Homemade Turkey Thanksgiving Placemats

Thanksgiving is almost here! Now is the time to plan and decide on how you would like your holiday table to look. Why not celebrate the turkey and make some homemade burlap turkey placemats. You only need some simple supplies and a little time to be creative. We have two different designs to share; one we have painted, and one a bit more flashy using glitter.

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Supplies Needed:

• Scissors
• rotary cutter (optional)
• pencil
• yardstick
• tight woven burlap (1 yard)
• parchment paper or freezer paper
• paint, we used a copper color (acrylic)
• sponge paint brush
• turkey cutouts from your printer
• exacto knife
• cutting mat
• tacky glue
• fine glitter (for the glitter turkey option)
• sewing machine (optional)
• permanent marker
• blue painters tape
• newspaper to protect your work surface

Step One:

Cut your burlap to size. For a placemat, you want to cut your burlap into 18” x 12” rectangles. If your cutting mat has a measurement feature, you can line up your burlap pieces that way. You can also use a ruler and pencil to mark your rectangle before cutting it out. Using a rotary cutter and a yardstick will help you make straight lines when cutting out your pieces.

Step Two:

To help prevent fraying of your edges you have a few options. You can add binding tape around your placemat, or you can take a little Mod Podge and paint the edges. We found that sewing 1 inch from the edge of your mat not only prevents fraying but you can get creative with your thread colors. After the edges are sewn you can take a few strands of burlap out from each edge, make a fun little fringed edge. If your fringe isn’t straight you can use your rotary cutter and yardstick again to clean up your edges.

Step Three:

It’s time to prepare your stencils. Using parchment paper or freezer paper, trace your printed image onto the parchment, placing the printout under the parchment paper. Next, using an exacto knife, cut out your turkey (save your turkey cutouts). You can find many turkey images on the web to use as your stencil.

Step Four:

Using painters tape, tape your stencil into place on your placemat. Be sure it is tight and laying flat. Make sure to place some newspaper under your placemat before you start painting.

Step Five:

Using your sponge paint brush, fill in the open space on your stencil. After you have painted, wait about 5 minutes for drying before you remove your stencil from your placemat. Allow your placemat to dry overnight.

To create the glitter turkey placemat follow steps 1 and 2 above. Using the turkey cutout from step 3, trace your turkey onto your placemat using a pencil or permanent marker. Fill in the shape with tacky glue. We used our finger to fill it in! Lastly, sprinkle your glitter over the wet glue. After the entire image is covered, shake off the extra glitter.  Allow the glue to dry overnight.

Be sure to watch Jess’s video on making Turkey Placemats for additional tips. Wishing you and yours a very happy Thanksgiving.