Wednesday 6 April 2011

Car playmat

My cousin's eldest son is celebrating his 4th birthday soon.  He loves to play with toy cards, he has a collection at home and my parents have a collection at their house for when he comes over.  I decided a good present would be a car playmat that can be folded up and taken with him.

I was lucky enough to come across this fabric.


I'm afraid I can't for the life of me remember where I got it from and the selvedge is not printed so I don't know who makes it.

I didn't use a pattern for this one, I just winged it and there were  lot of mistakes I made that I wouldn't do again.  I wont bore you with them, I'll just say that my garage construction technique leaves a lot to be desired!

Here are the garages, a place to store any cars he wants to take with him, well 3 anyway.  This is the other end:

It's a metre by half a metre so should be big enough to provide him with some entertainment.  It folds up around the garages using the ribbons you can see there to make this:


I have no idea why it looks brown, both ribbon and backing fabric are black.  The backing fabric is actually a sheet from IKEA.  I suppose I did get some IKEA bargains, though none of the gorgeous fabric I see on other blogs!

I told my mum I was making this playmat and she told me that she'd wanted one of the road rugs that were around when I was a kid in the early 80s, but she couldn't afford it.  She then apologised to me for us having to miss out!  She has such a different view of my childhood than I do.  As far as me and my brother are concerned, we didn't want for anything as kids.  I don't mean we were spoilt, but I certainly never felt deprived! 

10 comments:

Jacey said...

What a great idea, it's always good to have things you can take out easily with you when you have little ones. xx

Libby said...

Love it!! The school where I used to teach had one of those rugs. They kids one spend hours playing on that thing! I think a portable one is a wonderful idea!
Your Mom sounds like a real sweetheart! Us Mom's always want the best for our kids!

RobynLouise said...

Wonderful idea and your creation would be much easier to carry around than a road rug.

Tezzcan said...

That's really cool Wendy, and it looks black to me.
Your Mum sounds lovely.

Joysze said...

What an awesome present for a little boy, Wendy. He's going to be over the moon when he sees it!!!! :D

Pootle said...

Fabby fabric and great idea!!

Amy / MoMomma said...

This is awesome! My 4 yr old would love it- especially the garages (and kids are so forgiving they will love it no matter what!) Good job.

cookieandclaire said...

Great idea!

nicolette {momnivores dilemma} said...

That fabric is so inspiring...I think all kids would love those garages...add lil flaps on them for doors! lol...

Thanks for sharing this over at Creative Juice Thursday.
Hope to see you back this week, Wendy!

Sweet Peas and Bumblebees said...

So Adorable!!

I would love it if you would link it up to our What I Made Wednesday Linky Party!!

Also, stop in for a chance to win our 100 Follower Giveaway {{Beaded Watch & Hobby Lobby Gift Card}}

Alisa
Sweet Peas and Bumblebees
sweetpeasandbb.blogspot.com