Fall Barn Quilts - Quilted Placemats
Summer has just begun, which means we’re already thinking about fall sewing, can you believe it? I got my hands on a fabric panel from the Fall Barn Quilts collection designed by Tara Reed, and I just knew I had to turn it into a set of placemats.
The Fall Barn Quilts fabric panel has four sections to it - each featuring a beautiful barn with, you guessed it, a barn quilt on it. These individual sections would look fabulous incorporated into a quilt, or made up into decorative pillows, or even as a tote bag. I opted to turn them into placemats and I love how they turned out!
For my placemats, I used the fabric panel, the brown Blocks print, brown Foliage, and gold Tonal. I was really struck by the brilliant colors in the Foliage print. I didn’t expect it to become a favorite, but as I began working with the fabrics, I found I absolutely loved it.
I used the brown Blocks print for the border of the first placemat I made. I love how it looks, but then I decided to use the foliage print for the next placemat, and I loved it so much, I ended up sticking with the foliage.
Such an easy way to add color to your table. I LOVE the watercolor tree in every panel. The colors are brilliant and it ties them all together beautifully!
To make these 14” x 18” placemats, I cut around the barn image so that my rectangle measured 13” x 17”. (I made it a little smaller for the brown Blocks border.) I added 1- 1/4” strips of the brown Foliage print for the border, then trimmed it down to size, if needed.
I backed two of the placemats with the gold Tonal fabric and two of them with the brown Blocks.
I quilted each of the placemats with simple straight lines. I actually find straight quilting to be the most challenging kind of quilting for me, because it takes a lot of effort to keep the lines from pulling your fabric off kilter. I used the edge of my walking foot as my guide, and it did a great job of keeping the lines evenly spaced.
Finally, I used 2-1/4” wide strips of fabric to make the binding. I typically use 2-1/2” wide binding, but I wanted to reduce the bulk for the placemats, and the 2-1/4” binding worked perfectly.
Using the panels made these placemats a snap to whip up. These would make a lovely gift for a favorite neighbor, bestie, sister, or just any awesome person in your life! Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to follow me on Instagram and subscribe to my YouTube Channel for more creative content and project inspiration. Happy Quilting!