Last Monday, I began my newest journey - a Masters of Education in Higher Education Leadership. I'm equally excited and terrified. I've been out of the classroom for a while so I'm nervous about balancing everything on my plate. But I have a strong support base so I'm confident I can succeed!
But speaking of plates...
My friend, Jenn, joined me today for an especially, um, cr*fty project. A project inspired by our dear friend, Kimberly, who has recently become involved in Montessori education. We thought it would be a great idea to create table-setting place-mats to serve as learning guides for our children.
{confession}
I had to refer to a book on etiquette to be sure that I remembered the proper way to set a table! How terrible is that?
All you need for this project is:
- Scrap fabric
- Wonder Under
- Contact Paper
Select a fabric to serve as your base. There is no particular size required. My base scrap was about 15" x 12". Jenn's was slightly smaller than that.
Select a coordinating fabric to make the plate and cup markers. Iron Wonder Under to the back of the fabric before you cut out your circles. We traced a child's plate and cup for our circles.
Iron your plate and cup circles to the base fabric. I added a zigzag stitch to our pieces to give them a more finished look.
Cut your utensils - either from scrap fabric or adhesive vinyl. I read a tip online that Wonder Under would work as well as the Silhouette interfacing for cutting fabric on the machine. Um, not quite. I wound up with a frayed, frizzy mess. The Wonder Under stuck to my carrier sheet so I now have to replace that one.
{this did not work well}
{but this was perfect!}
The vinyl worked out well for us. It was silver, which mimicked the look of real silverware. It was a happy mistake - other than the carrier sheet issue.
**sigh**
After everything is laid out on the base fabric, cut 2 pieces of contact paper to laminate the front and back of the placemat.
Our placemats turned out so cute! I plan to make a few more for the rest of my clan. Not only are they functional, but they serve as a teaching aid, too!
I look forward to sharing more projects soon! Have a wonderful week!
