Make a Kilim Rug Pillow From a $5 Placemat!

Lindsey McCord
by Lindsey McCord
3 Materials
$5
1 Hour
Easy
The second I saw this pink kilim style placemat at Target I KNEW it could live another life as a trendy Anthro-style pillow instead. I purchased it for $5 and then it sat in my trunk for about two months while I was totally NOT into making anything. After meeting my new friend Laura, I dug through my project lists and called her up to shoot a wonderfully easy sewing tutorial for you all. The results are FANTASTIC! Click over to the full post to see the super detailed steps!
Placemats are JUST enough fabric for a pillow and inexpensive at most stores. Just grab a scrap of drop cloth (a great budget material) and a lumpy throw pillow and you have everything you need to recycle into a gorgeous new throw pillow with colorful tassels! Doesn't it look like it came from Anthropologie?
Snip the hemmed edges of the placemat carefully with sharp scissors (or a seam ripper) and press rolled edges flat with an iron.
Iron a scrap piece of fabric for the back side of your pillow and use the placemat as a pattern to cut to size. Pin both pieces together with the right sides facing in and sew 1/2" seams leaving a 6" gap at the bottom to stuff with poly-fill.
Yarn tassels make great finishing accents. After sewing up and stuffing your pillow add one to each of the corners! I prefer wood yarn, but you can use pretty much any yarn or jute cord to make fun tassels! See my tricks for making them over on the full post! Get the placemat I used here!
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Lindsey McCord
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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Frequently asked questions
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3 of 15 questions
  • Melinda Melinda on Oct 21, 2019

    What is wood yarn ?

  • Linda Linda on Oct 21, 2019

    Not a question, Why not buy 2 placemats sew together then it wouldn’t matter how it was on the lounge!

  • Helen Helen on Oct 21, 2020

    Maybe it is wool yarn?

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  • Judith S. Judith S. on Oct 28, 2019
    Placemats also make cute holiday gift bags. Thrift store holiday theme bags. Sew short sides together. Place seam in middle and sew bottom together. Turn inside out and sew eN triangles. Right side out, you have a flat bottom holiday or seasonal bag. Super easy!
    • Cindy Ptak Cindy Ptak on Oct 22, 2020

      I love this idea, but I'm an idiot and don't understand how the bottom turns out flat. Help!

  • Becky Becky on Oct 28, 2019

    I do this on Holidays with placemats. I have some I've put out for years that I made. I give them as gifts at Christmas. Everyone loves them!

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