I wanted something simple to showcase these gorgeous brown batiks that I'd bought from Sew and So's when I went to Bungay with my friend Sue, when I was on my stay-cation a few weeks ago. I used this pattern called "Take 4" (designed by Cary Flanagan for Something Sew Fine Quilt Design), and I quickly set about slicing these batiks into neat little piles...
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...these mats pieced together VERY quickly, and I used a mid grey Mettler fine embroidery thread in my Bernina, and a Schmetz Microtex needle size 60. In no time at all 4 place mats were pieced and pressed...
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...unfortunately I didn't have the right fabric for backing them in my stash, so had make a hasty visit to Quilters Haven on my day off. Brown polka dots (from the "Cherry On Top" collection by Keiki for Moda) was just what I was looking for, and already had this brown tone-on-tone fabric in my stash, (it was left over from a previous project - enough for binding but unfortunately not enough for the backing too!!) so I was ready to get started on the quilting. I've used a plain brown Mettler quilting thread, shade 712 and a Top stitch needle size 80 (I don't like using anything larger than that when I'm quilting batiks). These were quilted very simply, just stitch-in-the-ditch, and I used some thin pellon wadding. (Pellon is a felted polyester and is perfect for runners and place mats and bags too)...
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...these were bound with single-fold binding. I cut strips of fabric 1.5" wide, and machined them into place 0.25" from the edge of the mats, and mitred the corners. Then the binding is folded over to the back and hand stitched into place with ladder stitch. I used the same dark brown Mettler quilting thread for this...
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...and here are the completed mats. When I bought these batiks, I was very greedy - they're actually half metres hehe!! so I've got some leftovers for a runner too and I just "need" to find a couple more to add to them. That'll be my project for next weekend! These mats will look very smart on my dining table. They're machine washable, so it won't be a complete disaster if Mr F spills any gravy on them ;)
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