Every once in a while I like to challenge myself with something new in my quilt studio. When the opportunity came around to choose fabrics for my third quarter Benartex Sewcial Star projects I decided that this would be that opportunity. I decided to make something using a panel and some coordinating fabrics. I have rarely worked with panels so I decided that this would be my challenge. The fabric and panel I chose were from Benartex’s new line Illuminations. It was designed by Peggy Collins. This fabric line and the panel are striking and the colors just spoke to me when I was designing my project. Join me as I show you how to make easy placemats made from a fabric panel.

For my placemats I chose the Illuminations panel (just look at how that tree glows) and six coordinating fabrics. The purple fabric is called Echo in Dark Purple. It goes perfectly with the Illuminations fabric line.

Disclosure: Some of the items used in this tutorial were generously provided by Benartex Fabrics.

Watch & Learn Easy Placemats Made From a Fabric Panel

Fabric Requirements

Note: I chose to mix and match various coordinating fabrics so I used various 1/4 yard cuts for fabrics 3 and 4. You could also use various fat quarters for fabrics 3 and 4.

Tip: Cutting a panel can be quite tricky. I really don’t create with them so I did some research online. There are a number of good blog posts and videos that can help you out.

Need Supplies?

I have curated a shop with some of my favorite quilting/crafting tools in my Amazon store. You can shop here.
MY AMAZON STORE

As An Amazon Affiliate I Earn From Qualifying Purchases at No Extra Cost To You

Assembling the Center

Sew a 1 1/2″ x 10 1/2″ strip from fabric 2 to the top and bottom of your 10 1/2″ square. Press to the strip and set section aside.

Next we are making the half square triangles. Pair up 6 of the fabric 3 squares with the 6 fabric 2 squares. In addition, pair up the remaining 6 of the fabric 3 squares with the 6 fabric 4 squares.

Draw a diagonal line on the back (wrong) side of the lighter fabrics in the pairs. Line up the squares with right sides facing and sew a 1/4″ seam allowance along both sides of the drawn lines.

On the drawn line, cut the unit in half. Then trim the half square triangle to 2 1/2″ square. The square quilter’s ruler with a diagonal line will help with that. Repeat until you have a total of 24 half square triangles. 12 will be a combination of fabrics 2 and 3 and 12 will be a combination of fabrics 3 and 4.

Sew them together so that the center is made up of fabric 3. Repeat until you have 6 of these units.

Line up three of the units and sew them together. You will get two strips, one for each side of the placemat.

Line up one strip on the left with fabric 2 next to the panel and one strip on the right with fabric 2 next to the panel. Sew the placemat top together.

Lastly, layer the backing fabric with your favorite batting and the placemat top and quilt as desired. I used a simple cross hatch to quilt mine. The thread color I used was dark purple because I wanted my quilting to blend in so the star of the show was that center panel.

Bind the placemat using your favorite method. I did machine binding using 2 1/2″ strips. Here are the six finished placemats. They are going to look beautiful on my table!

You don’t need to have a panel to make these pretty placemats. Here are a few ideas using other fabrics. These are all Benartex fabrics. From left to right: Center square is from the Illuminations line and the outer fabrics are all from their Fossil Fern line. Next up is a selection from their line called Winsome and on the right is a selection from their Winter Haven line. Notice that I mixed up the half square triangles a bit to give it a different twist.

I hope you give these easy placemats made from a fabric panel a try. They will make any tablescape look lovely.

Happy Quilting! – Claudia