Kitty Cat (or puppy dog!) Placemat Tutorial

We have wood floors, and even though the floor is already damaged from the past 47 years, I worry about it being damaged further. I started out using one of the kids placemats to set the cat food & water on, but it was too big and honestly, not very nice looking. I decided I would keep an eye out for cute placemats at the thrift store or on clearance. I hadnt found anything yet, so I started thinking maybe I could make something. I thought laminated fabric or oilcloth would work. I couldnt find laminated fabric locally and havent really seen oilcloth I like. Then I found this iron on vinyl from Therm-O-Web. Pretty neat!

I went through my small stash of fabric and decided to use this Alexander Henry fabric I've been holding onto for awhile.

You lay the vinyl, sticky side down, onto the right side of the fabric. Smooth with your hand.

Using an extra piece of fabric, iron the two pieces together. Medium heat, 8 seconds per section. (Directions are included with the vinyl).



Once you've finished, turn it over and iron the other side, 4 seconds per section.



Voila! You have laminated fabric!

I backed it with a piece of felt to keep the good fabric from getting dirty, but you can also laminate both sides.

Next step is to hem it up! I'm sure you could also have sewn it and turned it right side out, and then hand stitched shut, but I'm a complete novice and not good at hand sewing.

And there you have it! I'm sure another color thread would have probably been better than black, but I didnt feel like changing the bobbin/thread and was trying to get this done while Morgan napped.

I set it up where the cats eat...

And they were all over it!

Like I said, Im pretty much a beginning sewer. I would love to learn more, especially quilting. I see so many amazing and cute projects I would love to try! I could have learned, my mom was an amazing seamstress, but I never bothered learning before she passed away. Maybe one day I'll get around to taking some classes. It also doesnt help that I apparently have a junky sewing machine. I bought a Singer Inspiration and used it ok, but had issues from time to time with the underside bunching up. Now I cant get it to work at all, the thread will not pick up the bobbin thread, it just jams up. And from what I've read online, it happens alot to this one. So I'm borrowing my MIL's Viking. Any suggestions on a decent, not super expensive machine?

Anyway, if you decide to make one of these, I'd love to see it!