Tummy Time Mat

I made a tummy time mat for Merrick, and this post shows how I made it. :) Here is the final product. You'll need:

*Fabric for the front

*Fabric for the back

*Felt

*Spool of ribbon

*Sewing machine

*Thread (possibly two depending on your colors)

*Pins

*Scissors

*About a hour

The picture to the left shows the pieces you'll have after completing the first steps. First, I ironed the front and back fabrics. The forest theme fabric will be my front, and the orange will be my back. Each fabric has what I'm going to call a pretty side and an ugly side. Put your two fabrics together with the ugly sides touching. Do the corners line up? Some fabrics are wider than others. You want the two fabrics to be the same size, so if you have to trim one down, that's fine. I took one corner and folded it to the opposite corner, then cut the excess fabric off. This left me with two giant squares of fabric that were the same size. 

Next, measure the length and width of your fabric squares. Subtract 6"from each side, and cut your felt to those dimensions. For example, if your blanket is measuring 42" x 39", your felt piece should be 36" x 31". You're leaving a  3" border all the way around because the felt does not need to go to the edges. It's just there to add padding to the middle where baby would spend most of the time. 

Now you're going to work with your back fabric and the felt. In the picture, the ugly side of the back orange fabric is up. Position the felt in the middle so the border is as even as possible. Pin the felt in place. I used 4 pins per side, and placed them about 2-3" inside the felt. The picture on the right is now where you should be after these steps. 

Both my "top" and bobbin thread are the same color orange, and my mat didn't require me to have different colors. If yours does, just take note of switching them out if need be.

Sew the felt to the back fabric. I left about 1/2" to 3/4" seam.

The picture on the left is where you should be.

When you have sewn the felt to the back fabric, it will look like the picture on the left. 

Flip your back fabric over so the pretty side is up. You'll be able to see the outline of the felt from the opposite side. Now, take the pretty side of your front fabric, and place it on top of the pretty side of the back fabric. You want the pretty sides touching because eventually you're going to flip the blanket inside out; the felt will be on the inside.

Decide whether you want to have 4 or 5 ribbon loops on each side of your tummy time mat. I chose 5 loops for this particular mat, and alternated between sage green and white. I didn't measure the length of the ribbon pieces, but try 10". This gives you roughly a 4" loop. You don't want too small of a loop where baby's hand could get snagged. 

Next you want to make sure you have lots of pins. This part is tricky. Identify where you want your ribbons to go. Make a note to put your "end" ribbons no more than 3" from the corners. Take your first ribbon and fold it in half. Lift up the top fabric, and place your folded ribbon so the loop points towards the interior of the mat. The ends should be along the end of the fabric. After this step, you're at the picture on the right.

Fold the top fabric back down, and pin through the fabrics and ribbon. The picture on the right shows my thumb where the pin is and my index finger where the top of the ribbon is. Do this for all your ribbons.

Now you get to spend more time at your sewing machine. The next step is probably the most frustrating part, but only because the fabric often moves around on you. You'll see the top fabric overlap the bottom or vice versa. Once you've sewn that side, I recommend trimming the excess off. 

I like to keep a 3/4" to 1" border, and I sew over the ribbon area three times (forward, reverse, forward again) just make sure they are nice and secure. The picture on the right shows how I went over the pin, which is keeping the ribbon in place, three times. Read the step below before you start sewing.

Remember how I mentioned something about flipping the mat inside out? You'll need to leave a gap in your sewing in order to do this. I left a 4" gap on my fourth side. I sewed all the way around, then sewed over the last ribbon and stopped. I trimmed up the thread, removed the pins, then gently pulled the mat inside-out. Ok, now you can sew.

The picture to the left is where you should be. The mat has been turned inside-out, and the ribbons are on the outside! Notice how fluffy and air-y it looks. We are going to take care of that next.

 

The next step is to sew along the border again. Find the 4" gap that you used to flip the mat inside-out. Use 2 pins to secure the fabric together. Start in the top of the corner and sew along the edge. I lined up the right side of the foot guide to the edge of the mat, and kept the fabric taught. Use pins to keep the fabric tight if you need to. The picture on the left shows you the small seam created. 

Once you have sewn along the edges, I have one more step for you. Divide the mat into thirds, and sew down where a fold would be if you folded it. This will tame that billowy look from earlier. The picture on the right shows the seams on the back. The two vertical ones are at the 1/3 and 2/3 mark that run from top to bottom of the mat.

Now you're done. Here's the final product again!