Looking to make a bold statement on your table? How about a Rorschach-inspired placemat project. We decided to sew our own, but you could also easily add this design to a set of placemats picked up from a home goods store.

Gather your materials. To make four placemats you’ll need 1 yard of white, bottom weight, synthetic blend fabric, black DecoArt Ink Effects, fusible interfacing (we used Pellon Craft Fuse), some extra large paper, scissors, iron and sewing machine.

Measure and cut 8 pieces of fabric, each 12″ by 18″.

Place your large piece of paper down and then put one of your cut fabric pieces on top of it. Trace around the fabric and then remove it. Fold your paper in half, lining up your tracing marks and crease the center. Unfold and lie flat.

Use a plastic knife to scoop out a generous amount of the DecoArt Ink Effects paint and spread randomly on the paper, starting near the crease. Keep in mind that you want the pattern to stay inside of your traced placemat shape.

Fold the paper on the crease again and rub gently to create the ink blot effect. Open the paper up again.

Carefully lay on of your pieces of fabric right-side down on top of your ink blot. Press firmly. We used some scrap cloth and a rolling pin to help transfer the paint. (Note: Applying the ink directly to the fabric isn’t the suggested use of Ink Effects, but we liked the bold look of the direct application. If you are using >60% natural fiber fabric, be sure to also use the Ink Effects Basecoat.)

Repeat three more times for the other placemats, adding more ink each time. Let the ink dry before continuing.

To set the ink and add the interfacing you’ll need to iron the placemats. Be sure to use a cloth to protect your ironing board from a transfer of the ink. Set it up like this: Scrap cloth, inked placemat piece with the ink side down, fusible interfacing, damp press cloth. Iron on high with steam, moving slowly and overlapping. (Or according to the directions on the interfacing.) When you’re done the ink should have turned from a purple color to deep black and the interfacing should be securely attached to the fabric.

Sew the placemats by pinning together an inked front piece with an uninked back piece. Right sides should be facing each other, so that means the ink design is on the inside. Sew around the entire perimeter with a 1/4″ seam allowance but leave a 6″ gap for turning.

Before turning the placemats right-side out, snip off the corners at an angle.

Turn the placemats right side out and then press with an iron.

Top sitch around the entire placemat 1/4″ from the edge.

Categories: Whimseybox Projects