Juice Pouch Place Mats

Even though I have two kids I never bought them juice pouches until my son and I saw a craft program where they were making placemats out of them. We thought it was a great idea and we decided to start drinking juice pouches that summer just so that we could make sets of placemats for friends and family.
We had no idea how long it would take to drink enough juice to make a set of four placemats. When school started we enlisted my son's Kindergarten class to help us save juice pouches and then the entire school. We had so many juice pouches that I had made over 100 placemats by the end of the school year.
Here is the project that started it all.
For one placemat you will need:
8 cleaned and dried plastic juice pouches
Sewing Machine
Any color thread
Approximately 54 inches of 5/8 inch width grosgrain ribbon
Painters tape
Metal square or T-square
Step 1- Layout pattern for sewing.
Use a metal square as a guide to make the pouches straight and even.

Overlap the pouches about ¼ inch and secure with a piece of tape in the center.
Tape together a line of 4 pouches then set it aside and tape together 4 more using the same method.


Repeat this process one more times so that you have two strips of 4 pouches connected together.
Next, tape together two of the strips, overlapping the tops and bottoms of the strips about ¼ inch.

Use the metal square to line up the pouches both vertically and horizontally.
You should have one sheet of pouches that measure 2 pouches by 4 pouches.
Now you are ready to move to the sewing machine and sew.
Step 2- Sew pouches together.
Sew all of the overlapped edges of the pouches using a zig-zag stitch.

Be sure to remove the tape as you sew so that you do not sew over the tape.

When sewing- sew down the entire line that the pouches have made from top to bottom.
Step 3- Trim edge of placemat with ribbon.

Start along the bottom edge of the placemat and overlap the ribbon about 1/4 - 3/8 inch along the side of the placemat. Leave about an inch of ribbon at the top.
The sealed edge of the pouch is a good guide.
Using the same zig-zag stitch, sew the ribbon down the side of the placemat stopping before reaching the corner.

Fold the ribbon at the corner to follow the next side. Sew into the corner to secure the folded ribbon.
While the needle is down in the pouch, lift the pressure foot and turn the place mat so that you are now sewing down the next side. Put the pressure foot back down and sew the next side.

Repeat this procedure for the next three corners untill the ribbon is secure on all sides.
Trim off any excess ribbon in the corner and any stray threads.

To keep the ribbon from unraveling where you cut it off you can use the flame from a lighter to melt the edge of the ribbon. Just lightly touch the flame to the ribbon. The ribbon will not catch fire and burn if you just touch it to the outside of the flame. The fibers of the ribbon will only melt together so that they will not unravel.

I love to use these placemats for my kids and outside during the summer. They add so much personality and they are easy to clean. Just wipe them off with a damp cloth.
I like to use ribbon to trim the edges but you can use any kind of trim that you like. Take a look around your local craft store and tap into your own sense of design and experiment to see what works for your sense of style.
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