When my youngest Megan, was a baby, she had a fabric play mat that had a tubular round edge all around so that she couldn’t roll out of it, and also when she got older, she could play inside with her toys without them rolling out onto the floor.
So the other day, Andi my eldest daughter was saying how she would like something similar for Isabella, so I decided to make one.
Since this item will always be on the floor, I wanted a darkish fabric, so I chose a robust fabric for the bottom panel, a cotton twill blend in grey, and a 100% cotton for the top and edge, the top fabric has a farm motif.
I must say that one of my friends said the fabric was more suited for a boy than a girl, but really it has pink piggies so that´s good enough for me 😉, ……and I admit she also said it looked like a dog bed(maybe I should get a new friend 🙂 )…. she is quite right though, it does look like a dog bed…… and it would have been less costly to buy a dog bed!!, But I didn’t let that bother me, when baby has outgrown it, I will give it to Jack or Oscar, they both love to tear up dog beds.
Anyway for those of you who might be wanting to make a baby play mat that resembles a dog bed, or make a genuine dog bed, here goes!
For a 0.98cm square mat, you will need;
- A bottom square of metre fabric, this includes the 1 cm seams on both sides, mine was the grey twill.
- A top square of 1m fabric, this includes the 1 cm seams on both sides, mine was the cotton farm pattern.
- A strip of the top fabric of +- 4.20m x .32cm, the strips will have to be sewn together to get the required length, also I always make the tube bigger than necessary to allow for the corners etc.
- A square of 1m Polyester blend batting.
- Enough filling for the round ridge that goes around the mat.
Take the top square fabric right side facing up, and attach the square polyester batting to the bottom by sewing a quick zig zag all around the edges. Trim the excess batting
Take the strip of fabric and fold in half so that the wrong sides are facing each other and sew together to make a tube, leaving only the top end open. Once its sewn turn the tube inside out, so the right side is now facing out.
Next, attach the tube to the top part of the top square fabric, right sides facing, before reaching the end cut the excess fabric, so that it will be flush with the top square. remember you still have one side open to stuff the tube.
When that is done, attach the bottom fabric to the top part, right side facing the tube will also be inside. Leave a small gap to turn the whole thing inside out when done.
Once the mat has been turned inside out through the gap, fill the tube with whichever filling takes your fancy, I used shredded foam because it was the cheapest, and it need loads of filling. handsew the opening of the tube and the gap of the grey fabric on the bottom of the mat, and that’s it, all done.
Of course you can add all sorts of toys to the mat, I didn´t because I know the utility of this mat will be pretty short, once baby starts exploring a bit further than what siting on her bottom allows her to do. So we just put toys inside which can be taken out and played with anywhere.
Well there you have it people, a baby play mat or a dog bed, both useful and easy to make. 😊
The Monkey thorn 