How to create woven Holiday Ribbons on placemats using fabric and threads

In this week’s blog posts I’m focusing on WonderFil’s rayon thread packs. There are over 20 different thread packs that are perfect for any project. I’ve already played with the fall thread pack and the Pumpkin pack. Today’s pack is Christmas!

I like using the rayon Splendor as an embellishing thread. I find the 40wt thread just a little too fine for quilting larger projects, so I limit myself to quilting wall hangings and decorative stitching.

So far this week, I’ve shown you two different placemat projects using these fantastic threads and today I’m adding another project. It’s simple, but really great looking.

It involves some pre-marking on the fabric, and then some fun stitching!

There are 3 different Christmas theme packs to choose from: Christmas, Classic Christmas and Country Christmas. I’ve chosen the Christmas pack.

I’ve also chosen a light beige fabric with metallic print as I think the thread will show well.

I was showing off my finished placemats and hubby noticed that one was shiny and the other wasn’t. I guess I wasn’t paying attention. Good thing these placemats are for us and not gifts!

My placemats are going to be 14″ x 10″. I’ve cut the fabric and a layer of low loft batting 15″ x 11″ to allow some shrinkage as I stitch.

I’ve drawn myself a little map on a piece of paper so I know which ribbon will weave under and which will weave over. I started my lines about 3½” away from the top and left edge of the fabric. I’ve drawn 4 lines 1″ apart horizontally and vertically starting at the left edge.

It’s always a good idea to test decorative stitches. I look for density, size, whether I can flip or mirror the image and just to see how the pattern stitches out. It’s a good time saving idea.

I used the drawn map to give me an idea of where to stitch. I started with stitches a bit more solid down the center between the lines. I then used stitches a bit more open to stitch down both sides of the center line.

I chose different stitches and green thread to stitch the vertical ribbons. It’s starting to look good.

Have you noticed that I’ve used 2 different green threads and 2 different reds? The reds are quite close in color, but there’s a clear light and dark in the 2 greens. I could have easily used just one red and one green threads, but I like the lacy effect I get with two shades.

Once the decorative stitches were sewn, I layered the placemats with backing fabric. I used a triple straight stitch to outline the ribbons and quilt the layers of fabric together at the same time. There was no need to add a 2nd layer of batting.

Notice that I used the darkest green thread from the pack to outline the green ribbons and the darkest red to outline the red ribbons.

This week I’ve used the Fall, Pumpkin and Christmas rayon thread packs from WonderFil to stitch up some quick and easy placemats. You can see all these exciting collection packs under Seasons Colorway – you’ll fall in love.

I’ve got a Variegated and the Bright thread pack left to work with and I have some more placemat project ideas to share with you! Join me tomorrow!