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Bar Mats Embroidery Project

By Ramona Baird on April 18, 2014

PROJECT DETAILS

SKILL LEVEL

Beginner

TIME REQUIRED

02:30

Description

Serve martinis with these decorative Bar Mats that have the recipe stitched right on them. Fun, festive and colorful, these will be a great hit at your next cocktail party.

Project Preview Video

Materials

In addition to basic embroider and sewing supplies you will need:

2- Pieces of white cotton fabric large enough to be completed hooped for stitching. The fabric will be cut down after the stitching is completed.

2- Decorative cotton fabric to coordinate with the embroidery designs

2- Pieces cotton batting large enough to fit under the cut down embroidered fabric

Tearaway stabilizer

Embroidery thread colors to coordinate with the fabrics used, or the décor of the bar

Designs used in this project

https://www.embroiderydesigns.com/productdetails/Great-Notions/1/52920

https://www.embroiderydesigns.com/productdetails/Great-Notions/1/61593

Final Product: What You Will Create

Preface:

Use the technique for making the Bar Mat to create napkins in any size to fit a special celebration, luncheon or dinner. Just select embroidery designs to fit the theme, embroider the designs, and adjust the fabric size to the finished napkin size.

Step 1:

Gather all the supplies and press all the fabrics well. Hoop one piece of the white cotton fabric with the stabilizer. Stitch the Great Notions LEMON DROP MARTINI design.

Step 2:

Trim the jump stitches from the design. Tip: hold the thread to be trimmed with a long needle nose tweezers, then clip the thread close to the stitching. Holding the thread with the tweezers adds a bit of tension enabling the snipped thread end to snap back into the embroidery.

Step 3:

Be sure all the threads are snipped. Tip: it is easier to snip the threads while the fabric is still tensioned in the hoop. Remove the fabric from the hoop and press well. Leave the stabilizer behind the design for this project.

Step 4:

Square up the fabric around the design. To do this, draw lines on the fabric 1 ¼’ beyond the outer most edge on each side of the stitched design.

Step 5:

Cut out the fabric and stabilizer along these lines.

Step 6:

Back the stitched square with a layer of cotton batting that has been cut the same size as the embroidered square.

Step 7:

Cut the piece of decorative cotton fabric 2” wider all the way around than the square.

Step 8:

Press under ¼” on each edge of the decorative fabric.

Step 9:

To make the border, press each edge of the decorative fabric in 1”, keeping the ¼” fold tucked under.

Step 10:

To miter the corners, at the intersection of the inside corners, place pins on each folded edge of the border where the edges meet.

Step 11:

Open up the corner, with the right sight of the fabric facing up.

Step 12:

Bring the pins together with the right sides of the fabric to the inside. The stitching will begin at where the two pins meet.

Step 13:

And the miter stitched from this point to the corner formed by the folds as shown by this pin.

Step 14:

Stitch from the point where the pins meet, to the corner created by the folds.

Step 15:

Trim the seam allowance to ¼’ and clip the corner to reduce the bulk.

Step 16:

Press the seam open. Repeat the steps to form the other three corners.

Step 17:

Turn the fabric right side out, forming the corners, and pressing well. Tip: use spray starch or spray sizing to get crisp edges on the fabric.

Step 18:

Insert the embroidered square of fabric/batting into the opening formed by the border, making sure it is centered.

Step 19:

Pin everything in place for stitching.

Step 20:

Edge stitch along each inside edge of the border stitching through all layers.

Step 21:

Give the Bar Mat a final press and it is ready to use.

Step 22:

Hoop the second piece of white fabric with the stabilizer and stitch the second design, Great Notions APPLE PEAR MARTINI.

Step 23:

Trim all the threads. Remove the fabric from the hoop, leaving the stabilizer intact.

Step 24:

Using the second decorative fabric, repeat the steps for trimming the embroidered fabric square, adding the batting, pressing the borders on the decorative fabric, forming the corners, inserting the embroidered square, edge stitching and doing a final pressing. The second Bar Mat is ready for use.

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Meet the Author: Ramona Baird

Ramona Baird has been in the embroidery industry for over 23 years. She and her husband owned a commercial and retail embroidery store in Arizona for many years. She is an experienced digitizer having been mentored by award-winners Pat Williams and Lindee Goodall. Ramona is a contributor to “Creative Machine Embroidery” magazine having 5 covers to her credit. Ramona has worked for Wilcom America and served many years as Education Director for the American Sewing Guild. With a degree in fashion design, she is able to design and execute patterns which Pat Williams says are “out of the box” in creativity and application. Ramona likes to challenge the boundaries of embroidery and bring new and exciting designs, ideas, and projects to EmbroideryDesigns.com. She wants embroiderers of all levels to increase their skills and enjoyment in using their embroidery machine for gift-making and personal pleasure.