Placemats to Casserole Cover

Create your own portable casserole cover with just two placemats and a little stitching! Bright and beautiful embroidery adds a personal touch; ribbons attached to the edge make the perfect ties. Carry your casserole in style with this fun -- and functional -- cover.

Begin by planning where to stitch the design on the placemat.

A template is a printout of a design, and it's an excellent tool for planning where to stitch.

Print a template of the design from your embroidery software.

If you do not have embroidery software to print templates, try  Wilcom's TrueSizer, a free program.

After you have the template positioned where you want to stitch the design, mark the center point, as well as the vertical and horizontal axis lines.

Hoop the placemat with a piece of cutaway stabilizer, lining up the marks on the placemat with the marks on the hoop.

Use a size 11 or 75/11 sharp sewing needle when embroidering the design. That sharp, fine point will work very well to penetrate the layers in the quilted placemat.

After embroidering, trim the excess stabilizer away from the back. Leave about 1/2" around the design.

Pair the embroidered placemat with a blank one, wrong sides together.

Pin in place.

Sew a 1/2" seam along the top, bottom, and one of the sides.

Leave the side to the right of the design open, as that is where the pan will be inserted.

Turn the cover inside out.

Cut four 10" lengths of ribbon.

Pin the ribbon about 2" in from each corner on the open ends. The ribbon should extend 1 1/2" into the placemat.

Stitch the ribbons in place.

Turn the cover right side out, and slide the casserole pan inside.

Tie the end shut with the ribbons.

Whip up a casserole cover in no time with these easy instructions. Your friends and loved ones will never guess it was made out of quilted placemats!