Rustic Silk: DIY "West Elm" Table Mat

In June I went down to S.California and visited two of my besties. We worked on a big chair project that I posted about and in the end, we had a couple yards of extra fabric we never used on anything. So I told my friend I would take it home and create her something for her table.

She doesn't like her table, but isn't at the point that she wants to purchase a replacement. We talked about table cloths, but those just aren't her style. I'm hoping this fun table mat is! Her table is a slightly smaller rectangle than the table shown above, but it could really go on any shape.

The design is inspired by one of my favorite places to shop....WEST ELM.

Can you see the similarity? I plan to do some pillow patterns down the road. So let's get going on how I sewed the table mat. First off, I have to give a disclaimer...I am not an experienced pattern designer and definitely don't write patterns for a career like my mother.

You will need 2 fabrics. One will be the dominant fabric which you will be cutting about 2 36" squares from total. The second fabric (inside diamond) does not take much fabric at all. If you purchased 1/2 a yard, you will have extra to do accent pieces with.

Instructions:
Cut 1 36" x 36" square of your dominant fabric (back)
Cut about 36" x 36" medium-light weight fusible web (can be in multiple pieces)
Cut 4 18" x 18" squares of your dominant fabric (front)
Cut 2 14" x 7" strips of your center fabric
**All seams are 1/4" unless described otherwise

Take your 18" x 18" squares and measure 7" from the corner on both sides of one corner of your block and mark with a pencil.

Lay your ruler from pencil mark to pencil mark (as shown above) and cut the corner off on each 18" x 18" square.

Next, take your 2 14" x 7" strips and make a pencil mark at the middle of the long 14" side of each strip. Then take the ruler and make a cut from each corner to the pencil mark as shown below.

Lay all your pieces out as a virtual table mat, to make sewing the pieces together more simple.

I started sewing the right side together first. Make sure that when you are sewing pieces together, you always lay the right sides of the fabric together.

If you follow the pictures, sewing the top should be pretty simple. The first picture I sewed the center fabric to the lower quarter, then I folded that piece over (right sides together) and sewed it to the top quarter. In the second to last picture I sewed the middle seam. Make sure to pin it and start sewing at the last seam where the fabrics come to a point. You should not sew on the center fabric. In the last picture you can see it all sewn together. Repeat the same process for the left side of the table mat.

Once both sides are complete, you will need to do a quick cut to even up the center fabric with the main fabric on both halves (as shown below).

The last step for sewing the top of the table mat, is to do the center seam, which is one big long straight seam. One tip, is to match up the two seams from the center fabric and pin from there. If you match up the ridges of the seams (as shown below) and pin them, you will have more accurate points. This is a BIG deal to quilters. I think mine turned out pretty well (my momma would be proud).

Next, take your 36"x 36" back and iron on the medium-light weight fusible web. Next time, I might actually iron the fusible to my top, to help it lay more flat. The only reason I did not this time was because I was concerned it would make the seams show through too much...

Last, you will need to lay your top to the bottom 36" x 36" piece and trim them to match. Since you did a bunch of sewing on the top, they will not lay perfectly together. Make sure you are trimming them square. Once you have done that, lay them right sides together and sew around the outside, leaving a 7" opening to flip it back right sides out. Iron the table mat, tucking the 7" opening in so that it's folded about 1/4" and then do whatever top stitching you would like. You can either hand stitch the 7" opening shut with an invisible stitch, or you can do a top stitch around the outside edge and catch the opening so it's sewn shut. **Be careful to do an extra small seam allowance so that you DO catch that opening and get it sewn shut. I did skinnier than a 1/4" seam allowance here to catch the opening on my way by.

Here is how I top stitched mine:

As you can see, I started with the presser foot along the center edge and did three lines of top stitching for accent. Makes it look even more similar to the West Elm pillow!