Sandwich placemat – using up fabric scraps

There are many interesting techniques for sewing bags, pillows, and blankets to achieve zero-waste production and use up fabric scraps. I want to suggest an idea for how to quickly assemble a cozy tea placemat from such waste 🥰

Since the item will be rectangular, it is better to choose fabric pieces that support this shape. They will need to be pressed and the edges trimmed with scissors for a neat appearance.

The placemat will be sewn onto a thin base fabric. We place it on the ironing board face down. On top of the base, we lay out fusible web and start forming a collage from the scraps. The density of the placemat should be uniform – this is the only condition.

Cover the resulting collage with parchment paper and iron thoroughly, holding it on each section for about 8-10 seconds.

Of course, only those areas of fabric that have direct contact with the fusible web will stick completely; other areas will have to be glued manually, for example, with a textile glue stick.

Now we assemble the "sandwich": place the backing fabric as the first layer, then a sheet of thin batting (or any dense fabric that can serve as a filler), then our collage (fusible web + fabric scraps). Secure the layers with pins.

Make the quilting dense. Because of the colorful layout, the stitches are not very visible. They are more noticeable on the reverse side.

Carefully trim off everything unnecessary to get the planned size of the placemat.

Make the binding using any method you are used to. You can, for example, stitch the binding from the front side, and fold it on the back so that the edge slightly overlaps the resulting seam.

From the front, stitch in the ditch: no additional seam will be visible.

The placemat is ready – you can relax and finally have some tea 😉