Daisy Place Mats -- Week One

Betty saw some place mats at the local mall that she really liked...until she saw the price...$17.98 each...she needed six, so after tax, it was going to cost her around $120.  She wondered if I could make them cheaper or if they were too hard to make.

I love a challenge, so I drove to the mall to see what she was looking at.  I decided it wouldn't be hard at all, and the cost was seriously inflated. 

The place mats are burlap on the top and muslin on the bottom with a felt daisy applique on a small piece of corduroy.  I bought all of the material at JoAnn's Fabric (without any sales/coupons) for just less than $14...and I'll probably have some left. 

Here is a link if you would like to see the exact product I "remade":
http://www.collinspainting.com/collections/smell-the-daisies/grow-daisy-burlap-mat.html/  
 
What you need:

• 1/4 yard white/cream felt for flowers
• 1/4 yard tan felt
• 2" yellow and green felt (or you could buy a 8 1/2" x 11" sheet--I just liked the quality of the yardage felt much better.
• 1/4 yard tan corduroy
• 1 1/4 yard muslin
• 1 1/4 yard burlap
• Green embroidery thread
• Colored thread to match white/cream felt and yellow felt

1)  Make yourself a petal pattern.  Draw a 2" circle.  Find the middle of the circle and draw a line.  I used my quilt cutting mat to make a 90 degree angle and then halve the quarter circle and round the outside edges--voila--petal pattern!  I used clear plastic that can be found in the quilting section; but you can use cardboard or paper or whatever you want.

2)  Cut out eight petals for each place mat from the white/cream felt.  From the tan felt, cut out 5" x 3" rectangles--one for each place mat.

3)  Applique the petals in a flower pattern to the 3" edge top of the tan felt rectangles.  You can just tack stitch the felt--it's okay, maybe even preferable, if the stitches show. 

4)  Cut out the middle yellow pieces of felt--one piece for each flower.  I used a dime as my starting point, but then I pared off a little bit around the edges until I liked the size of the circle...I removed around 1/8" all the way around.  Applique in the middle of each flower.

5)  For each flower, cut out two leaves from the green felt; I used the same template as the flower petals.  Embroider a stem on each tan rectangle -- I used a chain stitch, but use whatever stitch you want.  The original piece used a running stitch.  Applique two leaves to each flower's stem...one on each side.

6)  Cut out one 6" x 4" rectangle for each place mat.  Hand stitch or use a sewing machine to sew the daisy rectangles to the corduroy rectangles.

Next week I'll post the instructions for completing the place mats. 

Have a great week, and remember to take care of you!