Sewing: Place Mat Pillow

When I got pregnant with #2, a boy, I was really excited to have a reason to redecorate an entire room (it was our guest room/office). I started in Photoshop and slapped together my ideas. I take a picture of the room then "paint" the walls in Photoshop, add pictures of furniture I like from different websites, add art work, bedding, fabrics, etc. Doesn't everybody do that? (no? heh heh... ummmm) Anyway, here is what the room looks like today...

It's light blue, navy blue, white, with an orange accent. The furniture was all bought on Craig's List, the chair is from Walmart.com, and the rest is from IKEA. (That blue chair could sure use a pillow!)

I also had this white ice cream parlor style chair with a pink seat I got at a thrift store many years ago. It traveled to all of my college apartments with me and I couldn't let it go. I think I paid $8 for it, my husband hated it, and it was really uncomfortable. Sounds dreamy, eh? Here's pretty much what it looked like... with a pink upholstered seat.

I decided that I was going to recover the seat and it would make a good place to sit and put on your shoes. Genius! Fast forward to IKEA shopping. I found place mats. Blue and white striped place mats! Like this, but a different pattern...

See how cheap? They would be perfect to recover the chair! I got 2. Then I brought them home and they were too small. Dang it! I guess that's why you should measure and why IKEA provides paper tape measures. So smart of them. They were also too thick to sew together and make a bigger piece of fabric. I thought of that. There would have been a big thick seam in your butt if you sat down. No good.

So, the place mats became a pillow and the chair went to the curb. (Someone took it before the garbage people got there... don't worry... it lives on.. on a farm with other forgotten chairs... and pets... and other gross furniture we have put out there) But I tell everyone that the pillow was my plan all along. Why does it seem like a lot of my craft projects develop from accidents?

Here's the finished product.