Necktie Placemat

Supply List to Create 2 Placemats • Sewing Machine • ¼” Foot or ¼” Right Guide Foot • 1” Bias Tape Maker or 1” Sasher • 2 – Neckties • 7/8 yard Cotton or Linen Fabric for main placemat • 1 ½ yards Shapeflex Interfacing • Matching sewing thread to match neckties and fabric • Rotary Cutter and Mat or Scissors • Seam Ripper • Ruler • Decorative Button • Iron • Best Press or spray starch • Microtex 80 Needle

Sewing Club 2020– Pollard's Sew Creative Prep Work:

1. Before you cut the pocket and the napkin ring pieces, you have to remove the material from inside the tie.

2. Using a seam ripper you are going to first deconstruct the two ties. Remove any labels on the back of the tie. Then remove the seam along the center back, and pull the padded material from the inside of the tie.

3. Next, you are going to cut the pocket and the napkin ring. For the flatware pocket, cut 6 inches off one tie’s wide end, measuring it from the tip. From the other necktie, cut 8½ inches off of the skinny end for the napkin ring.

4. Next you’re going to prepare the placemat fabric. Cut two, 13 ½” x 18 ½” rectangles from the cotton or linen fabric, along with two 13 ½” x 18 ½” rectangles of Shapeflex.

5. Fuse the cut Shapeflex pieces onto the wrong sides of the cotton or linen fabric with a hot iron in order to give the fabric more stability.

Sewing the Placemat:

6. Next, take the wide end of the tie and spray some Best Press on it to give it some stability and press with the iron. Fold under the raw edge part of the flatware pocket and topstitch down using a ¼” seam across the top. 1 ½”

7. With one of the fused fabrics (right side up), place the flatware pocket piece approximately 1 ½” from the left side and 1” from the bottom. Pin in place and topstitch to the placemat using ¼” seam and leaving the top of the pocket open. 1”

Sewing Club 2020– Pollard's Sew Creative

8. Place both of the rectangular, placemat fabrics wrong sides together, pin in place and stitch around all four sides using ¼” seam to keep the placemat together. Don’t worry about the raw edges as these will be covered with the binding.

Creating Bias Tape: (Neckties are constructed on the bias with several bias-cut pieces sewn together. If you are putting two ties together in order to make sure that it is long enough to fit all the way around the placemat, you might want to splice them to create your own pattern)

9. Press the remaining necktie fabric open while spraying Best Press in order to give the silk some stability. This will make it much easier to work with while cutting and creating the bias.

10. Once you have “starched” your neckties, cut them into 2” strips.

11. You can sew each of your strips together in any pattern that you desire to create your bias strip. In order to sew your strips together, you need to make sure that you put your strips right sides together and at a 90 degree angle and then stitch from the top left corner to the bottom right corner at an angle. Trim your seam allowance to ¼”.

12. Once you have your bias strip, you can use the 1” Sasher or 1” Clover Bias Maker to create your double fold bias. Spray Best Press as you iron in order to keep the silk from slipping.

Sewing Club 2020– Pollard's Sew Creative Two-Step Double Fold Bias Tape Stitching

13. Open up the double-fold bias tape all the way. Pin the edges of the bias tape to the raw edges of the fabric, right sides together and pin in place. Leave about a 4”-5” tail when starting.

14. Sew the bias tape in place along the folded crease using your Stitch N’ Ditch Foot, Narrow Edge Foot or Open Toe Foot.

15. When you reach a corner stop stitching 1/4 inch away from the corner. Take the fabric out and trim the thread. Fold the binding strip away from the corner at a 45 degree angle as shown to the right. Fold the binding back towards the corner matching up the raw edges. Continue stitching up to the next corner and repeat for the remaining 3 corners. This will miter the corner for turning.

16. Now, fold the bias tape back up and flip it over to encase the unfinished edge. Press and pin it in place. You can also use some fabric glue stick to hold in place. Sew it about 1/8 inch from the inside edge on the opposite side of the first line of stitching. If you use your Stitch N’ Ditch Foot or Narrow Edge (foot with blade down middle), you can catch the front and the back binding all at once.

17. When you get to the corners you want to miter the back corners by folding and tucking it in, pin in place and continue stitching.

Sewing Club 2020– Pollard's Sew Creative 18. Once you go all the way around the placemat, you should have about a 4”-5” tail and leave about 8” of space between the beginning and the end of the binding strip. 8”

19. On a flat surface, have the binding ends meet in the center of the unstitched space, leaving a ¼” space between them, fold the ends over at this point.

20. Cut off one end at the fold. Then, using the end you have cut off (open it out if it is a double binding) use it to measure the binding’s width from the fold. Cut off the second end at that point.

21. Join the ends at right angles with the right sides together and stitch a diagonal seam. Check to make sure that the seam has been sewing properly, then trim to ¼”. Finger press and reposition the binding on your placemat.

22. Finish stitching the binding to the edge of the placemat.

Sewing Club 2020– Pollard's Sew Creative Napkin Ring Holder:

Use the 8 ½” strip you cut from the skinny part of the tie on step #3.

1. From the pointed end of the skinny part of the tie, measure up about 1 ½” and mark your tie in the center for your buttonhole. Add a little piece of water soluble stabilizer if you have it to stitch through for extra stability.

1. You can seam up the raw end of your tie and then sew your button on where you want to position it.

2. You have now completed your napkin ring holder and placemat! Enjoy!

Sewing Club 2020– Pollard's Sew Creative