the thread.

When you reach the corner, stop with the needle in the down position about 1/4" from the edge. If your 1/4" foot has marks on it, these can be helpful to show where to stop.  Lift the presser foot and pivot your fabric.

Continue sewing around the placemat.  Remember to stop 2" - 3" before your starting point.  Placing two pins side by side at the starting point will help to remind you to stop sewing.

Step 5: Clip Corners

Clip the corners before turning the placemat, as shown in the photo below.  Do not cut your stitching line!  Clipping the corners will give the placemat nice flat corners.

Step 6: Turn Placemat

Turn the placemat through the side seam's 2" - 3" hole.  The right sides of the fabric will be facing out.  Use a stick or pencil to push the corners out so they look nice.  

Give a nice pressing so that the whole placemat is flat, the edges are straight, and the corners are pushed out.  At the opening, fold the fabric to the inside and press nicely so the opening will not be shown.

Step 7: Topstitch

At your sewing machine, topstitch close to the edges of your placemats all the way around.  The topstitch will go over the area with the opening and close it.  Use a coordinating color thread for the topstitching and bobbin, as shown on the finished placemat.

The topstitch will hold all layers of the placemat together.

Step 8: Quilt the Placemat (optional)

Quilting the placemat is optional.  The topstitch in the previous step will hold the placemat together through washings.  However, adding some extra quilting can be decorative and make the placemat more special.

There are many options for quilting the placemat. Look below for different ideas. For the demonstration, I quilted straight lines across the placemat.

My sewing machine comes with a bar that can be used to follow previous stitching. This makes stitching lines at equal distances apart easy.

If you want all lines to be equally apart, measure your placemat and calculate how far the lines should be apart.

I picked a distance and did not worry about measuring.  The lines I stitched were about 1 - 1 1/2" apart.  Start the first line by having the guide follow the topstitching.  Stitch across the placemat.

Move the placemat over and stitch the next line.  The guide will follow the first stitched line.

Stitch two or three lines from the one side. Then, turn the placemat around and stitch three lines from the other side. Once three lines are stitched from each side, decide whether you need more lines to fill in the middle.  The middle of my placemats had a larger gap than the other lines, which makes it interesting.

Below are the two finished placemats from the video demonstration. A sample with cut-off corners and horizontal quilting lines is on the left in the photo. The right-side placemat is rectangular, with lines quilted vertically.

This is a close-up of the finished sunflower placemat with quilted vertical lines. Three lines were quilted from each side, and a larger gap was in the middle.

Samples of Placemats and ideas for quilting

For all of the placemats below, I used a variegated thread for the topstitching and quilting.  A variegated thread can add additional interest to the placemat.  Use any thread that coordinates with your fabrics.

This fish placemat has quilted horizontal lines, which would be quilted as described in the tutorial. However, I cut the fabric in the wrong direction, so the fish swim up and down instead of across the fabric. Be sure to cut directional fabric in the correct direction!

This placemat uses squiggly lines and follows around the edge. For this one, I used a decorative serpentine stitch on my machine instead of the topstitch around the edge. Then, using the guide, I stitched around once more, following the shape of the placemat. One last decorative squiggle down the center finished it off.

This ship in the bottle placemat has horizontally quilted lines.  These were quilted as described in the tutorial.

For this seashell placemat, I used the guide to follow around the edge of the placemat.  Adding three rounds of stitching finished this one off nicely.

For this placemat, I cut the directional fabric incorrectly.  For this one, I quilted across the center in each direction once. This is more simple, but it will still hold the placemat together.

This is another directional print that I cut incorrectly. For this one, I quilted across the placemat in an X from corner to corner.  

We hope this gives you many ideas for quilting your placemats.  There are so many options.  This is a wonderful project to use some of those decorative stitches on your sewing machine.  

Have fun making lots of placemats! They're so quick and easy to make that you could make several in an hour. Make some for holiday gift-giving!

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