Rust Dyed Placemats

I have been procrastinating about this project for quite a while, but it was really starting to bother me - not having a way to set a nice table that looks like it belongs in my lovely redecorated kitchen and dining room. Besides, the blue and yellow placemats I have been using for the past 15 years are starting to show wear on the binding (I am really amazed by the way they have lasted - they are washed at least once a week!)

I wanted to use up some of my scraps, and wanted to limit myself to using only scraps of fabric that I have dyed or painted or discharged. I wanted to use rust dyed fabric, because that is what I used to make the valance in the kitchen. I wanted to mix in some black because my new china is black. After sorting through the scrap bin, I discovered I did not really have a lot of small scraps of my own hand dyed, printed, discharged fabrics. I started sewing strips together, anyway, and then cut them down to a 3 1/2 inch width and kept sewing, making a long strip. This was pieced into the larger pieces of rust dyed fabric.

Here is the table runner (Above) before quilting.


The quilting was a bit of a dilemma. I knew I would have to use the walking foot and not free motion, because I always have a big problem with thread breakage doing free motion with rust dyed fabrics. I am usually pretty successful with the walking foot on rust dyed fabric, though, so that was the plan. I just opted for doing a variety of channel quilting styles. I knew I should keep it simple and as open as possible so that the texture of the rust dyed fabrics is not overwhelmed. I wanted to use black thread because my dishes are black. I didn't measure or mark for the quilting - just started stitching and I got some kind of wonky results. I don't mind this and by the time they are finished and the table is set, I am hoping they will look funky and contemporary.I have two more placemats and a table runner to finish the quilting on - then I will bind them with solid black - which will look striking with my black dishes, I think.