by Nancy
Sadly, progress on my Fruit Stripe Placemats has ground to a halt. Some of this is due to general busyness and allergy-related upper respiratory annoyances, but the main reason is that I’ve hit a problem while putting on the binding. I made bias binding and sewed it on to the front by machine, then blind-stitched it to the back by hand. When I had finished the first placemat, though, the edges curled under, and the placemat doesn’t lie flat. This is not good, especially when the placemats will be used by boys under the age of 10. I’m not quite sure why it’s happening. My one thought is that maybe I pulled the binding too tight as I was sewing it on by machine. Since I haven’t sewn the binding on to two of the placemats yet, I was thinking of trying to do it more loosely so that it has more give. If that improves things, then I’ll rip out the first two and try them again. Does anyone else have any suggestions?
Here is a picture, though I’m not sure how well you can see the curling:
Oct. 12 UPDATE: I finished hand sewing the binding to the back of another placemat where I tried to sew the binding on more loosely, and it lies flat. Hooray!!!
I think your analysis is correct–binding pulled too tightly. But very cute!
I’m really glad that you found a solution to this problem. It is soooo frustrating to be so close to finishing a project and then run into a serious problem. And I love these placemats.