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The easiest, best placemats you'll ever make
Oil cloth placemats are a great investment. They're easy to make, easy to clean, and they're just too darn cute. Oil cloth comes in a variety of colors and vintage patterns, and I highly recommend purchasing from oilclothbytheyard.com. You can request that your oil cloth be delivered on the roll and eliminate creases! If you do end up with creased oil cloth, 1) lay it outside on a warm day or 2) quickly run an iron (medium heat) over the wrong side until the creases relax. The creases will eventually go away completely on their own.

Note: I made six 13" x 18" placemats from 2 yards of 47" wide oilcloth (one yard of each fabric)

Posted by Kaitlin H. • Published 14th May 2013 • See Kaitlin H.'s 7 projects »

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Step 1
Cut your fabric into 13" x 18" rectangles (or whatever size you prefer). I used an Expo marker to mark my cutting lines - it glides and wipes off so easily! (Don't fret it it leaves a shadow on lighter fabric - you'll be cutting off the edges anyway.)
Step 2
Repeat for contrast fabric. You should have 12 rectangles.
Step 3
With *wrong sides* together, pin together as smoothly as you can. No bumps! Sometimes this is difficult with oilcloth because it's stiffer than fabric. (Note: Yes, pinning oilcloth will leave pin holes in your fabric. You could keep the pieces together with spray adhesive instead, but I prefer the security of pins. The pinholes have never bothered me...they seem to smooth out over time.)
Step 4
Time to break out the tissue paper! You'll need one piece per placemat. Position the tissue paper between the oil cloth and presser foot. The tissue paper will help the foot glide along nicely.

Note: Supposedly a plastic presser foot eliminates the need for tissue paper.
Step 5
Sew around all four sides with a 1/4" seam allowance.
Step 6
Now the fun part. Rip that tissue paper off!
Step 7
With pinking shears, cut around the edges of each placemat leaving about an 1/8".
Step 8
And you're done!