Carry Along Food Mat with pocket for utensils Tutorial

Almost always, I have lunch at work. I bring homemade food and have lunch whenever I can or whenever the people let me ^^) I really don't want to mess on the working table so I already have drink coasters at work. I actually made one for me and one for my good friend and workmate, Kerstin. To avoid messing on the work table when I have lunch (or snacks), I decided to make my own food mat with a pocket for the utensils.

I used scrap fabrics for this project. Since I didn't have any stabilizer on hand when I made this food mat (back at April this year, at least 2 days before I went back to work), I decided to use felt to make the mat sturdier. I made this on the same day I made this bag for my mother-in-law. This project took me less than hour to complete! Such a great quick, easy and scrap-busting project!
For this food mat, I used cotton-linen blend fabrics:
2 pieces 11" x 19" (feel free to change the dimensions to fit your needs) 2 pieces 3.5" x 6.5" (for the pocket) scrap lace velcro
Directions:

Get the pocket pieces. On one of the pocket pieces, sew on a felt piece that is at least 1/4" smaller than the pocket piece. Sew it on the wrong side of the pocket piece by sewing straight stitches very near the edge of the felt. Place one piece on top of another (both right sides of the fabric inside and the wrong sides outside, one wrong side will show the felt). Sew together the pocket pieces by sewing on the felt, using the stitches (the stitches you made to sew the felt piece on the pocket piece) as guide. Make sure to leave at least 2.5"-3" unsewn so you can turn the piece later. Turn it inside out.

I thought it looked plain so I sewed on a scrap fabric on one side and sew close the unsewn opening by edgestitching all around the sides. I have also added one tag on it. Pin it on one of the mat pieces where you'd like the pocket. Sew the pocket on by following the edgestitches you've made before.

Get the other mat piece and assemble the food mat by pinning the fabrics together (right sides together) and one felt on top of one fabric (wrong side). Sew straight stitches at least 1/4" away from the edge, leaving 4"-5" unsewn so you can turn the sewn piece. Turn it inside out, through the unsewn part and sew close the unsewn opening by edgestitching through all the sides. 

Pin the velcro pieces where you need them. I folded my mat three times and pinned the velcro where I wanted them. 

Sew the velcro pieces on using straight stitches.

And now, you have a food mat you can carry anywhere with a pocket to for your utensils! 

The next thing I will show you is the cup sleeve I made for my coffee cup at work!

I hope you like today's tutorial. If you'd like to see more of our free tutorials, check out our Tutorials page! And while you're at it, check out our Current Giveaways page, too!


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