A dear friend, Rebekah, asked me to make a nap mat for her little niece Brylee a couple of years ago. It blows my mind that Brylee's little sister, Ruthee, started Kindergarten this year and needed a nap mat too!! [Rebekah -> they are seriously growing up too fast!!]
I followed Jenny Garland's nap mat tutorial but made a number of adjustments.
(1) I have a disdain towards velcro. I don't know what it is. Maybe it reminds me of a velcro wallet and it makes me cringe a little. I'm just not a fan. Then again, I'm not a mom yet so I may fall in love with velcro when that wonderful day comes to fruition. But back to the tutorial, instead of using velcro along the sides of the nap mat, I made an envelope casing across the back for easy removal of the foam.
(2) I'm also developing a distaste for fiberfill stuffing. It always seems to get a little wonky when I use it to stuff pillows, etc. Instead of using fiberfill for the pillow, I created a pillow using a comfy, soft batting and created a little pillow case for that. I made another envelope casing for the pillow insert so that it could also be easily removed for washing purposes. I can only imagine that it will cut drying time significantly!!
(3) Unlike the tutorial, I didn't use elastic for the arm strap. Instead, I added two buttons and created an extra buttonhole (room for growth). Thanks to my two tiny neighbors (Ava, 3, and Alyssa, 6), I was able to measure the strap accurately while still keeping it at a good length for the parents to carry too.
(4) Instead of using the patterned fabric for the pillow, I used the minky fabric. It's so much softer than the regular fabric!!!
It looks super comfy, right?! Oh, how I miss the days of opportunities to take naps in Kindergarten (but if we're real here, we all know that more giggling and / or staring at the ceiling happens than napping at that age)!
