Coloring Flower Place Mats with Machine Embroidery

For these charming place mats we used the designs from the One-Color Spring Flower Set for a large hoop. We used fabric markers to color the stitch-outs.
The finished size of each placemat is about 20" x 16".

You will need :

• embroidery threads (you can use any dark color, such as black, dark green, navy blue or dark brown)
• light-weight iron-on cut-away stabilizer,
• light-colored cotton fabric for the central part of the blocks with embroidery,
• small amount of quilting fabrics for the blocks, borders and binding (we used 6 fabrics: 4 fabrics of different green hues, and 2 fabrics in blue hues),
• batting,
• fabric for the backing,
• quilting thread,
• quilter's ruler and rotary cutter, or pencil and scissors.

Embroidery:

Upload the files from the One-Color Spring Flower Set into your embroidery machine.

Stabilize light-colored fabric with light-weight iron-on stabilizer. Hoop it, tighten the hoop.

Embroider the files one by one. You need 2 stitch-outs per place mat.

After the stitch-outs are done, color them and trim to 6 1/2" x 6 1/2".

Some help is always welcome.

Cutting for One Mat:

Note: seam allowance is 1/4", press each seam after you made it. Prepare small pieces of paper, a pencil and pins to mark your cut outs.

Out of the first green fabric, cut

• 2 strips measuring 1 1/2" x 6 1/2" (label them 1) and
• 2 strips measuring 1 1/2" x 8 1/2" (label them 4).

Out of pale blue, cut 4 strips measuring 1 1/2" x 7 1/2" (label two of them 2 and the other two - 3).

Out of bright blue, cut

• 2 strips measuring 1 1/2" x 8 1/2" (label them 5) and
• 2 strips measuring 1 1/2" x 9 1/2" (label them 6).

Out of the second green fabric, cut

• 2 strips measuring 1 1/2" x 9 1/2" (label them 7) and
• 2 strips measuring 1 1/2" x 10 1/2" (label them 8).

Out of the third green fabric, cut 2 strips measuring 3 1/2" x 20 1/2".

Out of the fourth green fabric, cut the binding: 2 strips measuring 2 1/2" and the length of the width of the fabric (38"- 40").

Assembly of the Block:

Note: Press every seam after you make it.

Using the square with the stitch-out as the center of the block, sew strip #1 to the left edge.

Sew strip #2 to the upper edge of the stitch-out.

Sew strip #3 to the right edge of the stitch-out.

Sew strip #4 to the bottom edge of the stitch-out.

Sew strip #5 to the upper edge of the working piece.

Sew strip #6 to the right edge of the working piece.

Sew strip #7 to the bottom edge of the working piece.

Sew strip #8 to the left edge of the working piece.

The block is finished. For each place mat you will need 2 blocks.

Assembly of the Mat:

Sew two blocks together.

Sew the borders (3 1/2" x 20 1/2" strips) to the upper and lower edges of the mat.

Quilting and Finishing:

Now place the backing on a flat surface (table) face down. Cover with batting. Spread your working piece over it.

Pin all three layers together with 1" pins and start quilting. We quilted with a free motion stippling pattern all over the mats.

After the quilting is finished, press the work with heavy steam and square the work -- all corners should be 90 degrees and opposite sides should be of the same length.

Finish the raw edges with the binding.

Enjoy!

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