I don’t need another set of placemats, but yesterday I took several quilts and other projects to Sew With Vision to show the new owner, Sally, so we could talk about classes for the summer and fall. The set of placemats I took with me I made several years ago and they wouldn’t catch anybody’s attention. They’re pretty dull.

These stack ‘n whack fat quarter placemats are a novice quilter project. I decided to make a new set to display in the shop to entice some novice quilters to take a class to learn some basic quilting technique – precise cutting (with rotary cutter), sewing precise 1/4″ seams, chain piecing, pressing seams to nest joins and sewing the nested seams.

I picked four batik fat quarters from my stash (who knows, maybe these are also dull!). I started by pressing each fat quarter then I stacked all four, cut the pieces all at the same time, last evening. It probably took me an hour to press, stack and cut the fat quarters.

This afternoon, I laid out the pieces for each placemat, making sure my layout was the same for each one. Next, I laid adjacent pieces together and pinned them, then I piled the pinned pieces on top of one another. To sew, I used a “production” technique. I chain pieced as much as I could in the first pass – I stitched the adjacent pairs of pieces in the “rows”, pressed the seams to one side, then sewed the two parts for each row.

When I finished sewing and pressing all the rows, I laid out the placemats. I picked up the rows for one placemat, making sure the seams in adjacent rows were pressed in opposite directions so I could nest seams as I joined the rows. As I stitched, I made sure the joins did nest as I sewed them.

I pressed each placemat when the sewing was finished.

Now I need batting and backing to complete the placemats. I’m still deciding whether to quilt them just by stitching-in-the-ditch along the seam lines, or whether to quilt them in the hoop with a simple design.

These placemats could be sewn together to make a table runner. Or you could use the idea to make a quilt top. The placemats are simply an excuse to hone technique. As I explained to Sally, I don’t teach a project, I teach technique – I use projects as a vehicle for becoming a more experienced sewer or quilter.

For cutting and sewing instructions: Stack ‘n Whack Fat Quarter Placemats