Nontraditional Fall Placemats

A few weeks back after I finished my dining room table my family suggested we have Thanksgiving dinner at our house this year.  Right away I got to thinking about how I would pull this off!  But then after the panic eased I got excited and started thinking about how I could decorate!  Since I had worked so hard on refinishing our table, I thought I should make some festive placemats.  I went to Joann's fabrics but I couldn't find anything that really jumped out at me.  The fall inspired fabrics were to "fall-y" for me so I thought maybe I could use something nontraditional but still formal enough for the occasion.

I searched on Joann's website and found a Waverly fabric I really liked, "Tucker" in the moss color.  I know, moss not a traditional color choice for fall but it works with the colors in our dining room (blue and green) and the print seemed to fit.  Nothing says Thanksgiving like a pheasant...........well I guess turkey, but they are along the same lines, right?  And the green would double for Christmas placemats as well.....Woohoo, I was on a roll!  And being all about multiple uses I figured I could put different prints on either side so I chose a more everyday fabric in Waverly's Chippendale Fretwork in mineral blue.  I found the fabric for cheaper on Ebay in an indoor/outdoor fabric which would make them easy to clean if there are any spills.  Perfecto!

Here's a little sneak peak at how things came together.  I did a little fall-inspired decorating just to show that it does work for the season.

Now to the details.  I wasn't sure the measurements of placemats as I didn't previously have any so I did a little scouting at Target.  I found the placemat isle and looked at the measurements on the price tags, 14"x19".  So that probably translates to fabric cut to 15"x20" with 1/2" seams.  I measured things out on my fabric and used a right angle to make sure things were straight.  I tried to keep the pheasant to the center of the fabric so I wouldn't have any headless birds.

For sewing, I placed the two good sides of the fabric together and sewed around the edges, leaving a few inches open at the bottom for flipping the fabric right side out.  I'm not sure my seams were exactly 1/2", I made all the seams the width of the sewing foot because I find that easier.

After flipping the fabric right side out I hand sewed the remaining opening closed.

 

Here's a picture of how the green-colored side looks:

 

And the blue:

Then I got to work decorating the table.  I used a strip of canvas from a drop cloth as a runner down the center of the table.  I also bought a few pumpkins and gourds at our local farmers' market that I placed down the length of the table and on a cakestand in the center.   For the cloth napkins, I had left over guinea feathers I had used for boutonniere decoration for our wedding that I held in place with twine.  And I got out the vintage silver my Grandma gave me as a wedding present.

And for more informal occasions:

 

I'm so excited about how things turned out, I can't wait to share it with my family!

Sharing at:

Centsational Girl