DIY

Another gift I made a while ago was a pillow for my mom made from a placemat.  Yes, you heard me, a placemat.  It was one of the simplest and cheapest things I’ve made.  And, you would never know by looking at it that it once was intended to be under a plate.  Once again, inspiration was found at prudentbaby.com.   I use their site a lot because their ideas are usually easy enough for any beginner and have greatly increased my knowledge of sewing techniques.

To make this pillow I just had to find a placemat that was sewn from two pieces of fabric.  I loved the bright red and embroidered leaf pattern.  I used a seam ripper to separate the seam a few inches long on what would become the bottom of the pillow so I could get some stuffing in.  I stuffed it and then used a blind stitch to close it back up.  Done.  I found the placemat at Ross for a couple dollars.  And now it currently sits on my parents’ bed.

Actually, I just remembered that this was a gift from my son.  He helped me stuff all the polyfil inside.  It really made him feel good to help.  He is always wanting to help me sew all the animals I make, which can’t happen, so this was very exciting.  And since it was such a quick project he was able to see instant results which appealed to his shorter attention span.

You can find the original tutorial here.