So, strangely, three things happened to me. 1) I discovered all these ugly brown pillow cases 2) I found myself in possession of an unnatural number of bags-for-life 3) I needed an outdoor play mat for B.
I was lucky that they all happened simultaneously. I seriously considered covering this ugly mat with pretty fabric but I decided against it for the same reason that I decided not to spend money on a shop-bought one: B's just going to be sick on it, I'm going to spill juice on it and it's designed to be put in mud.
In order to make the Ugly Outdoor Playmat, you will need:
- A rubbish pillow case
- A bag for life (one of the more bendy ones if pos.)
- Two tea towels
- Some fabric glue
- An appreciation for imperfection
How to make it:
1. Start by arranging the tea towels on the pillow case, to check they are the correct size. They need to fit inside the pillow case, whilst overlapping slightly when you join them together. I recommend leaving a gap of about 1cm around the edge to easily slide them inside (..dirty.)
2. Next, either cut or fold the tea towels to fit and glue them together. You shouldn't need an overlap of more than 0.5cm
3. Leave them to dry for a few minutes before sliding them into the pillow case so they lie flat.
4. Cut a rectangle roughly the same size as your pillow case out of your bag for life. I did mine by simply removing the narrow sides and using the large panels still attached the bottom.
5. Fold the open end of your pillow over to seal it and glue your bag-for-life rectangle to the pillow case so it covers the join and keeps it closed.
6. Go play!(Leave to dry completely first.)
You could sew it properly but life is short and the sun my well have gone in by the time you've finished.
