DIY Ric Rac Placemats & Napkins

Celebrate the Season of Cozy with new placemats! A little ric rac trim makes them extra cute.  These are square so you can use them as napkins too if you feel like it.  Why not? Get the DIY Ric Placemats and Napkins Tutorial after the jump...

Ricrac Placemats and Napkins

1.  Wash, iron, and cut your fabric squares to the size you want plus 1/2" all the way around.  I cut mine to 15.5" so I would have a 15" square placemat.  You'll need two squares of fabric for each placemat.

2.  Pin your ric rac to the right side of your placemat all the way around.  I used 1/4" cranberry ric rac from PurlSoho:

3. Sew your ric rac to the placemat, right down the middle:

4. Remember at the corner to leave the needle in the fabric, lift the presser foot, turn the fabric 90 degrees, then place the foot back down and continue to so.  Check your ric rac at the corner to make sure that if it bunches it does so to the outside edge, since you can cut that off later.

5.  Now pin your other square of fabric on top of the ric rac, right sides facing:

so you have a ric rac sandwich:

6.  Now sew them together, using your previous line as a guide.  Stay directly on that line or if you have to cheat it at all, cheat it to the inside.  Leave a hole for turning! Then snip your corners:

And turn right side out.

7. Iron your placemat flat, including the hole you made for turning, which you may want to pin shut.  Now we are going to top stitch all the way around for a nice clean finish and to close that hole.  I used a zig zag because I thought it would look cute with the ric rac but it didn't really, so maybe use a different stitch.  i also wish I had used a more contrasty color.

Make sure you make your corners nice and sharp like we discussed:

Voila!

Here are a few ways to fold it as a napkin so you get the cute ric rac edge:

 in half, then in thirds

 In half diagonally three times.

How cute is that fabric?  it's Alexander Henry Birdsong available here for $7.85 a yard!