Nap Mat Tutorial

When Sydney graduated to the "Big Girl" class at the age of 2, they told me to bring a nap mat for her to sleep on the cot instead of the baby beds or cribs.  I looked and looked, but I didn't see anything I really liked.  A lot of the mats didn't seem thick enough to be comfortable, and they seemed ridiculously pricey.  I decided to use the sewing machine my mother in law had given me for Christmas and make my own.  I found a great tutorial here http://jennygarland.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/NapMatTutorial.pdf.  It was my first big project, so I made a lot of mistakes, but a good old seam ripper can take care of that.  By catching the materials on sale and using coupons, I'd say my total spent was around $30.  You could probably save more if you use less expensive fabric, but I really love minky dot blankets, so that's what I used.  The only changes I made were leaving the side of the pillow part open with velcro so that it could be removed for washing, and I bought a pillow form instead of using batting so that it could be removed more easily.  It was a little more costly by doing that, but to me it's worth it.  Below is my masterpiece.  I'm glad it's not zoomed up enough for you to see the many imperfections, but it was made with momma love, so Sydney loves it any way.