Placemat Pillowcases

Turn a placemat into a decorative pillowcase!

An easy DIY project that took me less than 30 minutes!

Using a seam ripper (can be bought at joann fabrics/walmart/Amazon for a couple dollars), I opened the seam between the back and front of the placemat.  See link for sample product: Seam Ripper

Then I slid a pillow that I bought on clearance from Ross's into the the pocket:

And resewed the seam back together:

I used my sewing machine to sew the seam back together, but you could just as easily hand stitch the seam - it is such a short distance it still wouldn't take that long to hand stitch

Turn this:

Into this:

I made two coordinating pillows from two coordinating placemats found at Target

Here is the second placemat turned pillowcase:

Travel Chalkboard Placemat

 Roll it open to color or eat:

Roll it closed to travel:

Did you know that they make chalkboard fabric?!  How cool is that?!  I have so many ideas for it (a table runner so that you can "name" all the dishes set out on your table, placemats with people's name's written on them for assigned seating, and so much more!!!), but for this project I made a travel chalkboard / placemat for Eliana.

I made a small pouch to store the chalk:

The pouch velcros right onto the chalkboard so it doesn't get separated during travel:

It rolls up:

And gets tied together:

 It rolls up pretty compact and when unrolled it the size of a large placemat

Two fabrics were used:  1. chalkboard fabric and 2. laminated fabric 

The laminate fabric is great because it can easily be wiped down.  That way when we take it to a restaurant for entertainment both food and chalk can be wiped away.  The laminate side can even be used as a placemat/eating area for a young toddler instead of a plate.

To make your own: Cut out two rectangles from your fabrics (chalkboard fabric and laminated fabric).  Place the wrong sides together and serge around the outside. 

Then sew on the ribbon so that it can be tied closed.

And of course sew on a label if you have one :-)

To make the pouch: cut out two smaller rectangles.   Fold the long side up 3/4 of the way and then serge around all four sides (you serge the pocket as you are serging around the edges). 

I then used Fray Block on all corners to keep my thread from unraveling.

Box Pleat Valance Tutorial - Sewing a Valance from a Target Curtain Panel

I recently posted photos of my new curtain in my also new "Reading Room".

I found a wonderful "how-to" from Living Solutions The Blog: Ideas and Inspiration

I altered her tutorial just a bit and made my own box pleat curtain.  She does a great job describing how to measure how much fabric you will need with the addition of the pleats, hems, etc.

For my curtain I only wanted 1 pleat.  For each pleat you need to add 8 inches of fabric.  So, this is how I did my math:  my window is 46" wide.  I wanted my valance to be 47" wide (just wider than the window).  So my fabric needed to be 47" plus I added 8" for 1 pleat, 1/2" for 1/4" hem on each side, 7" for the 3 1/2"'s on each side of the board to wrap around and an additional 1" to wrap around to the back of the board to staple it.  Therefore my fabric was 63 1/2" wide.  

I wanted my valance to be 16" high.  I measured 16" plus 3 1/2" for the width of the board it would attach to, plus 1" for hemming allowance around the top and bottom.  So my fabric was 20 1/2" high.

I used a Target curtain panel for my fabric.  I happened to be walking through Target and found a curtain panel for $20 in the perfect color.  For the amount of fabric you get, it is quite a deal!

Measuring before cutting my fabric (63 1/2" X 20 1/2")

Finding the center of my fabric and pinning my pleat.

Pleat pinned - each fold is 2"

I factored a total of 8" for my 1 pleat

Before sewing, iron your pleat(s)!

After sewing my pleat into place - I sewed down the middle on both sides about 6 inches

View of the sewn pleat from the back

I then placed my curtain onto my lining fabric and cut my lining fabric to the same size.  I then pinned the right sides together of my lining fabric and my curtain fabric

I then sewed around the top and 3/4" of the way around the sides of the fabric

I did not sew around the bottom or 1/4 of the sides.  This way I could hem them separately.

The curtain has been turned right side out and ironed

In this picture you can see that I still need to hem my lining fabric and then sew together the sides

I then hemmed the lining and outer fabric.  For the outer fabric I sewed a blind hem after serging it.

Blind hem completed on outer fabric

Blind hem completed on outer fabric (you can't see the stitching!)

I serged the lining fabric and then sewed down the sides of the valance to finish the sides.

Sewn down the sides of the valance to attach the the lining and outer fabric

View from the back

Views from the front

Views of front with back folded over 

After the valance is sewn and ironed, you need to attach it to your board.  I used a staple gun to attach it to my wood 2x4 board.  I did it exactly as is shown on the Living Solutions Blog:

She explains in detail how to wrap your corners.

My finished valance!

For more photos of the completed valance in place visit the original post:  Box Pleat Valance - DIY