Merry And Bright
It's the most wonderful time of the year....gift making season! What perfectly perfect presents you can make with Dani Mogstad's newest holiday collection Merry and Bright , brought to us by Riley Blake Designs.
Dani's paired delightful vintage images with fresh, modern colors that will work beautifully in today's decor. We chose to make one of our favorite placemat patterns that's super easy, quick to make and a great gift.
We've been making this pattern for years, usually using a rollie pollie of 2.5" strips in a scrappy style with a subtle background fabric. This time we did the opposite. We chose the main print from Merry and Bright, which has large, directional elements in the design. Then we chose two of the smallest prints, charming snowflakes, for our 2.5" squares. Take a look at this collection and you'll know how difficult it was to choose just three prints!
We backed them with this gorgeous ornament print which makes the mats reversible. They are bound with Riley Blake Designs Basics in Alpine Shade. We thought it made a beautiful frame for the prints.
WHAT YOU NEED
To make the four placemats shown you will need the following:
14" C8390 Merry Main Light Green
10" C8395 Snowflakes Cream
5" C8395 Snowflakes Pink
30" C8391 Ornaments Pink (backing)
15" C200 RBD Alpine Shade (binding)
Batting
Why the weird amounts in inches rather than yards? If you'd like to make multiple sets of mats it is far easier to calculate how much you'll need. In fact, if you buy a Rolie Polie of Merry and Bright you could make seven sets of four mats! You'd mix and match the prints in a scrappy style. Then you could just figure how much you'd need of the background, backing and binding. Clearly, we have big plans for you!
WHAT TO CUT
The main print is directional, so the 2.5" x 6.5" pieces should be cut directionally, which is why they are listed separately. If your print is not directional, just cut 16 pieces 2.5" x 6.5".
From Main print cut:
4- 6.5" x 6.5"
8- 2.5" x 6.5"
8- 6.5" x 2.5"
16- 2.5" x 2.5" squares
From Snowflakes Cream cut:
4- 2.5" x WOF strips, sub-cut into 64 2.5" x 2.5" squares.
From Snowflakes Pink cut:
2- 2.5" x WOF strips, sub-cut into 32 2.5" x 2.5" squares.
From Ornaments Pinks cut:
4- 15" x 15" squares
From Batting cut:
4- 15" x 15" squares
From Binding fabric cut:
6- 2.25" x WOF strips (or whatever width you like to cut your binding)
If you are using multiple prints, here's the basic layout:
START SEWING
Begin by sewing all of the pink snowflake squares to a white snowflake square. Press all seams toward the pink square. You'll have eight white/pink sets with eight white squares leftover.
Following the diagram above, sew three white/pink sets together with one more white square to create Row B. Do the same to create Row D.
Sew Row A and Row E, paying close attention to directional prints if you are using them. Press the seams in these rows toward the background fabrics.
To make Row C, sew a white square to the two remaining white/pink sets. Press seams toward pink squares. Sew these sets to the main center square. Sew a 2.5" x 6.5" Background fabric to each side. Press seams toward the background fabrics.
Sew the rows together, nesting seams.
FINISH
Layer a complete top and a square of batting on top of a pressed backing square. The batting and backing are larger than the top to make quilting easier. Quilt as you wish then trim the mat to 14.5" inches square.
Bind as you normally do.
EXTRAS!
If you are more a rectangle than a square person, look how easy it is to convert this pattern:
Just cut the center sections four inches bigger and add 2 - 2.5" squares to Rows B and D.
Next up on the blog: how to make more fast, easy gifts! Use scraps or fat quarters to make this charming candy dish or a larger napkin box out of just two squares of fabric, a bit of batting and some binding.
We may be in the midst of a heat wave but it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here!
Ready, set, sew!
-AH
