We’ve all been there: You’re shopping online and something catches your eye, but you know you could make the same thing with a design better suited to you. This all too familiar feeling happened to Spoonflower team member Suz after a set of scalloped placemats found their way into her browser (and heart).
Realizing that she loved the linen look but not the colors of that set, Suz took matters into her own hands and created the double-sided Belgian Linen™ placemats of her dreams. Find out how you can recreate the look following the step-by-step tutorial—including a free placemat pattern—below.
Suz: Placemats are an easy way to celebrate a special occasion or elevate an everyday dinner. I spotted some lovely (and quite expensive) scallop-trimmed linen placemats at a boutique online, and decided to try my hand at recreating them with some beautiful designs from Spoonflower.
With toddlers at home, we don’t entertain much—though we are quite entertained by their antics, however these placemats remind me that even a little effort for a holiday meal, anniversary or birthday dinner goes a long way.
You can make two double-sided 17.5″ (44.5 cm) placemats with one yard or meter of Belgian Linen™ that is quite luxurious and beautiful. Or make a budget-friendly version by using a different woven backing fabric or two yards or meters of another medium-weight woven fabric like Linen Cotton Canvas or Lightweight Cotton Twill.
Making these placemats to set your table for the holidays?
Don’t miss these styling tips for a flawless and functional tablescape.
How to Make 4 Double-Sided Placemats
Materials
- 2 yards or meters of Belgian Linen (or any medium-weight woven fabric such as Lightweight Cotton Twill or Linen Cotton Canvas)
- I’m using designs Indienne – Indigo by colourcult for one side of the placemat and Grey French Ticking Stripe by mlags for the other
- Sewing machine
- Denim/jean needle (size 100/16) or Universal needle (size 90/14)
- Coordinating thread (size 30, 35 or 40)
- Disappearing ink pen or marking pencil
- Pinking shears
- Fabric scissors
- Hand sewing needle
- Free printable scallop placemat pattern
- This includes a circle that you’ll trace and cut as well as a scalloped circle that you’ll trace and use as a sewing guide.
1. Prewash Your Fabric
To reduce fraying when you prewash your fabric, serge or stay-stitch the edge of your fabric. Belgian Linen and most other woven fabrics will shrink when washed since they are made of natural fibers, so do prewash the fabric. For Belgian Linen, you should machine wash warm or cool on a gentle/delicate cycle, tumble dry low. Iron on the reverse side of the fabric with steam to help soften.
2. Cut Out Your Pattern Pieces
Trim the selvages with a rotary cutter or scissors. Use the non-scallop circle pattern to trace four 18″ (46 cm) circles on one 2-yard piece of fabric (you’ll be using the full width and height so start as close to an edge as possible) and cut with a rotary cutter or fabric scissors. Trace four 18″ (46 cm) circles on the other 2-yard piece of fabric and cut.
3. Trace the Scallop Pattern Onto Your Placemat
Use your marker to trace the scallop pattern onto the unprinted side of one of your circles. Match up the two different designs of fabric circles right sides together and pin.
4. Stitch the Placemat Pieces Together
Set your machine to a straight stitch at 2.5 mm apart (the standard setting on a Brother CS-6000i). Start your needle approximately ½” from the lowest point of a scallop, start to stitch and then backstitch to secure your stitch. Follow the traced line, raising your fabric to pivot around each valley angle.
Continue around the circle slowly, guiding the fabric through all of the peaks and valleys until you’re about ½” (1.25 cm) past the last valley, leaving about 2″ (5 cm) open over the curve of one scallop. Backstitch to secure your thread.
5. Trim Your Seam Allowance
Remove the placemat from your machine and use pinking shears to cut close to your stitch line, approximately ¼” (.65 cm) away. Note: I tested this project on a quilting cotton and found it to be much easier to use pinking shears than with the linen—you’ll get a hand workout trying to cut through two layers of upholstery grade fabric!
Use your fabric scissors to clip a straight line very close to your stitch line at the deepest point of your scallops, approximately 1/6″ (.4 cm) away. Make sure you don’t clip into your stitches.
5. Turn Your Placemat Right Side Out
Maneuver the fabric through the opening so the right sides are facing out. Use a chopstick or turning tool to push each of the scallops out to their rounded shape.
6. Stitch the Placemat Opening Closed
Shape the final unfinished scallop. Hand sew an invisible stitch (also known as ladder stitch) to close the opening. Iron the placemat using steam to help flatten the seams.
Repeat three more times to have a full set of placemats to enjoy.
We want to see your version of Suz’s scalloped placemats! Shop our new Belgian Linen and be sure to tag your pictures with @spoonflower and #spoonflower so we can see how you’re setting the table this season. No time to DIY? Shop one-of-kind home decor on Spoonflower.
Thank you for this great pattern tutorial. I found the 18″ circle pattern referenced for download is actually a 16 5/8″ circle (yes, I confirmed print size with the one inch square). This actually works better (gives more leeway for fitting on fabric). I got 6 placemats using four yards of linen cotton canvas . Two yards for the top and two yards for the reverse side.
I did a wrinkle wash test also to compare the Linen Cotton vs. the Twill Cotton to see how much wrinkle each fabric produced. I used Pellon 987 for interfacing in one, no interfacing in another, and one Twill Cotton with interfacing. I prewashed the linen cotton and not the Twill as the twill version was made months prior. After sewing I machine washed on gentle and low temperature dryer test.
Results: The linen cotton NON- interfaced version had lots of wrinkles (some ironed out but visible wrinkles remained). The interfaced version had way less wrinkles, ironing out better than the non-interfaced version.
Linen tends to wrinkle badly so that’s why I compared the two, and compared with the twill version. The twill interfaced version had NO wrinkles when I took it out of the dryer. No need to do any ironing, no wrinkles.
Hands down the Twill Cotton won the wrinkle test.
Nice to Know Note: The linen cotton interfaced version looked so much better (professional) than the non-interfaced version. And I’m sure it will last longer also.
Hope this helps anyone asking questions about wrinkling using linen, and the option of interfacing them.
Happy Sewing,
Marylou
Thanks for coming back and sharing what you learned Marylou, it’s much appreciated!
Best,
Betsy
Spoonflower
I think this is Lovely on the table, going to make this!
I use Delfts Blue Material I have, also will make a runner in the middle of the table.
Glad you like these, Janna! I bet that will look great for those pieces!
Best,
Betsy
Spoonflower
Your work is very beautiful, I was delighted
I love it!
Thank you I can’t wait to make them.
This pattern is exactly what I was looking for to sew. Thanks for the patterns and tutorial.
I love this pattern. Do you have a pattern for a rectangle placemat. I would love it too
Hi Shirl,
You can modify this placemat pattern to be any shape you’d like- the sewing process is still the same!
Best,
Anna
Spoonflower
Would love to have an oval pattern. My table is oval.
Hi Sehoy,
You can definitely alter this pattern to create oval placemats for your oval table!
Before cutting your pattern out, use the original circle shape as a size reference to draw an oval that you can cut. Same process with the scalloped piece, though you may have to distribute the scallops differently depending on how round of an oval you’re looking for. The sewing steps should be the same as in the tutorial– your placemat will just be a little wider.
Happy sewing!
Anna
Spoonflower
Thank you for sharing. They are lovely. Can’t wait to make a set.
These are so pretty! I see another project being added to my list. Thanks so much for sharing this. ☺️
I Love this! Do you perhaps have a template for a scalloped rectangle placemat?
Thank you, Martha! We don’t have a rectangle template yet, but we’ll keep that in mind to add as a future variation.
Best,
Suz from Spoonflower
I have a lot of leftover fabric from making a round tablecloth. I’m definitely going to make these for a gift!
That’s a great idea, Laura!
This would look a lot better if you put fusible interfacing in it like Pellon 987F. It would be more effective as a placemat too in protecting your table top.
I would love to see your version with interfacing, Marji—I’m sure it will look lovely! The Belgian Linen is upholstery grade so it’s quite thick, but I imagine the interfacing would be even more effective at protecting the table from those super-hot dishes.
Thanks for the idea!
Suz
Beautiful! I’m gonna try it.
Great idea for a nice change up to the holiday table setting. This takes your table from drab to eye-catching. Nice
Love the scalloped edges but I think I want to use this to store my china bowls, to keep them from chipping.
I used quilted fabric and made circles for my china and pans. works great, I just zig zagged the edges . A serger would also work but I don’t have one.
Lovely placements. I love the scalloped edges. I might need to do this for the holidays.