Christmas in July: Wonky Star Placemats

Welcome to Benartex's Christmas in July Blog Hop here at Sew in Love with Fabric! We'll be sharing holiday-themed tutorials this week and beyond, so be sure to stop by each day to see a new tutorial and have a chance to win some fabric to get your own holiday sewing started!

Today Kristen from KD-Quilts is here with an easy placemat design using E. Vive's Santa's Here collection. Check out Kristen's tutorial and then head over to her blog to find out how you can win a fat quarter bundle of Santa's Here.  

 Hello! My name is Kristen Danis and I blog over at KD-Quilts. I am thrilled to be here today sharing a super simple placemat tutorial with you! For me, when I'm sewing home decor items for Christmas, I instantly think of patchwork and stars. There's just something that makes it feel like Christmas cheer.

This tutorial makes a 16x14 inch placemat. Size easily adjustable.

These can easily be made with a fat quarter bundle. I used Santa's Here by E. Vive from Benartex (and you can win your own bundle...keep reading!)

Cut 55 2.5 inch squares out of prints for patchwork

9 2.5 inch squares for star

fabric for backing and binding

Up first is making the star units:

2 star squares + 1 patchwork square = one star side. Four needed per star.

 

 Place one star square over a patchwork square. No exact science here, remember it's wonky!

Sew 1/4 inch and trim. Press open.

 

 Place another star square over the two sewn together. Again, no exacts. Just be sure you are covering where the first star square is and overlapping to the side on the patchwork square. Press open.  

Trim unit down to 2.5 inches. Repeat three more times, each time using a different patchwork square.

 

Sew star unit together as follows:  

 Continue sewing the rest of the patchwork placemat. Your rows should have 8 squares per row and be 7 rows tall. I made a set of four placemats with one star per mat and changed where the star is located in each one. I chose to quilt echoing the star (you can see the back side of the placemat, which shows off the quilting, below). It made a fun design on the rest of the placemat and the star stands out. It gives a little more interest than plain straight lines, and is still super easy.

  

 Thanks for checking out my project and be sure to take a look at all of the other wonderful Christmas in July posts on Sew in Love with Fabric!    

Thanks Kristen!

Head over to Kristen's blog to find out how you can win a fat quarter bundle of Santa's Here to play with!

And be sure to stop back each day of our blog hop for a different Christmas in July tutorial featuring our holiday fabrics!

Here's our schedule:

Monday: Santa Sack by Chris from Made by Chrissie D using Happy Holidays Snowmen

Tuesday: Tree Skirt by Debby from Debby Kratovil Quilts using Homespun Holiday

Wednesday: Throw Pillow by Kelly from My Quilt Infatuation using Ornamental Splendor

Thursday: Wonky Star Placemats by Kristen from KD Quilts using Santa's Here

Friday: Christmas Card Organizer by Melissa from My Fabric Relish using Frosty Forest

Monday: Table Runner and Napkins by Nikki from The Girl Who Quilts using Frosty Forest

Tuesday: Wintry Wall Banner by Wendy from Ivory Spring using Shades of Winter