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DIY Bath Mat in Fifteen Minutes (Cheap & Cute!)

Use a pair of thrifted placemats to make an upcycled DIY bath mat. This craft is budget friendly and can be made in 15 minutes! You can also use this as a small DIY rug for any area of your home.

Skills Required: Beginner. You’ll use a needle and thread for this project exclusively. If you aren’t happy with your hand sewing technique, you might want to practice a bit, just so you get neat lines.

DIY Bath Mat in Fifteen Minutes (Cheap & Cute!)

The linen rack is one of the sections I check religiously whenever I’m at the thrift store. And when I came across a complete set of these woven placemats, I knew I wanted to bring them home.

But not for their intended purpose.

They weren’t going to go on the table. Because with four children, I need more than two placemats. I had other ideas though!

Instead I stitched a couple together to add a splash of color – a DIY bath mat for one of our barely used bathrooms. Why spend a lot of money when you don’t have to?

Placemat, needle, and embroidery thread

DIY Bathroom Mat

Gather These Supplies

  • Placemats – two
  • Embroidery thread – colorful!
  • Sewing needle
  • Scissors

Plan Your Design

Start by making sure the placemats are washed and laying flat. Iron them if necessary. Lay the placemats next to each other.

Two purple placemats laying next to each other

Begin Hand Sewing

Begin sewing at one end. Make knots to secure. If you need tips for how to start and stop a project with embroidery thread, this video shows you the knots.

Needle poking into the edge of a placemat with embroidery thread attached

Start at one end and push the needle up through. Then you’re going to use the fibers of the rug for your stitches.

Using embroidery thread and a needle to sew the placemats together

Keeping the mats lined up, zig zag stitch all the way down. Ideally you can use the fibers of the placemats to make your stitches. However, you can also go through the bottom to the top, etc.

Stitching two placemats together to make a rug

Make enough stitches to secure the placemats well – you want them snug, because you want to have the ability to wash your rug.

how to make a bath mat from two placemats

Finish Off

Trim off the excess thread when you reach the end. You’re done!

DIY bathroom mat
DIY bath mat in a bathroom

A 15-minute craft, and you have a new bathroom rug! I hope this DIY bath mat inspires you to look at things a little differently the next time you’re at the thrift store!

Yield: 1 bath mat

DIY Bath Mat

how to make a bath mat from two placemats

Learn how to make a bathroom mat the easiest and most inexpensive way possible!

Active Time 15 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
Difficulty Easy
Estimated Cost $1

Materials

  • Two placemats
  • Embroidery floss or thread

Tools

  • Needle
  • Scissors

Instructions

  1. Start by making sure the placemats are washed and laying flat. Lay them next to each other.
  2. Line the mats up and zig zag stitch all the way down, making sure to knot the thread at the beginning and end.
  3. Trim off the excess thread when you reach the end using the scissors.

Notes

Tips:

  • Grab several placemats to make a larger mat. I love that you can make this whatever size you like!
  • To make this non-slip, hot glue shelf liner to the back with dots in a few places. When you need to wash, pull it off, and then re-hot glue the dots. It doesn't take long.

Did you make this project?

Please leave a rating or share a photo on Pinterest!


Looking for more creative reuse ideas or home decor crafts, check out these other posts below:

Linda

Friday 7th of December 2018

How do you keep it from sliding around?

Amy

Friday 7th of December 2018

Hi Linda! I either use a rug pad (they're so cheap at IKEA or Dollar Tree) OR spare grip tape if I have it OR I place dabs of hot glue at strategic areas on the back. If I use the hot glue, I wash it normally and just replace it as it wears off. :D

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