copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
Our placemats (is that a Canadianism? Does the rest of the world say ‘table mats’?) are all looking shabby, so I decided to weave up some new ones.
I love upcycling, so I am using fabric strips to weave the placemats.
I decided to weave the placemats on my 14 inch Dewberry Ridge ‘Lil Weaver’.
I know that this is slightly narrower than conventional placemats, but I figured that when we have the whole family around the table, that the squares will fit better than rectangles.
Because fabric strips are hefty, I decided to work over 2 nails at a time. The nails on the loom are too close together to work well with fabric strips, are lovely when you use 2 at a time.
Also…. there are a couple of secret tips that make weaving with fabric strips go so much more easily….
Here’s the video tute, and happy weaving!
Tottie Talks Crafts Blog 
I think place-mats must be UK English; I grew up using the word in London, and we use the term here in Australia too.
The 14 inch loom seems ideal for individual mats. My grandmother’s “best” set of cork backed mats were never very large, probably 10 by 8 inches, and we were still crowded around the table for family occasions! She used square mats at tea or supper time, though I never did work out the difference because when we were all there we had to use the lot. These mats sat on top of embroidered linen or cotton mats that just peeped out from underneath, and if we had polished the table, it was quite a lethal combination once you got a plate on top and a small child learning how to manipulate adult sized cutlery! For normal use we had less fancy mats.
Thank you for the memory!
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I love the picture you have painted, Caroline! Thank you so much for sharing it! 🙂
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Beauty! Your table is going to look so lovely with your new placemats on it!
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Thank you Aleksa! Actually… they look sooooooooo much nicer in real life than in the video! 🙂
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what was the width of your fabric strips?
Nice job!
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Remember that the width of your strips will be influenced by the weight of your fabric. Thin fabrics will need to be torn into wider strips, thick fabrics need to be narrower.
I used sheeting fabric and tore my strips 1 inch wide, although, sometimes the tear seemed to move off the grain of the fabric and got narrower as the strip progressed.
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lol…love your little wrestling match! You are so adorable.
My favorite artist….in the whole wide world!
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Bless your heart and thank you so kindly, Susan! 🙂
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I’m thinking the Martha Stewart loom, w/the larger pegs, spaced a tad apart…would work excellent for this sort of weaving.. These would make really wonderful carry-along bags for projects being worked on. Just sewing 2 of these pieces, and add a button to close.
I’m disabled, so at least once a week I see a doctor for my lower spine,so I take small my projects with me. These bags would work great…what do you think?
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Hi Susan,
I haven’t tried weaving with fabric strips on the Martha Stewart loom, but I think that it would probably work just fine. It’s lovely to have small looms to carry along and work on while waiting, isn’t it? I hope that you find respite from your pain, and that all will be well with you! 🙂
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