Car Mat/Play house

Remember how last week I talked about maybe doing some sewing for P, and pointed out this car house (which I discovered via Made By Rae)?

About five minutes after writing that post, I became obsessed. Or maybe I just made the mistake of mentioning it to P who then hounded me about it. For the next two days I was hard at work cutting out little felt pieces and making this adorable play house/play mat. P is a bit of a hoarder and loves to put all his toys in a bag or container and carry them around, so I knew this would be a hit. And as a carrying case it sure beats a garbage bag. We learned that the hard way when P was re-enacting the opening part of Toy Story 3 and put all his toys in a black garbage bag, which we then accidentally left at the park. The toys were recovered but not before a lot of angst (his) and tears (mine).

The house-bag serves a dual purpose as it then unfolds into this cute playmat. (Cars aficionados will recognise Cosy Cone #1 and #2 – placed there by special request. Yes, Pixar has taken over our life and I’m not even ashamed of it.)

I varied the pattern a little bit. I didn’t make it from felt – I made it from cotton with a piece of batting in between. So it’s definitely floppier than the original, but I like that look. I also didn’t add the extra pieces of fabric to make the mat square, as I had a feeling P would get frustrated trying to fold that all back together.

Can I just pause for a moment to say I am so proud of myself? It’s amazing how two months ago I struggled to make us Christmas stockings, and now just two months later I can pull this off! It was also my first attempt at machine applique-ing and though the results were a little uneven (I touched a few up by hand after this photo), by the end I was really getting the hang of it. That’s the great thing about sewing toys – your kid isn’t going to critique your stitches, and fit doesn’t matter so imperfections are not fatal to overall use. And P said “I LOVE it!” and insisted on taking it out with us, so I know it was a hit.

3 thoughts on “Car Mat/Play house”

  1. Great job! I’m so impressed you whipped it up so quickly. It took about 3 months for me to do mine. I’m so glad your son loves it.

    Would love for you to add a photo or 2 to my (empty) Flickr pool.

Comments are closed.