Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Placemat Pillows

This afternoon I could be found at one of my favorite stores, Crate and Barrel. I hadn't been there for several months, so I took my time browsing the isles and looking at all the desirable entertaining and decorating items they had on display. That's my idea of a eye candy. My eyes kept being drawn to the pillows they had featured -- especially the appliqued pillows. Here's a sampling of what I saw...


Just beautiful. I'm drawn to these vibrant, earth toned colors all year long, and I was imaging how beautiful one of these pillows would look in my family room. Most of large pieces of furniture in my family room are brown-toned, so I like to accessorize with bright colors, and I thought one of these pillows would do the trick, until I looked at the price tags. Now, I don't mind spending money on a quality item every now and then, but I just couldn't rationalize spending between $37 - $50 for one of these beauties. Simply couldn't bring myself to do it. Then my eyes lit on this placemat.
Again, I was drawn to the beautiful appliques and colors...

Hmmm. Months ago I read an article where someone had taken a placemat and transformed it into a pillow. I checked the back of the placemat and it was "lined." A beautiful possibility began to take shape. A purchase was made and I high-tailed it home to begin the transformation.

All you have to do is use your seam ripper and open a hole in the bottom seam. Stuff with a pillow form (14"x18") or stuffing and sew the seam back up. The whole process takes the better part of 10 minutes. Seriously.

Honestly, this little gal is just as pretty as any of the other pillows I saw and she was a fraction of the price. I'm dancing the happy dance. What's more, two more placemats came home with me and are awaiting their transformation (scroll up to see my favorite one completed)...


Head on over to "The Shabby Chic Cottage" for Transformation Thursday and "Tales from Bloggeritaville" for some Thrifty Thursday ideas. Also linked to Funky Junk Interior's "Saturday Night Special!"