how to make the around the world quilt pattern, how to make a quilted placemat with around the world pattern

How to Make a Quilted Placemat with the "Around the World" Quilt Pattern

Well, in all honesty, I saw this quilt pattern as a placemat in a magazine, fell in love with it, and decided to make my mom two placemats and matching napkins for Mother's day. Using no directions, I had to figure it out for myself. I can whip up any outfit or costume you need, and I consider my self a somewhat of an expert in that area, but I do not consider myself an expert quilter. Well, NOW I know how to make this, and I can make one in no time. But me trying to figure it out....it took me 4 hours to make one placemat...yes..., I could have made my mom 3 sun dresses for Mother's day during that time! LOL... Anyway, once you figure it out, they are a lot of fun to make!

	Gather up 10 different colors of fabric you would like to use for your quilted placemat. (If you count my fabrics in the photo you will only see 9 colors...one of my whites was not in the photo.) Please Note: - a 1/4" seam allowance will be used throughout this project.
	Cut two 1 1/2" strips from each fabric which is 45" wide. (Most cotton calico fabric for quilting comes 45".) Please note: The two strips will only make one placemat. So if you are making 4 place mats, you will need 8 strips, if you are making 2 placemats, you will need 4 strips of each color.
	Using a 1/4" seam allowance begin pinning and sewing the strips together.
	This is what it will look like when you have all ten strips of fabric sewn together.

	PRESS all the seams one way. Make sure every seam lies nice and flat.
	Now sew the last two long ends pretty sides together as shown in the photo so that you will be creating a "tube" of strips. Do this to your other 10 strips of fabric as well.
	Next, using a rotary cutter, you will need to cut strips of the tube 1 1/2" as shown in the photo. Before you do, make sure you cut off the end where the fabrics strip may not be even. Just throw it away. Now this ensures that the first strip will be nice and even.
	This next part was a little difficult for me until I figured it out. You will need to seam rip each of the tube pieces at different parts so that they are flat again. You will be seam ripping them at different places so that you can begin to form the right side of the place mat. I started with my dark green square as my guide and work from there as you can see in the photograph.

	Continue doing this by lining up the strips of sewn squares until you have the pattern and look that you want on the right hand side of the place mat. (There will be 11 rows of 10 little squares sewn together.) If you are sure that everything lines up the way you want it, you can go ahead and start sewing the right side of the placemat together. Take the first row and line it up with the second row PRETTY SIDES TOGETHER pinning at ALL of the seams. Stitch. Now pin the second row to the third row in the same manner. Stitch. It is very important that you pin at the seams making sure they match! Continue this until all the rows are sewn together and the right side of the placemat quilt top is all sewn.
	Now begin to work on the left side of the placemat in the same manner by lining up the rows with the pattern you want. Make sure you begin from the center of the placemat and work your way towards the end of the placemat. You will notice on the left hand side of the placemat that you will have one extra square at each end. Just seam rip it off and throw it away.
	Once all the rows are done you can start sewing the rows together on the left hand side in the same manner you did for the right side of the placemat. Once the left hand side of the placemat is done, pin the left and right sides of the placemat together matching and pinning at ALL seams PRETTY SIDES together. Stitch in place. There...the top of the placemat is done. Press.
	Place the backing on the table with the pretty side down, then place the quilt batting, then place the quilt top on top of the batting with the pretty side up, just like the photo shows.

	Using a straight stitch, zigzag, or an embroidery stitch on your machine, or sew by hand, begin quilting the 3 layers together. I decided to use an embroidery stitch and stitch across the squares diagonally making a diamond shape.
	Here is is close-up of the quilting I decided to do.
	Once you have quilted to your desire, trim off the excess backing and batting.


	At this point your quilted placemat is done and all you need to do is bind it. You can use pre-made double fold bias tape which is found at your local fabric store, or you can create your own. I decided to create my own so that the fabric for the binding would match my placemat.

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