Monday, February 16, 2009

Tummy Time Mat Tutorial

My friend Kim just had a beautiful baby girl named Peyton Elizabeth.  Isn't that a great name!  I thought Peyton needed a stylish tummy mat so I whipped up this one and I'll show you how to make one too.  First I cut 4 13-inch squares of felt and sewed them together with the 1/2 inch seams out.
I cut the seams so that when I washed the blanket I'd get some great fringe.  This looks like it takes forever, but really only took 15 minutes to do the whole blanket.
After the four squares are sewn together and the fringey snips are made it's time to sew on the backing and the batting.  Surprisingly enough, this is the trickiest part.  Here's what I suggest:  Lay out the batting first, then the backing, then on top of these two layers put the top of the blanket with the "right" side facing down and closest to the backing.  
Sew these three layers together and leave one section open like you would a pillow so that you can turn the blanket inside out. 
There's one final step before you throw your blanket into the washing machine.... Make a few small stitches on the seams so that the three layers of the blanket are stitched together in the middle of the blanket.  This will help to keep the batting layer from bunching.
Finally, my favorite step!  Here's where the magic happens!  Throw your blanket into the washing machine and dryer and behold your beautiful fringe!
Here's the final product.  This is similar to another blanket that I've made, but to spice this one up a little I added an embroidered "P" for our new little Peyton.  Hope she likes it!

11 comments:

Chris and Melody Harrell said...

looks great, sarah! I'm sure she will love it! I like the colors and patterns you used, too!

Twiddle Thumbs said...

So cute! And looks really comfy for all that tummy time.

Anonymous said...

I LOVE this. Thanks for the great photo tutorial. It makes me actually think that I can tackle quilting!

Anonymous said...

Quick question-- can you do the fringey thing using regular fabric (not felt) too or will it fray too much?

Sarah said...

Cara,
That's a great question! I have never used this technique with regular cotton fabric, but I'll bet it would work. Make sure you cut the fringe in close together little snips, because it might not fray as much as the felt. Although, with a few washes it might look exactly the same. If you try it, let me know how it works out!

Becky said...

You said you used felt but looks to me like you used flannel! ;-D

Unknown said...

Gorgeous little blanket and great tutorial.

clg0513 said...

what size squares did you use?

Sarah said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sarah said...

I used 4 13-inch squares for this blanket and 9 smaller squares for the blanket I made in an earlier post. You can really do whatever you think looks good, that's the beauty of making your own!

Grace said...

Great tutorial, I made one of these the other night. But I used a bit smaller squared and had 6 of them. The photo is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thegracediaries/4472477105/?edited=1