Quilted placemats with embroidery of Jack-O-Lanterns and sunflowers

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Jack-O-Lanterns and Sunflowers Quilted Placemats with Embroidery

Add a holiday touch to your table with these quilted placemats featuring jack-o-lanterns and sunflowers. In this tutorial, you’ll learn to piece, quilt, and use machine embroidery to create a charming seasonal project. With a simple pieced border framing each embroidered scene, these placemats bring a cozy, seasonal vibe to any setting.

We used the designs from the Sunflower Set and Jack-O-Lantern Set. All designs are available for the large hoop (5" x 7") and small hoop (4" x 4"). We used both sizes.
The finished size of each placemat is about 11" x 13 1/2".

4 placemats in Fall colors with embroidered sunflowers and Jack-O-Lanterns,

You will need :

embroidery threads either polyester or rayon,
about 1/2 yard of light-colored fabric for the embroidered part;
scraps of cotton fabrics in Fall hues for the border blocks;
light-weight cut-away embroidery stabilizer;
backing and binding (the latter can be of different color for each mat);
batting;
quilter's ruler;
rotary cutter;
iron;
#12 universal needle;
quilting threads (to match the colors of the fabrics);
#12-#14 quilting needle;
printer, paper (optional).

Cutting:

Note: we give the amount of pieces needed for 1 placemat.

Out of the light-colored fabric, cut

1 piece measuring 9 1/2" x 12" and
10 squares measuring 1 1/4" each.

Out of the scraps of colored fabrics, for 1 block, cut

2 squares measuring 1 1/4" each and
2 strips measuring 1 1/4" x 2 3/4" each.

For one mat you will need 10 blocks of different colors.

Block:

Note: seam allowance is 1/4" if otherwise recommended, press the seam immediately after you make it.

Sew the colored squares (1 1/4") to opposite sides of the light-colored square (1 1/4").

Sew the colored strips (1 1/4" x 2 3/4") to the long sides of the new strip.

Make 10 blocks for a placemat.

Assembly:

Sew the blocks into 2 strips of 5 blocks each.

Sew one of the strips to the lower edge of the light-colored piece.

Sew the remaining strip to the left edge of the working piece.

Embroidery

Select the designs from the Sunflower Set and Jack-O-Lantern Set
which you'd like to use on your placemats. Upload the files to the embroidery machine.
Select threads.

Mark the position of the embroidery on the light-colored part. If you have a printer and embroidery software, print-outs of the designs can be helpful. If you do not, you can cut out rectangles of the same size as the designs and arrange them on the fabric to determine the position of the embroidery.
Stabilize the chosen area.

Hoop the fabric tightly and embroider the designs one by oner.
Remove the excess stabilizer.

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 layers together.
We quilted in a free-motion style all over the working piece. Start from the central part, and echo-quilt the emboidery first.

Press with heavy steam. Square the piece - all angles should be 90 degrees and opposite sides of the same length.
Finish the raw edges with the binding.