His: Spill mat for Toddlers

I love spending time with my niece whenever I can. Since we live two states away it only happens a few times a year. She is 18 months old and like all children her age she likes to play with her food and toss some of it on the floor. Cleaning up after toddlers often means getting down on your hands and knees and cleaning up the mess piece by piece. However with a spill mat clean up is a whole lot easier!

      These mats makes clean up a whole lot easier as you simply place the high chair in the middle and then pick up the mat when the child is done and shake it off into a trash can. It is fully portable and is a god send when going out to eat. My sister-in-law asked me if I could make her a spill mat a few weeks ago when she was visiting. I had never heard of a spill mat but after getting a description of what it entailed it sounded easy enough and we went to the store to get some fabric. Since she was in town I let her pick the fabric and she found a really fun fabric with whales on it and a matching blue for the backing. There are a few patterns online but I chose to make up my own and I am pretty proud of how well it turned out.

To make a spill mat you will need: 
1 yard (91cm) of material for the front
1 yard (91cm) of material for the back.
Sewing machine
Thread to match the fabric you have chosen.

1: Cutting Material
Cut the material to the front to approx 34 inches (86cm) square.
Cut the material for the back to approx 36 inches (91cm square.
(You can make it larger or smaller depending on your preference but make the back about 2 inches larger than the front to allow for the border.

2: Sewing: 
Sit the front fabric on top of the back fabric and center it. I folded over the backing to the front and folded it under itself to make a nice border. The border should be about 1/2 inch (1.25 cms). Sew around the border ensuring that the border is nice and secure. I went around twice just to make sure.

Once the border is sewn down you are all done and will make a nice gift for yourself (if you have young ones) or for anyone who has young children. It took me a couple of hours to make the mat but most experienced sewers could probably finish this in much less time. 

Its a quick and easy project but will be a big help for cleaning up after meals. I had a lot of fun making this and I am sure it will get plenty of use in the next few years. If you would like to purchase one from me please contact me. What is your favourite item that you have made?