ManiacQuilter2

I have 16 placemats tops to finish for a church project that will occur around Christmas. I was talked into birthing them so I won't have a truckload of binding to be hand stitched. After many days of contemplating, I thought I had a solid plan. I spray basted the batting to the front being 1/4" shorter so there would be no doubling of batting in the seam. I used the small tube of Elmer's Washable School pen very sparely so that the batting would stay in place. But NOW, I am not sure how to press the seam open and then press it flat in place so that the edges of the placemat will be where they should be. Thank you for helping this old dog learn a new trick.

Onebyone

Hande baste all around the edge while rolling the seam, then press. This way makes a perfect edge.

mckwilter

I just work my way around all the edges, rolling the seam into place with my fingers, then pin the edges so they stay in place, then machine stitch about 1/8" from the edge. The opening where you "birth" the placemat will pretty much fall into place, but may need a little bit of straightening.

Tartan

On small projects I birth, I have a little block of wood that I slip through the hole and first press the seam flat all the way around. I stick my arm through the hole to hold the bottom of the wood as I press. I then remove the piece of wood and press the edge flat. I will post a picture of my wood piece with the iron on top.
Pretend I have inserted it through the hole in the placemat and am holding it under the seam while I press carefully with my iron in my right hand.

citruscountyquilter

When you roll the seam between your fingers it will for the most part fall into place. It might help to have some grippy gloves on when you do this or dampen your fingers a bit so they grip the fabric. If you top stitch close to the edge you'll get a finished look and it will hold the seam in place. You can either pin near the seam of press to hold in place before you topstitch. The topstitching if done close enough to the edge will also take care of the opening where you birthed the placemat.

PenniF

Tartan....what are the odds that we would both use the same method....the only difference - my piece of wood is a little longer than yours !!!! For years i used a rolled up wash cloth...then found the wood worked much better. It does work really well.