Placemat Sewing Tutorial with Leftover Strips

Let’s sew some placemats! In this placemat sewing tutorial I will show you how to make placemats with leftover strips!

With the holidays coming up, these are great for entertaining! But they are also really fun for everyday use! I love the simplicity of bold strips but there is also so much pattern play!

I used my leftover quilt binding bin to make these! Since I typically use the same width of binding (2.5″) they were already cut and ready to go for this project! You can also use strips from a jelly roll or just cut your own strips from yardage.

This placemat is also reversible! Pick a fun fabric for the back or create two striped panels!

Placemat Sewing Tutorial Materials

2.5″ strips, leftover from binding, jelly rolls or cut from yardage
1/3 yard for backing
Quilt batting
Lightweight fusible interfacing
Spray baste
3/8″ quilt binding or bias tape
- You can make your own binding with more 2.5″ strips! Here is a tutorial!

This placemat finishes about 13″ by 18″ which is a great standard size for a placemat!

How to sew a placemat with leftover strips

Use a 1/4″ seam allowance.

Each strip will need to be 13″ long. You can either measure them out and cut before assembly or just do a rough cut and make sure the strips are at least 13″ then trim them down later.

I prefer to just sew them and trim later, that way a get a nicer edge and don’t have to worry about being perfect. I just make sure they are longer than 13″ and then line up one edge at the top before sewing.

Sew 9 strips together.

Press all the seam allowances to one side.

Then trim the panel down to 13″ by 18.” Use spray baste to attach to a piece of batting and backing fabric.

Topstitch along the sides of the strips.

You can really do any topstitching pattern on this project. I love the simplicity of straight line quilting on the side of the strip with the seam allowance under it. It give a sturdy and gorgeous finish.

Now add your binding!

You can sandwich it on around the edges and machine sew, or follow my quilt binding tutorial!

I sewed mine on to the front of my placemat the same way I do with quilts, then I hand stitched the binding to the back of the placemat. I actually enjoy binding quilts by hand while I watch a movie and I think it looks beautiful!