DIY: Recycled Place Mats

Make your own place mats using recycled materials.

Whether you are planning a dinner party, or just giving your dining area a new theme for everyday use, the expense of decor options can quickly add up. Out-grown clothing, out-of-date home decor or grocery bags saved for new purposes can be manipulated into recycled place mats. Dig through your closets and basement for recyclable materials that are no longer used. Different sets of place mats for elegant, rustic or kid-friendly dinners can be made for just pennies.

Things You'll Need

• Large paper grocery bags
• Scissors
• Measuring tape
• Iron
• Fabric scraps
• Fusible web
• Cookie cutters
• Pencil
• 11-by-14-inch picture frames
• Wallpaper or wrapping paper
• Rose petals
• 2-inch-wide silver foil plumber's tape
• Corrugated cardboard
• Craft knife
• Flannel shirts
• Masking tape

Instructions

Paper Bag Place Mats

1. Cut open large paper grocery bags at the seam that runs down the back. Cut off and discard the bottoms of the bags. Lay the bags out flat on your ironing surface and iron.

2. Cut a paper bag rectangle 11 by 14 inches for each place mat.

3. Place scrap fabric on your ironing surface with the wrong side facing up. Cut pieces of fusible web to cover the fabric.

4. Position the fusible web on the fabric with the glue side down. Fusible web has a paper side and a side that is textured. The textured side is the glue side. Iron the web to adhere it to the fabric.

5. Lay the fused fabric with the paper side facing up. Place cookie cutters that match your dining theme on the paper. Trace around the cutters and cut out.

6. Set one paper rectangle on your ironing surface with the blank side facing up. The bag label will be facing down and will not show. Peel off the paper backing from the fabric shapes. Arrange the shapes on the rectangle with the glue side down and iron to adhere. Repeat on each remaining rectangle.

Glass Place Mats

1. Cut rectangles of wallpaper or wrapping paper 10 inches wide by 13 inches long for each place mat.

2. Set a paper rectangle on the table at each seat. Turn each rectangle so the long edges run face the chair in front of it . Sprinkle rose petals on the paper.

3. Remove the glass panes from enough 11-by-14-inch picture frames for each place mat.

4. Lay one glass pane on your work surface. Cut an 11-inch length of silver foil plumber's tape. Place the length of the tape on one 11-inch edge of the glass with 1 inch of the tape's width extending over the edge. Fold the extending edge of the tape's width to the back of the glass. Apply tape with matching lengths to the remaining edges of the glass pane. Repeat on the remaining glass panes for your place mats.

5. Center the glass panes over the paper rectangles and rose petals.

Flannel Place Mats

1. Cut a rectangle from corrugated cardboard 11 inches wide by 14 inches long for each place mat, using a craft knife.

2. Cut a rectangle from the back of an old flannel shirt 13 inches wide by 16 inches long. Cut as many as are needed for each place mat.

3. Place one flannel rectangle on your work surface with the wrong side facing up. Center a cardboard rectangle on the flannel.

4. Fold the edges of the flannel over the cardboard and secure with masking tape. Repeat with the remaining cardboard and flannel rectangles.

5. Turn the covered place mats over with the flannel facing up. Lay each place mat on the table at each seat.