One day, my Mom and I were walking around stores in downtown Homewood and found these place mats made out of burlap. Of course, I looked at them and thought the price tag was way too high when I could easily make it myself. So I stored that idea and pulled it out for this past Mother’s Day.

Thanks to a very informative trip to JoAnn Fabrics one day, I finally learned the easiest way to cut burlap. (see technique here)

For the place mats, I cut a 15×20 inch rectangle. Once cut, I wanted to create a frilled edge, so I peeled away a few strings (about an inch along the edge). But then to make sure the edge wouldn’t continue to unravel past the point I wanted, I used ModPodge to secure the edge.

The place mat I saw in the store had painted on two parentheses, as so that they would surround the plate. I liked this idea a lot, but I didn’t want to flat out copy the place mat I saw in the store, so I decided to change up the design using the basics – the knife, fork and spoon. I cut out a template first out of basic computer paper and used a sharpie to outline the design on the burlap.

Then I simply painted over the template I made. I started with layer of paint that was very similar in color with the burlap (thinking that if I didn’t like it, the mistake could easily blend in). Then I added a second layer using a bright white paint.

Which brings us to the finished product…