Upcycled Project: Old Magazines Turned Into Woven Placemats

Have you ever thought that one of the best ways to upcycle your stash of old magazines is to turn them into woven placemats? 

Upcycled Woven Placemats: Where and When Can You Use Them? 

Upcycled woven placemats can serve as elegant accents if you wish to incorporate elements of afternoon tea or ladies' high tea into the theme of an intimate get-together that you're hosting. 

It could be a bachelorette party or hen do, or something that will take place before you work with your group of ladies who are into knitting, quilting, journaling, or scrapbooking. 

You can handcraft a bouquet of carnations, place it inside a simple vase, or use a container like an old beer mug, an empty jar, or a chipped flower pot for a shabby chic charm. 

You can then use your container with handmade carnations as a centerpiece on a round table. 

If you have a long dining table, place a container of handcrafted carnations on each end. 

Click here for a complete tutorial on making paper carnations.

Upcycled Woven Placemats: A Way to Cut Back as A Host 

When you're hosting an event, even if it's something small and intimate, you might be pressured to bring out your finest china, glassware, and cutlery.

Add to the fact that you'll need to come up with food and refreshments, the costs of being a host might raise concerns.

Upcycling old magazines into woven placemats is a good way to cut back on costs and gradually reduce your stash. 

Also, woven placemats from upcycled magazines can be single-use accents. Even if your guests have spilled a beverage or left morsels of food, you can just gather and throw them into the trash once your event is done.

Woven Placemats as A Versatile Upcycled Project

You can modify this upcycled project to suit the theme and occasion. 

For starters, you can replace glossy magazines with old comic books for a children's birthday party. 

For a holiday party for your neighborhood block, you can use Christmas catalogues. 

(**Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, which means I'll be collecting a commission once you click on any of those links and make a purchase.) 

Upcycled Woven Placemats: Materials

Here are the materials you'll need for this upcycled project:

• Old copies of glossy magazines  
• Paper cutter  
• Glue 

3S Angels Used
Good Shop's pre-loved
teen magazines

Upcycled Woven Placemats: Procedure

(1.) Select a few old magazines from your stash and leaf through the pages. 

Image by pikisuperstar

(2.) Think about your desired theme, and choose the colors accordingly. In the 1st photo, I used a template with light pink, lilac, and moss green hues. In the 2nd one, I chose brighter and bolder shades of pink with brown hues. 

(3.) Tear away the pages from the magazines with colors that adhere to your desired theme. 

Portable paper trimmer
by Crystal Image

(4.) Isolate a page and fold approximately an inch at the end of the page. And then, using a paper cutter, cut the page into strips of different widths. Make sure that the one inch  at the end of the magazine page remains intact. This will serve as your "main page." 

(5.) Use your paper cutter to create more strips of different widths. 

(6.) Gather all your magazine strips and weave them onto the main page. Ideally, you should combine complementary hues, sizes of text, and font colors.

(7.) Secure all strips from opposite ends by adding glue.