How To Make A Rustic Jute Placemat

There’s no getting around it; I’ve been a gigantic slacker. It’s taken me two weeks to get this blog post written because, you know, life. But the good new is I have a feeling that you are gonna love this week’s project!

Here’s a fun fact: I grew up as the 15th of 16 kids. And yes. They’re all biological. And yes, one mom, one dad. And yes, we all get along, and yes, we are all close. (Not call-everybody-every-day kind of close, cause ain’t nobody got time for that.) And yes, there are twins. Two sets, one right after the other. Crazy, right? My dad, to support us all ran his own roofing company and we lived on a little family farm where we grew our own food, milked our own cows, and gathered our own eggs.

As you can imagine, there wasn’t much room for some of the finer things in life like cloth napkins and place mats. Mealtime, (and pretty much any time) was a tad bit chaotic at best, and my mother has always been very, very practical. But as I’ve grown older and begun my own family I have learned to love making the space that I live in beautiful. I would love for my kids to know how to use both forks at a fancy dinner and all that, but first I’ve had to take the steps to learn it for myself. So here I am! Trying out new things, on a budget of course.

This is ridiculously easy. Like, so easy that you could probably tell how it’s made by seeing it in your peripherals. But, just in case, I took a couple photos and will add some tips that I learned when I made mine so you don’t make the same silly mistakes.

So here goes with the very extensive materials list. You ready?

Jute cord

Hot glue

Booya. I’ve been obsessing a little bit over jute lately because you can make so many cute things with it. I got this jute cord at walmart for around $4 and it was the thickest I could find. If I had some thicker stuff I probably would have used that but this did the trick just fine. Each one of these rolls made two 14″ place mats with enough left over to make another half of a mat.

hot glue gun next to jute cord

First you’re gonna put a little bit of hot glue on the freshly trimmed end of the jute.

hot glue gun and jute cord

Next, roll into a tight circle.

jute cording

Add some more glue, then roll again. But here’s the trick: you don’t need much glue. At. all. Otherwise you’ll find yourself with a shiny place mat because the glue tends to squish to the top.

jute cording and a hot glue gun

I put a very thin layer of glue along the edges, but you’re not going to want to leave any gaps between the glue because your place mat will end up with holes and it won’t be stiff when you pick it up.

Then all you gotta do is roll some more.

jute cording in a circle

And some more. You don’t want to be pulling too tight or that will make your place mat wavy. When I say “roll” I mostly mean to just guide it gently onto the glue.

jute placemat

When you get it to the size you want, cut your jute and glue the end. I tucked mine under just a little bit at the end so you couldn’t see it.

jute place mat

And that’s it!

jute placemat

There you have your pretty little place mat for your newly resized kitchen table and for the next time you entertain.

dinner plate on a jute placemat

You like those napkins? They are the EASIEST thing to make and can be made for nothing if you’ve got spare fabric lying around. Tutorial coming soon!

That’s it for me! Hope you enjoyed it, and let me know if you tried it and how it went for you in the comments below!

XOXO

~Crystel

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