Let’s Get Crafty: Lattice Placemats

I told you I was in a crafting mood!

Have you ever had a design idea pop into your head and make you excited beyond belief to give it a try? 

That was the case when the idea of creating Lattice Placemats using ribbon hit me at round 3 am one morning. I couldn’t wait to get started designing my placemats so I jumped right in, went to work and turned out one of my favorite projects ever!

I’m so excited to share the how-to for this project but I must first warn you that creating these placemats is a bit time-consuming and requires your full attention, especially when using the Exacto knife.  But, I promise the end result is fabulous.

Here’s what you’ll need to create these placemats:

1. Clear Contact Paper—available from Wal-Mart, Target and some craft stores.
2. Ruler—a metal ruler will work best for this project!
3. Scissors
4. Exacto Knife with sharp blade
5. Ribbon—Creating 4 of these placemats will require about 30 yards of 5/8” wide ribbon. 

 Of course when it came to choosing ribbon for this project, I headed to my favorite ribbon company, May Arts!  May Arts has such an incredible offering of ribbons in just about any color, material, width and style you can imagine.  I used their FN-14, 5/8” Twill Ribbon in Red which can be purchased here.

 

   The first step in creating your placemats is to cut four rectangular pieces out your contact paper, each measuring 14” x 18”–a pretty standard size for a placemat.

 

 Next, take one of your pieces of contact paper and peel off the backing.  Place the contact paper sticky side up on your work surface.

Take your ribbon and lay a piece along one edge of the sticky contact paper and cut to fit.  Repeat on other three sides of paper, overlapping the corners.  Your contact paper is now framed in ribbon. 

 

Next, take your ribbon and run a piece diagonally down the center of the paper from the one corner to the next. Cut the ends so you have a clean edge.

  

Now you’ll begin creating diagonal lines across your contact paper.  You can space the lines however you want but for a more intricate pattern, place the ribbon about 1” apart.  Lay ribbon pieces from one side to the other.

Now lay ribbon pieces in the other direction creating a criss-cross pattern.

Once all your cross ribbons are in place, place another piece of ribbon along each side of your placemat covering up all the edges of your ribbon strips. 

               Press all your ribbon pieces down firmly to make sure they are stuck to the contact paper.

You’re almost done, but this next step is where you really need to concentrate.  Put on some fun music, pull out your Exacto Knife and get ready to cut your paper.

To create a true lattice and open-work feel for your placemats, you are going to cut out all the pieces of contact paper between your criss-cross ribbon. 

Ready, set, go!

Once all the contact paper is cut away between your ribbons, the contact paper that is left under your ribbon pieces will give your placemat just enough support and body. 

 

So, was I right?  Wasn’t this project one to get really excited about.  I love how my placemats turned out and can’t wait to use them at my next dinner party!

p.s.  Lay the placemats end to end and you can use them as a runner too!

 

The holidays are only a few months away so now is a great time to craft placemats for yourself or make a few as gifts!

 Hop on over to the May Arts shop and pick out your ribbon.  All May Arts ribbons can be purchased on Amazon… just type May Arts Ribbon and the style code into the search box to find your ribbon. Or, find a retailer here!

 

Did you do anything crafty this weekend??

 

Linking to:

JENNIFER RIZZO