Wednesday Sewing - Quilted Fourth of July Table Mat

This year I'm going all out making 4th of July themed table linens!  This table mat uses the same base pattern and general directions as the Valentine Day themed and Spring table mats, so I'll just give the general directions here.  See those posts for more details.

Materials:
*1 1/2 yards fabric for back and front
*fat quarters of four different 4th of July themed/colored fabrics
*2 1/2 yards bias tape
*fusible felt
*Steam-A-Seam 2
*firecracker pattern found here
*table mat pattern found here

1.  Cut two of the table mat pattern from the 1 1/2 yards of fabric.  Trace 4 firecracker bodies and 4 firecracker tops onto one side of Steam-A-Seam 2 and fuse to the wrong side of the 4th of July themed/colored fabrics.  Cut out, remove the backing paper, and arrange on the table mat front as shown below.  Fuse to the front.

2.  Finish the edges by sewing with a blanket stitch or machine zigzag stitching around - I used a .2 length and 3.5 width.  Add fuses to the bottom of each firecracker.

3.  Cut one piece of fusible felt using the table mat pattern and fuse to the back of the front piece.  Layer these two fused pieces with the backing piece, pin, and quilt.  I used free motion quilting - if you're new to this, see the tutorial here.

4.  Use one of your machine's automatic stitches to add star-like fire below the fuses - on the Brother, this is stitch 24.  You can also do this by hand, sewing six-sided stars with straight stitches that cross each other as in the example to the right.

7.  Using the same stitch, sew lines of fireworks going off and add single stars.  I did the single stars with the same stitch, sewing slowly and just stopping when one star was completed.

9.  Finish the edges with bias tape - see the tutorial here if needed.

10.  And here it is in use with the place mats I made from last week's leftover tablecloth fabric.  They're so simple, they don't even need a tutorial!  Cut an 18 x 13 inch front and back piece and the same size piece of fusible felt.  Fuse the felt onto the back of the front piece and layer with the back piece.  Quilt.  Finish the edges with bias tape.  Tada!

Happy Creating!  Deborah