FUN PLACEMATS TO CRAFT FOR YOUR AMISH DINING ROOM TABLE
Dinner time around an elegant Amish table does not have to be a formal affair. There are many fun ways to dress up a table for friends or family. Simple placemats can change the theme or the environment. These are great projects to make together with children; adding to the mealtime celebration. Here are a few very simple decorative ideas to get you started on making creative and inexpensive placemats for your Amish dining room table:
FLAGS: Decorate the table with paper flags. These can be printed off on a home computer’s printer or found at local party or craft stores. They are often sold attached to a string for hanging up on holidays. If they are strung just snip them off. Laminate them for durability.
POUNDED FLOWERS, GRASS OR LEAVES: By using simple white cotton or linen place mats or napkins you can create a beautiful landscape at your Amish crafted dining room table. Pluck long blades of flat wheatgrass without roots. Place the mat face up on a sheet of clean white card stock. Start by laying about a half dozen blades at the base of the mat, or placing fresh leaves or colored pansies on the fabric. Place another sheet of card stock over your greenery. It helps to hold it in place, preferably with easy to remove painter’s tape. Now hammer in a regular pattern. Remove the top card stock and throw out the plant life. Keep repeating in sections with fresh blades of grass, blossoms or leaves. Designs fade or brown over time in to a vintage look.
WALLPAPER MATS: Glue-less wallpaper remnants or even sheets of decorative paper like the kind they sell for scrap booking are perfect for placemats. The papers come in various patterns and dinner is brightened up by the colors and patterns. You can also use the scissors made for paper crafters and scrap bookers and add scallop-edges or ragged edges. Lamination helps prolong the life of your creation and makes it easy to wipe off.
FAUX SUEDE: Ultrasuede is a faux suede fabric available at most fabric and crafts stores. It cuts easily with no fraying and best of all is machine washable. You can use many templates to create varying themes. This fabric looks great with Rustic, Lodge, Adirondack, Cabin or Mission decors. Just pin your pattern to the fabric and snip out your new placemats. Leaf patterns are great for fall and fringed mats work with western interiors.
DISHTOWELS: Bistro-style table settings look great with a placemat made from a checkered kitchen towel. These colorful dish towels are generous and multi-purpose. Try other print themes for other settings, like grapes for a wine-tasting or tea cups for a brunch.
STORYBOOK PAGES: Whether the book has seen better days or you found it for pennies at a thrift store, story book pages make great placemats. You can place some favorite pages between lamination sheets or just tear them out and throw away when done. Learning to read or even enjoying the colorful pictures, your child will benefit.
WOVEN STRIPS: By weaving strips of papers, magazines, comic strips or even fabrics (dad’s ties?) you can create fun and colorful mats. Lay out as many strips side by side as you the mat to be wide or high and now weave strips in the opposite direction, in and out. You can hold them in place with paper clips until the final gluing. This is a great rainy day project.
FAMILY PHOTOS: Kids love to arrange and glue a collage of family pictures on paper and then laminate with inexpensive laminating sheets.
As always, remember that custom pads for dining rooms, available where you purchase your Amish designed and built table, can protect the surface of your table. Many papers like construction and colored flags can bleed when wet.
Tags: AMISH, Amish Furniture, DINING ROOM TABLES, family craft projects, hardwood furniture, make placemats, placemats