I mentioned before how I was considering placing items on Etsy to sell. In order to do this I need to actually MAKE something to put up for sale. First things first, figure out WHAT to make and then HOW to make it. Really these things seem easy, but generally speaking, I hate patterns, so I make my own. This is good and bad. It’s good because I don’t have to “conform” to some cookie cutter instructions and thus end up with a unique finished product. However, it usually involves some brain power I don’t always have in one go to figure out the details of what I am making. I thought I would take you through my process of creating my own pattern. Perhaps it will inspire, maybe you’ll wonder why I don’t just buy a freaken pattern, but hopefully will just be enjoyable to read.
I want to make placemats. Hmmm… How big are the ones we currently have? *Goes to find a measuring tape* Ok, let’s see here, it’s about 12.5”x17”. Looks about like the size I would like to finish with. *Makes a box and mark 12.5 x 17* I know I want to use some of the techniques of quilting, so how would I do this? Ok, we’ll make horizontal stripes. How wide? Ok, most standard quilt stripes end up being 2” finished product, would that work? Hmm, 6 of those gives me 12”… close enough. Ok, now I want it to be different on each row to add some character. *Starts to play with the layout dividing rows into halves and 1/3 and 2/3 sections.* I kind of like the looks of this.
Ok, if I make 6 of these, I can shuffle the colors so that each fabric is in a different location on each placemat. *Verifies this by making 6 dummy blocks and shuffling the color by one in each*
Ok, so how much fabric will I need? Let’s see, all combined, each fabric will be in each spot at least once, so I need as much fabric to cover one 12” x 17” placemat, including seams. Given I want to have two rows cut in half and the other 4 cut in 1/3 & 2/3 pattern, I need 4 – 8.5” cuts, 4 – 5.5” cuts, and 4 – 11.5” cuts. All of them 2.5” wide (using ¼ seam allowances). At this point you might notice I didn’t factor those into the cuts. You’d be right. I forgot that until the end. I’ll say it was still fine. I added 0.5” to all of them to allow for the joining seam and the edge seam. Thankfully the math worked out. From here out I will use the corrected lengths, even though I had to run through it twice. See note about how sometimes the brain power doesn’t all come in one go. :P
So, if normal fabric runs 44” or 45” long, how much do I need cut? Here’s where the “higher mathematics” comes in. I played around with a few combinations of 18” lengths. I can get at least two equivalent rows cut in one strip (18X2 = 36 and 36<44). So if I can do 2 rows per 2.5” inch wide strip, then I will need 3 strips. 2.5x3 = 7.5” wide. Hmm, that’s a little weird to ask for at the cutting counter and I might want a little wiggle room, what’s ¼ yard? 36/4 = 9”, that would make me feel better.
So now I know I need ¼ for each 6 fabrics I find. What about the back? It needs to be 12.5 x 17.5” (seam allowances factored in). What’s the best way to configure that on 44” fabric… I could do 2 each at 12.5” wide (2 tall), for 3X12.5” = 37.5”, a little over a yard. Or I could do 17.5” wide (3 tall), for 2x17.5 = 35”, slightly less than a yard. Guess I am going to get one yard of fabric and figure out which fits best. The cutters at the counter usually allow a little wiggle room.
How to finish these off? Instead of making binding, I will buy bias tape and make my life easier. So how much of that will I need? Measure the perimeter of each mat now, (12.5x2)+(17.5x2) = 60”. Bias tape is sold by the yard, so that is roughly, 1-2/3 yard per placemat. So, multiply that by 6 and you get 10 yards on the nose.
So now my shopping list in complete. To make 6 quilt inspired placemats I need:
¼ of 6 “coordinating” fabrics
1 yard of fabric for the backs
10 yards of bias tape
Notions – I have thread and what not.
I’ll post pictures once I get them complete. Hopefully they will be as nice as I think they will be in my head.
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