Portable pincic placemat for eco-friendly lunches!

[antarcticraft]

A friend of mine and I like to meet for lunch on campus, especially to eat outside when the weather is nice. This often involves getting meals from the many ethnic food carts or takeout restaurants near campus (or bringing lunch from home) and carrying it to a nearby picnic table. As we both strive for ways of making our lives more eco-friendly, we've often lamented at the use of paper napkins and disposable utensils. With that in mind, I made her this for her birthday:



It's a portable placemat that unrolls to reveal a sturdy knife, fork, spoon, chopsticks, and cotton napkin! You then flip it over and can enjoy a nice eco-friendly lunch on dirty picnic tables, grassy spots on the green, cement benches, or even your lap!



This was my first time making something without a pattern, and I had a lot of fun (I free-hand quilted the back, though it's hard to see, and there is a layer of batting in between the front and back main panels). It was also an experiment, so I'm eager to make another to test out better ways of making the pattern. My plan is to make a tutorial, if people are interested. Comments and critiques welcome!

[JLMS]

This is a great gift. I hope you made one for yourself, too. I think I will make a couple for keeping in the car for travel. Thanks for the great idea.

[antarcticraft]

This is a great gift. I hope you made one for yourself, too. I think I will make a couple for keeping in the car for travel. Thanks for the great idea.

I'm definitely going to make one for myself next, to keep in my office at school. I think I'll make the tutorial from that one (if it goes well!). I'm glad you like it!

[spotnik]

Great idea!

I love it!

[supermedic]

love it and would love a tute

[Yarn or Fabric]

I like your style better than the one I found online - and planned to make this week -
http://ccswch.wordpress.com/2008/04/15/picnic-placemat-tutorial/
So now I have to rethink my placemat - I love the idea of the pocket for the cloth napkins as well.... decisions decisions now!

Great gift idea!  I can see making these for others as well - my kids teachers at school has the kids eat outside fairly often... I could make one for each kid in the class so they don't have to put their lunches on the ground...

okay. now you have made more work for me! I better get started before school starts up again! 

[acajjou]

That's a fantastic idea.  And you used such cute fabrics together.  Wonderful all over!

[threegirlsandaboy]

That's a great idea!  Those are great fabrics too!  I'm sure you friend will love it!!

[YukinaKipling]

that's a realllyyyy good idea

[little me]

How cool is that? Nice job.