quick fix: placemat pillows

Yes, I do still have placemats on the brain.  :o)

But how cool is this idea?  Take a placemat and some stuffing, and voila, you have an easy throw pillow.  Wish I could take credit for it, but I found the idea here on Prudent Baby.

I found these two placemats on clearance at Kohl's about a month ago...marked down from $6.99 to $1.39 each.  Yep, that's 80% off.  :o)

Just make sure the placemat you choose consists of two pieces of fabric sewn together, and also iron them first to make sure you get rid of any wrinkles (in case they've been crammed in a closet under piles of fabric...or maybe this is just my problem!).

For me, it took about twelve ounces of stuffing to stuff one pillow.  Guess it depends on how fluffy you like them.  I was nervous about hand-sewing them shut since my hand-sewing tends to be a bit atrocious, but by ripping out some of the seams in the placemats to start with, you have the holes left behind to work with once you're sewing the hole shut.  Totally takes the guesswork out of where your next seam should be.

I only had time to finish one before naptime was over, but it was super easy and I'm very excited to finish the second one!

 This is also a good project to do while you're waiting for a new lightbulb for your sewing machine.  :o)