Pinterest Lessons learned: A story about a Nap-Mat

Who would have thought when we started the DIY blog that we would have the year we have had. Unfortunately there are only so many hours in the day, but we are here and have been super busy creating for a great fall.

So, tonight I come with a project and a few questions. I (as many of you, I imagine) have a new found source of humor: The wonderful blogs who share with us the many failed attempts of many Pinterest projects. As a crafter, I absolutely adore Pinterest and the seemingly unlimited sources of wardrobe, recipes, crafts, projects for kids. . . . you name it. . . . that it provides.

We had a need this evening for a new nap mat for pre-school. Now, I'm not one to throw down the aesthetically bland red and blue plastic nap mats and expect my three year old to nap peacefully.However, he has used his brother's hand-me-down fabric nap mat (with built in pillow) for a few years now and the poor mat is showing its age. I realised this after trying to wash it for the umpteenth hundred time tonight.

I quickly remembered all the adorable nap map tutorials I had seen on pinterest (and even re-pinned a few) and thought to myself  "I've got everything I need upstairs, I'll just make one".  My children are always asking me to sew for them. Since most of what I do is girl oriented my own children seem at an unfair disadvantage and are always pleased to help with my sewing process by choosing fabric or being the recipient of one of my creations. I probably should tell you here that there are no terrible pictures to follow of a failed attempt at a nap mat. But I have definitely learned a great deal in the past hour and wanted to share these finds with you.

First, unless you own a huge industrial machine you WILL NOT be able to quilt the entire nap mat without a great deal of wrestling. I also had a difficult time coercing my machine to sew through all the batting. This clearly reinforced my lack of desire to ever quilt. . . anything.

Second, I really should probably read directions. No clue what any of the helpful bloggers out there put on their blog for tips and suggestions to avoid frustration because I didn't look. In my true Type A personality (and a little ADD thrown in for good measure) I just dove in head first.

Third as adorable and soft and precious as minky dot fabric is. . . it is a pain in my hiney to sew with. Seriously. I don't enjoy it.

So, with those thoughts in mind if you have made it this far in the post you should be good to go (or at least in a much better position than I was). My nap mat is about 55 inches long by 20 inches wide. The minky is one large piece (45X40) and the orange pillow at the top is a foam square piece wrapped in additional batting. Currently it doesn't have a closure but it looks comfy and it rolls up, therefore I count this as a win.

Happy Crafting :)