Name Placemat

After being asked by many friends, "When are you putting Princess in preschool?", my husband and I finally discussed it. Honestly, I have never been in a huge rush. Preschool seems (and please don't be offended if you have a child in preschool, because I do think its great) a little unnecessary when you can teach them all the basics at home. That is, if you have the luxury of being a stay at home mom or working from home like I do. The most important element I would say that kids would miss out on by not going to preschool, is the social life. Which, since I run an in-home daycare, Princess gets on a daily basis. So, my husband and I decided that while she doesn't need to jump into preschool quite yet (maybe a day or two per week next year), I do need to be working with her on a daily basis to make sure she is learning. So my latest Pinterest searches have been alphabet driven. One thing I learned that kids are expected to know upon entering kindergarten is to write and recognize their own name. Princess is a long ways off from writing words, but I thought it would be quite simple to start incorporating her name into our daily life, so that she starts to recognize it. One idea was to have their name hung somewhere in the house. Princess and Peanut both have their names above their beds. Another idea was making a name placemat, so that they can see their name at every meal and start to see, "That's me. That's my name. This is my spot." Easy enough.
Here is the how to. This would be a great project to make for every family member in the house, so that your preschooler can "set" the table and begin to recognize the difference in the names on the placemats. I may get around to making all of us one, but for now, I just made one for Princess.

You will need:
Fabric in lots of fun patterns
A 2" set of alphabet stencils
A washable marker
Scissors
A sewing machine
Fusible interfacing or batting (for quilts. Its not absolutely necessary, but it makes the placemat a bit thicker)

1. Start by tracing the letters with a WASHABLE marker. Then cut the letters out. I cut mine out a little bit bigger.

2. Then cut out one piece of 18.5X13.5 piece of white fabric, one 18.5X13.5 piece of patterned fabric and one 18.5X13.5 piece of batting or fusible interfacing. Interfacing is basically just batting with heat activated adhesive. Cut 2, 2.5X18.5 inch strips and 2, 2X13.5 inch strips for the border.

3. Arrange letters and border on the cream colored piece to make sure everything fits right.

4. Pin down the 2 short sides of the border and sew, pretty sides facing each other. Then flip and iron so that the border ends up flush against the edge.

5. Repeat with the long sides. Sew all the way (over the other piece) so that the border overlaps.

Here is what the border will look like.

6. Pin down the letters where you want them, then sew down. You can hand sew them or use the sewing machine. I was lazy, so I used the machine, but its a little bit harder to do.

7. Wash on the delicate cycle to wash off the marker. Then iron and cut off any loose threads.

8. Pin the back piece, front name side piece and the interfacing all together, inside out. So that once you sew them and flip them right side out, the pretty sides will be out and the interfacing will be between them.

On the right side I left an opening.

9. Sew around the edge, but not all the way! You need to be able to flip it right side out again.

 10. Trim any excess that will make it too bulky.

11. Flip right side out, then pin the opening so that you can sew it closed. If you used interfacing, you can also iron the placemat so that it sticks together. No need to iron if you used batting.

 12. Sew closed. I recommend hand sewing this part.

 Then you are done! Place on the table where your little one can start to recognize his or her name!

 My little one saw it and started to sing the ABC's......close enough. :)