Crabtastic dinner at the Village Haberdashery

You may remember a few weeks ago that I shared a pile of gorgeous fabric with you that Annie from the Village Haberdashery sent to me. Annie started her on-line shop at the beginning of the year and has gone from strength to strength. Go on check it out. You'll be amazed at her diverse range of fabric, wool, hab dash and patterns.

Image credit: Village Habedashery

The fabric was Crabtastic by the designer Maude Asbury for Blend fabric. When I saw the fabric in Annie's fantastic shop I immediately knew what to do with it. No, not a quilt. Instead I thought that the fabric would be ideal for a dinner set. And by that I mean placemats and napkins. Yep. The lot.

The fabric was a treat to work with and has a luxurious soft feel to it that makes it ideal for napkins and you will see these are fun to make, don't take long and look fabulous on your dinner table. 

The print tablecloth was made into napkins. I did this by adding some Essex Linen in Ivory. These napkins are very quickly sewn and I think are a perfect gift. Here is a quick how to do:

• Cut two pieces of 16" square fabric, one outer and one inner
• put them right sides together and sew all around leaving a small 5" opening in the center of one side that allows you to turn the napkin inside out
• turn napkin inside out so you have the right sides on the outside now
• poke out the corner with chop sticks or a hera marker or another pointy instrument and press
• sew all around the napkin with a 1/4" seam allowance (that also closes the opening you used to turn the napkin)
• you're done ready for dinner

Next up were the placemats. I decided on four different design for the fronts (they are around 16" by 12" in size). I made one with parallel strips of varying size, one with diagonal strips, a log cabin version and a minimalist version with more negative space (combing again with Essex linen in ivory)

Yo can see in the images that I chose not to bind the place mats which I prefer for mini quilts (which is what they are effectively). The way to go about this is similar to the napkins except that you quilt the front. Here is how to go about it:

• Piece the front of your placemat in your desired design (exactly like a mini quilt)
• Square the front to your chosen size plus 1/2 'inch on all sides for seam allowance
• cut a piece of wadding slightly larger than your placemat front
• make a double sandwich from the placemat front and the wadding and quilt this in your chosen quilting design (I chose different design for each mat). It is beneficial to quilt fairly densely as it makes the mats stiffer which in terms makes them lay flatter
• Cut the excess wadding away
• Cut a piece of fabric for the back of the place mat in the same size as the front and then finish off in the same manner as you did the napkins

And now enjoy your meal !