Coffee Bag Placemat Tutorial

Hello all! Do you like to crochet? Do you like the look of burlap? Well, it's been far too long since I've posted a tutorial. Here's a simple one on how to make a pretty, functional placemat out of a coffee bag or even a piece of plain burlap. 

You will need:

A coffee bag or roll of burlap

Black embroidery thread (or Aunt Lydia's Fashion Crochet Size 3, which I used)

B/2 (2.25mm) crochet hook
Sewing needle

Sewing machine with matching black thread

Scissors

Start by cutting the coffee bag or burlap into a 16.5" by 12.5" rectangle. Make sure the edges are even by pulling on the burlap weaves and keeping the edges straight. Sew a straight seam around the edge of the placemat, about a half inch in, to keep the edges from unraveling.

 Next, blanket stitch around the entire edge with the size 3 thread, using the machine-sewn seam as a depth guide. Here is a great guide to blanket stitching! You don't even have to sew an exact number of stitches per side, just make sure they look uniform. Tie off. 

With the same size 3 thread and the B crochet hook, join in the horizontal bar of one of the blanket stitches and pull up a loop. Work single crochet in same bar, *chain 1, single crochet in next bar, repeat from * across each edge, working (single crochet, chain 3, single crochet) in each corner. Join. (Now, this is where it's a bit tricky - it is okay if you don't have an even amount of blanket stitches to work into - just compensate with an extra single crochet or chain stitch if you need to.) Next, single crochet in corner chain 3 space, chain 5, single crochet in same space, *chain 3, single crochet in next chain 1 space, chain 5, single crochet in next chain 1 space, repeat from * across edges, working (single crochet, chain 5, single crochet) in corner chain 3 spaces. Remember, you may have to work two chain 3's in a row, or two chain 5's, depending on how it works out. It will look great in the end, so don't worry! :) Tie off and weave in the ends under the single crochet stitches.

There! You now have a beautiful placemat made from a coffeebag/burlap! My next tutorial will have more step-by-step tutorials instead of lots of written instructions. I forgot to take step-by-step photos of this one because I'm awesome like that. I hope you have fun making this!

Happy Friday!