Not too long ago, my friend made something for her son for his birthday. I thought it was one of the coolest things ever, so I decided that I had to make one for Eli. I've never done a How To post before, but here goes...
My friend, one of the coolest ladies EVER, started out using an old pair of jeans. I don't currently have any old pairs of jeans so I had to improvise. I was at a garage sale last week and saw some place mats made from denim, so I snagged one for 50¢.
Next, I cut a piece of green felt to the correct size and cut a piece of gray felt, for a road, and several small pieces of yellow felt, for the lines down the road, using my handy dandy rotary cutter and mat.
I didn't want any extra stitching around these, so I glued them on using a fabric adhesive (I used Fabri-Tac as it is washable). I used my ruler to make sure that I had the yellow lines in the center of the road.
Next I needed to make pockets to hold the cars in. I started out using a piece of fabric that was twice as wide as I needed and about 6 or 7 inches longer than I needed (after making it, I think I should have made it even longer so that there would have been more space in each pocket). I folded the fabric in half, lengthwise, right sides together and sewed it with a 1/2" seam allowance. Leaving a small space on one side to turn it right-side out. I cut a diagonal across each corner so that the corners would be more square.
I turned it right-side out and pressed it, to make it nice and square. I also topstitched along the top of the pocket, one half inch from the edge (this is the side that was folded and didn't already have a seam). Next to attach the pocket to the green felt, I folded it in half, long way, and marked the center. Then I did the same with the felt to find the center. I placed them together and sewed a line down the center of my pockets. Then I sewed a line on each of the short edges.
Next I measured and marked where each of the six pockets should be.
I then sewed a line down each pocket.
I carefully folded the bottom edge of each pocket and pinned it down. I then sewed along the very edge.
With that part finished, I took the original pocket off of the place mat to use as handles. You'll need extra denim for this. I cut it in half long ways. I folded each of the edges in and sewed along the edge. I used the fabric adhesive to glue the felt and the place mat together, and I also sewed along the edge, sewing the handles in between the felt and the place mat.
Next, I hand sewed some snaps on. Two on the corners, and one on the handles.
The finished product! Isn't it fun!
And it folds up nicely to take to church. I use it in lieu of a quiet book and since he is driving his cars on felt, it makes it much quieter than driving them on the chairs.
The beauty of this is that with the exception of the place mat, I only used things that were left over from other products. Cheap and fun!
P.S. When my friend decides to patent this, I might have to take the instructions off of my blog. Wink, wink.
P.P.S I took the pictures, not Cameron. That's why they aren't as good.
