Over the holidays we had pretty Christmas placemats on the table and once they were put away the table looked a little bare. So the only practical thing to do was to make some.  Now, I have never made placemats, but that never stopped me before. I have made table runners from drop cloths (CanadianTire.ca Bennett Canvas Drop Sheets #049-4818-8) so same steps apply, just a different size. I only have a few pieces of drop cloth left over from when I made drapes with painted stripes, and did a quick measurement to make sure there was enough. Eureka!