Make a Scrapbook or Blank Book from Old Placemat

Vintage Cloth Placemats Can Be Recycled into Unique Books

Aug 11, 2009 Marie Brannon

Finding an old 1970s placemat with a funky design or delightful colors can be an opportunity to create an original scrapbook or blank book.

Whether you are an accomplished bookbinder or a newbie crafter, you will enjoy making this simple project. The illustration given is just one of countless ideas and is offered as a generic example.

Supplies You Will Need:

One cloth place mat
Sheets of paper at least the size of place mat
Heavy card stock paper at least the size of the smallest dimension of place mat
Straight pins
Scissors
Upholstery needle
Small amount of candle wax
Awl, ice pick or other tool for punching small holes
Embroidery floss

Prepare the Materials Before Assembly

Measure the placemat in length and width, making sure it is squared. This can be done with a T-square, on a cutting mat or even with a piece of ordinary typing paper.
Cut the sheets of paper, no more than two or three at a time, making them ¼”to 1/8” less than the placemat on all sides. Often the placemat will have a sewn border and it is a good idea to align with that.
Cut a strip of heavy card stock approximately 3” wide and as tall as the placemat’s shortest dimension. For example, if the placemat measures 12” by 18” the strip should be 3” by 12”.
Prepare a length of six-strand embroidery floss by running it through the candle wax, coating the threads so that they stick together.

Assembling the Book or Scrapbook

Decide how many signatures you want for your book. A signature is a group of folded pages that comprise one section of a book. The example shown has three signatures.
Fold the signature pages in half (four sheets make a typical signature) and crease them down the middle.
Fold the placemat down the middle and mark the center with straight pins at top and bottom. Mark the placement of the remaining signatures in a similar manner, on either side of the center one. Depending on the weight of the paper, signatures are typically no more than ¼” from each other.

Sewing the Signatures Into the Placemat

Decide how tight you want the stitching to be for each signature. The example shown has eight stitches from top to bottom on a 13” page.
Using the awl, punch holes into the card stock strip at the places where you want stitches to pass through the fabric and paper. They should be spaced at regular intervals. The example shows stitches at 1.5” intervals.
Thread the upholstery needle with the waxed embroidery floss and, using the cardstock template as a guide, stitch through both the paper and the fabric, back and forth, forming alternating stitches on front and back sides. Start on the inside of the signature, preferably at the bottom.
When you have stitched all the way up to the top of the page and back down to the bottom with alternating stitches, tie off the ends of the thread with a small knot.
Repeat this process for each signature, being careful to keep the signatures fairly close together and checking often to see that the outside spine looks the way you want.

Ideas and Suggestions for Placemat Scrapbook or Blank Book Designs

The example shown here uses a store-embroidered placemat, but there are countless other possibilities for this project. If you are handy with a sewing machine, you could cut the placemat in half, hem the rough edges and make a smaller book. The blank pages offer endless possibilities for content, or you could even bind a typed manuscript this way by folding 8½”by 11” typing paper in half and using a 6” by 10” placemat. Try leaving some decorative ends of thread at the bottom and put beads or other findings there.

Let your imagination lead the way as you experiment with your new-found knowledge of this unique craft.

The copyright of the article Make a Scrapbook or Blank Book from Old Placemat in Crafts is owned by Marie Brannon. Permission to republish Make a Scrapbook or Blank Book from Old Placemat in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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