Sewing: Outdoor Summer Placemats

Outdoor summer placemats and picnic napkins to match. Last year I made square placemats, too. Chevron patterned, yet same outdoor fabric that is good to 500+ hours in the sun. One variation here, in this project, I made them bigger. My last ones were only 12 inches, these ones are 16 to start, and 15 1/2 to finish. Makes for a much nicer presentation at the table.

Plus, the unexpected pairing of the traditional picnic napkin with the modern black and white pattern is funky – a bit of a twist. Mix things up and live a little, right? Why be so matchy-matchy.

What You Need

1+ meter of outdoor fabric, plus 1: meter of backing fabric
matching thread
machine
1.5 meters of cotton fabric for napkins
serger
matching thread

For the placemats – cut out 4 square pieces 16×16. I used my rotary cutter to ensure the squares were nice and straight. If you’re working with a very detailed pattern, you may want some extra fabric to ensure the placemats all have the same bit of pattern at the centre of the square – just a little reminder.

Then, cut out the backing. Serge the right sides together, leaving a small hole (about 3-5 inches) to turn the placemat right side out. Then, iron it. Pin the hole closed and top stitch all around, as shown below.

For the napkins, they are 18×18. Cut them out using the rotary cutter and then use the rolled hem setting on your serger to finish off the edges. Don’t forget to fray check the corners!

Done.

The best part about using a functional fabric on the back, is that the placemats can work both ways – pattern side up or plain side up. It’s all up to them.

These are a great little gift for someone – they can use them on a random Tuesday in the summer to have a family BBQ or even mix them up with another set if they are having more people over.

All in all, these outdoor placemats and napkins will surely brighten up any table.