Howdy guys!  I have a super simple and inexpensive project for you today, the idea of which came from my friend, Emily.  Funny story… she told me how to do this a long time ago, but I’d actually never seen the pillow she’d created herself.   The other day she came over for a playdate with her ridiculously cute son, saw my pillow, and proceeded to tell me that she’d made her pillow using the EXACT same placemat.  Haha!  Great minds think alike! 🙂   Anyways, I’ve seen placemat pillows on other blogs before, but they involved sewing two placemats together.   This version requires much less sewing and can be done by hand (or even with Liquid Stitch if your stuffing isn’t too bulky).

Ya see, after I started the transformation on our Hang-out room….

I knew that I needed to add some additional softness and pattern to the space to warm it up and I decided to start by adding a new pillow.

I’m not sure what it is about buying pillows.  I just don’t do it often unless they’re on sale for about $5. I’m SUCH a cheapskate and can’t for the life of me figure out why even the less expensive pillows are typically still around $25.   I’m not sure why, but that still seems like a lot for two small squares of fabric and some stuffing.  MAYBE I can justify it if the pillow has a lush down insert, but otherwise, I just can’t.

So, the last time I visited my lover Target, I picked up a couple of these placemats for around $4 a pop…

I liked the pattern and color and thought it would be a nice addition to our pillow family.   I began by simply opening the seam between the front and back panels…

Then, I simply stuffed in an old white lumbar pillow that I had on hand that was slightly larger than my placemat. I NEVER get rid of pillows for this reason.  Even if I’m completely over a style of pillow, I keep it so that I can at least reuse the filling if need be.  This has come in handy time and time again.

Once the pillow was in, I pinned up the open seam…

And hand stitched it shut with white thread…

It’s not perfect, but it works.   Now feast your eyes on our new pretty lady…

Ain’t she a beaut??  This project only cost me the price of my $4 pillow case and about 10 minutes of my time.   Yup.  This is one that I’ll be doing again.   For.Sure.

So, have any of y’all ever created a placemat pillow?  Any other tips or tricks you’d like to offer up?