Decorated Chaos: How to Make a Place Mat Pillow

Hello everyone!
I have a fun Christmas decor project for you today.

You may remember my Pottery Barn inspired
Faux Fur Pillow tutorial from not too long ago.

Well, I have another no sew pillow tutorial for you but I used a different method for making this one than I did the faux fur pillow.

For starters, in order to make a "no sew" pillow like mine above you will need a place mat like this one that has two layers.

See how there is a piece of material on top of the place mat and it is sewn on to the bottom piece of material?

You must have a "double layer" place mat like this in order to make this a no sew project.

For my project I used a double sided place mat that I found last year in the Christmas clearance at Kohl's for less than a dollar. Seriously, it was on the end of the season discount aisle and was a steal.

I liked the neutral burlap looking material it had along with the print on the front so it was the perfect candidate for my makeover and I waited for the holidays to roll back around to try out this tutorial.

You probably have seen several tutorials on making pillows from place mats from other bloggers like Christina at the Frugal Homemaker, or Yvonne at Stone Gable, so I wont bore you with too many details.

To sum it up you need to first take a seam ripper and undo/rip off about 3/4 of one of the short ends of the pillow to create an opening.

Keep removing the stitches with the seam ripper until your hole is big enough to stick your hand in to fill the pillow.

Then all you do is stuff it with poly fill, then seal it back up.

But this is where the story takes a turn.

On my faux fur pillow I used no-heat bonding tape to seal up the opening, but this time I decided to use fabric glue and hook & loop fastener.

By using the hook & loop (Velcro strips basically) you can always open the pillow up.

I don't really have a need to open it up since I stuffed it with poly fill.
Had I used a pillow insert I would then definitely need a way to access the inside so that I could take the pillow out to clean it, but in my case I simply used the hook and loop just to try it out.

To adhere the hook & loop I used Aleen's fabric glue and I have to tell you that I have mixed emotions about it.

Just cut a piece of the hook & loop to the length of your inside seam, run a bead of glue along the seam, then let it dry.

Sounds easy enough but I'm not totally won over the glue because of how long it takes to dry AND in some spots the glue makes the fabric look wet, but all in all the glue was OK and I would use it again.

After the glue dried (days later) (ugh!) the hook & loop was definitely sealed on tight!

And that's it! Easy peasy!

It was so much fun to watch this place mat transform itself into a pillow that I want to make more of these!!!!

I love making these pillows!
They are budget friendly and add the perfect holiday touch around the house.

So keep your eye out for more double sided place mats or you can use some that you already have that match your decor.
And if you are a savvy shopper you can take advantage of the after Christmas sales and pick up some for next to nothing that will make wonderful gifts and decor for next year.

Either way, this is a great way to add a lovely touch to any room.