Two years ago, we decided to do a no-spend month. A third of the way into the month, God blessed me with a job opportunity, but that created a few challenges, since we had pledged to not spend any money, so I had to get creative with what I had. I made the two little ones some nap mats for school using fabric that we had, and these worked well for that school year.
Last summer, I sold one of the mats to a friend because my girls didn’t stay for rest time last school year. This year, they need nap mats again, so I took the girls to the fabric store, and Sissy picked out Frozen fabric. I had only planned to make one nap mat, since we still had one, but Little Sister got so excited about all the fabric that I couldn’t resist buying her some fabric too.
I used Jenny Garland’s nap mat tutorial for all of the nap mats. I always make just a few changes to her tutorial.
- If using fleece instead of minky fabric, I only use one yard and don’t sew the blanket, which saves me a lot of time.
- For the strap, I cut a strip of fabric the full width (usually 45″) and 5″ wide. I fold it in half with right sides together and stitch along the opening. After turning right side out, I sew a seam 1/4 inch along each side of the tube before inserting the elastic.
- I only use 36″ of Velcro because that is how much comes in a package. I go ahead and sew a 1/2 inch seam about 2″ long on the bottom and top of the open side. I start the Velcro above the seam at the bottom of the open side.
- I also do the Velcro step before filling the pillow because it’s easier for me to sew the seams without the pillow stuffed.
The girls are so excited about their new nap mats! They have been carrying them around the house and snuggling up with their blankets.
Now we have an extra nap mat (photo below) if anyone would like to buy it for $15. I can also make custom nap mats if you are interested. I charge $25 to make them plus the cost of the materials, which is usually around $25.
Chronicling Chaos 