Summertime Trapunto Placemat

Stitch a slice of summer! We'll show you how to make this tasteful trapunto placemat, blooming with embroidery designs in tranquil tropical colors.

June's summertime trapunto placemat is the sixth placemat in the Placemat of the Month series, and as a special bonus, we've added instructions on how to create a coordinating trapunto table runner!

Read below for free placemat instructions, then click here to create a coordinating table runner.

The first Wednesday of each month you'll find a new Placemat of the Month project, absolutely free for your use! Each project will demonstrate how to combine your love of embroidery with classic quilting methods.

Because you like the monthly placemat projects so much, once per quarter, we're throwing in a bonus table runner project that will coordinate with the monthly placemat project. This is the second quilted table runner project of 2011, and it coordinates perfectly with this month's placemat tutorial. Click here for free project instructions for the summertime trapunto table runner.

Have you missed an installment? Links are below!

January - Snowball Block Placemat
February - Lots of Love Placemat
March - Patchwork Placemat & Patchwork Table Runner
April - Spring Pinwheel Placemat
May - Sunflower Fiesta Placemat
July - Crafty Cravings Placemat
August - Puppy Love Placemat
September - Autumn Abundance Placemat & Autumn Abundance Table Runner
October - Sumi-e Embroidered Placemat
November  - Give Thanks Pocket Placemat
December  - Rudolph's Run Placemat & Rudolph's Run Table Runner

First, we will prepare the fabric for the embroidered blocks. Cut a piece of the solid colored fabric a couple of inches larger than your hoop (we cut our fabric to about 10 1/2 inches wide by 13 inches high). Then, using an air-erase pen or other marking tool, draw a 6 1/2 inch by 6 1/2 inch square in the center of the fabric. Also, mark the center of each side of the shape by measuring and dividing by two. Then, draw lines connecting the marks - where the lines meet is the exact center of the shape.

Next, create a paper template of the design by printing it at full size using embroidery software. If you don't have embroidery software, you can cut a piece of paper the shape and dimensions of the design to help with placement and centering. If you'd like a recommendation for an embroidery program that can make templates, consider Embird from www.Embird.com.

Poke a hole in the center of the template and align it with the center point on the fabric. Make sure that the design fits well within the shape - there should be at least 3/4 inch space between the outer edges of the design and the edges of the shape.

Remove the template. Then, cut a piece of the batting and the lightweight cutaway stabilizer the same size as the fabric. Next, spray the stabilizer with temporary adhesive and smooth the batting on top. Then, spray the batting with adhesive and smooth the fabric on top.

Hoop all three layers together by aligning the marks on the hoop with the lines on the fabric. 

Attach the hoop to the machine and load the design. Move the hoop so that the needle is directly over the center point on the fabric. Embroider the design.

When the design has finished, trim away the excess stabilizer on the backside of the embroidery. Repeat the fabric marking, hooping, and embroidering process to create a total of six blocks.

Fold the batting back and cut out the shape - do not trim the batting at this time.

Next we will prepare the fabric for the block borders. For the side border pieces, cut two pieces of the print fabric to 1 1/4 inches wide by 6 1/2 inches high. Align the border pieces on the right and left side of the embroidered piece, right sides together, and pin in place. 

Fold the batting back and sew a 1/4 inch seam along the pinned edges only - do not stitch through the batting.

Fold the border fabric back and press the seams with an iron.

To prepare the fabric for the top and bottom border pieces, cut two pieces of the print fabric to 8 inches wide by 1 1/4 inches high. Align the pieces on the top and bottom of the embroidered piece, right sides together, pin in place, fold the batting back, and sew a 1/4 inch seam along the pinned edges - do not sew through the batting. Press the seams.

Trim the batting around the outer edges of the borders.

Now that all the blocks are prepared, we will add the back fabric and assemble the placemat.

To prepare the back fabric, pin the embroidered blocks on top of the solid colored fabric, and cut around the outer edges of the borders.

Using nylon monofilament thread in the needle and matching thread in the bobbin (match the color of the bobbin thread to the back fabric), quilt through all the layers by sewing along the inner border seams.

To assemble the top row of blocks, align the left block on top of the middle block, right sides together, fold back the batting, and pin in place. Sew a 1/4 inch seam along the pinned edge only - do no sew through the batting.

Press the seams and then trim off 1/2 inch on one side of the batting so that the batting pieces will butt up against one another in between the blocks.

Next, overlap the back fabric in between the blocks. Fold the top fabric over 1/4 inch and press.

With needle and thread, sew a seam using a whip stitch, starting and stopping 1/2 inch from each outer edge. Then, finish the top row by repeating this process to attach the right block to the middle block. Then, assemble the bottom row of blocks just as you did the top row.

Attach the top row and bottom row together just as you did the individual blocks.

Trim off 1/2 inch of the batting around the entire outer edge of the placemat.

Fold the edges of the top fabric around the edges of the batting and press. Then, fold the edges of the bottom fabric under 1/4 inch and press. Next, pin in place and sew a 1/8 inch seam around the entire outer edge of the placemat.

Your bright trapunto placemat is now complete. Create a set of summery placemats for your kitchen table. And, click here to stitch a coordinating patchwork table runner!