Sewing the Centerpiece Tablemat
Today let's look at some parts of sewing the Centerpiece Tablemat together. This isn't my pattern so I can't give you all the info. The tablemat was Patchwork Parcel's September kit. It's an awesome quick project and would be a great way to use up some of those scraps I know you have hanging around!
This pattern is designed by Terri Staats and you find more of her patterns at her website - https://www.sweettreasuresquilts.com/ In the pattern, Terri gives wonderful instructions for making the center octagon.
The picture below is of the end of the second round. You can see that the eighth strip has been sewn on and trimmed up (upper dotted brown strip). Now you can complete the partial seam you created with the first strip (burgundy floral strip).
Here you can see the partial seam has been completed and getting ready to trim it up.
When you get the top done, layer the top, batting and backing together, and smooth the top out. In the picture below you can see that I've just used regular straight pins to pin the 3 layers together. It is a small project and straight pins were handy. You should probably use safety pins - much safer and you can get those curved ones that are really easy to use.
If you have a walking foot for your sewing machine, I highly recommend using it for quilting straight lines.
Here's how I quilted the tablemat on my domestic sewing machine. First I basted the layers together all around the outside edge. You can see in the picture below that I've marked straight lines with chalk in the center octagon of the tablemat.
Then I stitched in the ditch around the center octagon and in between the second and third row of strips.
Lastly, I quilted straight lines in the center patch, going from corner to corner.
Here it is all finished! You can see the quilting lines in the center pretty well.
I was really pleased with how the Centerpiece Tablemat turned out! I'm going to have to make one with Christmas scraps that I recently found in my stash!
Happy Quilting!
Elaine