Make It Monday: Picnic-tastic Placemats

Written on November 23, 2009 at 3:39 pm, by Team DIY

There are a lot of ways to plan and present a Thanksgiving dinner. Looking for a twist on tradition this year? Have some friends over for a post-Thanksgiving leftovers picnic! Spread a blanket on the floor, break out your cutest picnic basket, and whip up a set of these fantastic DIY placements. Turkey sandwiches never looked so rad!

This project is just one of 101 in a brand-new book, One-Yard Wonders: 101 Sewing Projects. We interviewed Patricia Hoskins, one of the book’s editors, a couple of weeks ago. Today’s project comes from Patricia’s co-editor, Rebecca Yaker. She designed it with warmer temps in mind, but we think it’s perfect for combating chilly November weather. You could even make a batch of lemonade! Enjoy! – Team DIY

Picnic-tastic Lunch Mats

Designed by Rebecca Yaker
Prepare to enjoy a lovely outdoor meal on these very stylish picnic-ready placemats! They’re perfectly portable — just slip your utensils right into the pocket. And don’t worry about losing your napkin on those breezy days, because there’s a handy spot for that, too!

MATERIALS

• 1 yard of 44/45″ fabric
• 1 spool of coordinating thread

Finished dimensions — each placemat is 11″ x 15″ (1 yard of fabric makes 4)
Seam allowance — 1/2″ unless otherwise specifi ed

1. MEASURE, MARK, and CUT
With right sides together, fold your fabric in half lengthwise, aligning the selvages. Measure and mark the following pattern pieces directly on the wrong side of your fabric, then cut them out:

• Placemat 22″ wide x 16″ tall (cut 4)
• Pocket 7″ wide x 4″ tall (cut 4)
• Napkin holder 2″ wide x 4″ tall (cut 4)

Note: Place “tall” dimensions along the grainline of your fabric.

2. MAKE the PLACEMATS

With right sides together, fold a placemat in half, matching short ends. Stitch around all three raw edges, leaving a 41/2″ opening along long edge for turning. Clip the corners and turn right side out. Neatly turn the raw edges at the opening to the inside; press. Topstitch around all four sides of placemat, stitching the turning opening closed as you go. Do the same for the three remaining placemats.

3. MAKE the POCKETS
On the top edge of a pocket piece, make a narrow 1/4″ double-fold hem (see page 19). Topstitch. Fold and press the napkin holders as you would to make double-fold bias tape (see page 18). Topstitch along both long edges. Position napkin holder on pocket, 2″ down from the top hemmed edge, aligning raw edges. Baste in place along sides. Press the three raw edges of the pocket (and attached napkin holder) 1/2″ to the wrong side. Place on the right side of placemat, 1″ from edge, and 1″ up from the bottom. Topstitch around bottom and side edges, leaving top open to insert utensils. Repeat these steps for remaining three placemats.

Reprinted with permission from One Yard Wonders, published by Storey Publishing, LLC., October 2009

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5 Questions with Patricia Hoskins of Crafty Planet

Written on October 21, 2009 at 10:26 am, by Team DIY

Good luck trying to leave Crafty Planet.

Once you’re inside, you don’t really want to go anywhere. Let’s begin with the latest Amy Butler fabrics. And entire walls of designer yarns. The campy-cool Sublime Stitching embroidery patterns. A well-edited selection of knitting, DIY, and crafts books. Tons of fun notions, embellishments, and hip sewing stuff. An entire back area for workshops, classes, and impromptu crafting. The shop itself is situated in Minneapolis’ hip Northeast neighborhood, with a vintage clothing store next door.

The store’s owner, Patricia Hoskins, is another reason to visit. She’s a one-woman wealth of crafty and creative knowledge. When we stopped by the shop, she had a brand-new baby nestled into a sling (constructed from super-cute fabric, of course), while she sorted mail, tracked sales, and paid invoices.

Not only does the new mom manage operations at Crafty Planet, work a separate day job, and organize the No Coast Craft-o-Rama, she is also co-author of a new book, out today. One-Yard Wonders: 101 Fabulous Fabric Projects is a nice, fat book packed with home décor, fashion, accessory, and other projects you can sew up using a yard or less of fabric.

Trish took a few moments to chat with Team DIY about her shop, her book, and what’s on the horizon.

Do It Yourself: When and why did you launch the store? How has it grown and changed?
Patricia Hoskins: We opened the store in October 2003 after some solid planning and prep. Our main motivation was to provide a warm, welcoming, fun place for new crafters to learn and to find those fabrics and supplies that were cool and hard to find locally. Emphasis being on the welcoming and friendly atmosphere; when I was learning to sew and knit myself, I would often find myself intimidated and overwhelmed in the specialty yarn and fabric shops, afraid to ask a stupid question.

Originally we envisioned carrying a little bit of everything crafty — cool stamps, papers, and more, plus consignment handmade goods, in addition to fabrics and yarns and other needlecrafts. Soon we realized we would do better to focus a bit more, so we stuck primarily to needlecrafts. We do still carry kids’ craft kits in a variety of areas, along with a few handmade consignment lines, but those are minimal.

As far as how we’ve changed, we started on a shoestring, so we now carry far more fabrics and yarns, and we’re much deeper in basic notions and supplies, as well.

DIY: What types of classes do you teach? What do you love about teaching?
PH: I’ve taught knitting, crochet, embroidery, and sewing — mostly beginning classes. I enjoy seeing people learn a new skill and gain that confidence in themselves. So many people say, “I’m not crafty at all!” or “I’m sure I will suck at this,” then they concoct awesome crafty goodness! I guess there’s a certain kind of crafty/creative “spark” that I enjoy seeing getting fired up for the first time.

DIY: Congratulations on the new book! How did you come up with 101 sewing projects? That’s a lot!
PH: One-Yard Wonders is a collaboration not just between Rebecca Yaker, my co-author, and me, but about 70 contributors as well. 101 is a lot of projects! We mostly solicited contributors through blogs, craft forums like Craftster, word-of-mouth, and Crafty Planet newsletters. We had so many great submissions we actually didn’t have room for them all. Rebecca and I contributed several projects of our own, of course. Some things we were already making anyway, or had been thinking of trying to make — then we just had to figure out how to do it with just one yard of fabric.

DIY: Who and what inspires you?

PH: I am a very big fan of retro and vintage design in everything from crafts and textiles, to architecture and furniture, and more. I particularly love the midcentury modern aesthetic, but not just mid-century; I appreciate design from a variety of eras and cultures. Also, our customers inspire me every day! Seeing what they’re putting together for colors and patterns and seeing their finished projects — this all gives me great inspiration.
DIY: What’s on the horizon for you and Crafty Planet?
PH: I’m working on a book called Crafty Planet Goes Green, which will feature sewing, knitting, and other needlecraft-y projects using all recycled materials. Of course I hope Rebecca and I can continue developing a One Yard Wonders series in the vein of the One-Skein Wonders series, though that’s all TBD.

On a personal note, my husband and I just had a baby in September, so a big part of everything in my life will be just figuring out how to juggle all my varying commitments! In addition to the shop and my writing endeavors, I also work more than 30 hours a week as a business librarian, so time management is top of my agenda right now.

Visit Crafty Planet’s online store here. Or stop by the real deal! Crafty Planet is located at 2833 Johnson St. NE, Minneapolis, MN 55418

Pick up a copy of One-Yard Wonders: 101 Fabulous Fabric Projects here. Or find it at your local crafts shop!

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