Making placemats can be as simple or as difficult as you want it to be. For instance, you can make placemats from paper in a few minutes or create elaborately embroidered fabric ones that may take weeks or even months of work. Before you make placemats, think about the materials you want to use.
Knitted or crochet placemats are a great way to use up yarn scraps from other projects. If you don't have enough of one color to make a set of four, six or more placemats, you can use several colors to create striped patterns. Alternatively, you could make each knitted or crocheted placemat a different color that coordinates with the other colors you use to make individual placemats. A great idea for knitters or crocheters that want to experiment with new stitches and patterns is to make placemats from their practice work. If one color of yarn is used to create a set of placemats, all the different stitches can have a cohesive look.
Lacy placemats in knit or crochet in a solid color can look pretty with many different table settings. Embroidered fabric placemats can make elegant gifts, especially if care is taken to coordinate them with the recipient's china pattern. You can also sew a placemat set with fabric scraps or remnants. Using up scraps of fabric or yarn creates cost effective placemats. Fabric placemats may feature motifs of different fabrics appliquéd on such as flowers or animal shapes.
Waterproof fabrics may be used to make placemats for outdoor use such as on patio tables. There are many different fun and casual patterns and colors of waterproof fabrics available. You can coordinate outdoor placemats with patio furniture covers and cushions for a coordinated look.
You can also make placemats with children to suit their ages and skill levels. This can be as simple as coloring on rectangular pieces of cardboard or cutting out shapes from construction paper and gluing them onto the cardboard. A popular way to make placemats out of construction paper is to cut it into strips and weave or intertwine the strips to form a rectangular placemat. These placemnats should be laminated in order to stand up to normal wear and tear.