repurposed

placemat as pillow cover.
this is something i've been doing for years and years...taking placemats and turning them into pillows.  when we lived near boston, i always got placemats at crate and barrel.  since maine only has one c & b and it's way down in kittery (and an outlet), i've turned to my friend target more than once.

today i had the luxury of being at tarjay ALONE, so i strolled by the placemats and kitcheny stuff.  this puppy jumped right out at me because it's the exact shade of thyme-ish green i've been looking for.

placemats make perfect pillow covers because they often have interfacing stuck to each piece of fabric...giving them some substance.  usually, i take a seam ripper and have at an edge but this one has a border.  i just cut right into the fabric.

interfacing on both pieces...and random writing from whomever made it in china.

when you can just rip the seam (and not hack through fabric like i did here), it obviously ends up looking neat when you've finished sewing it.  but this pillow is just going to be for a chair (which is currently being used as a suit pants holder by my husband) in our bedroom, so i'm not worried about a messy-ish sewing job.  while i wanted a little pop of green in there, i know it will soon be covered by a stack of clean tshirts and/or more suit pants.

here's the finished hand-sewn seam

suit pants thrown aside, here it is in its new home--on a mid century chair i found for 4.99 and reupholstered (temporarily with brown...until i can find something i like more).