A Crawl Mat

When I asked the Infant Center Teacher for what she might want or need, she said that her babies in the Center range from laying down, to crawling and then, by the time they start toddling, they move along to the Toddler Room. The Teachers each have a max of four babies in their care at one time according to the Cali State Laws. 

So when they take the babies outdoors, they might be able to put four of them into a wagon (with sides) to go for a walk, but some of the excursions might just be out in the air, and at best babies could crawl a few paces. What she said they need is a crawl mat that provides a little cushion and a little barrier.

I brought out my container of flannel scraps. The darker piece measures at 2 3/4 yard by WOF (width of fabric), so it was the standard size I needed to cut down the hearts on chocolate fabric. There were two ways to make the crawl mat, either to seam it for a square or make it uncut into a rectangle. She opted for the rectangle because it could transition from their door to the back yard and 'crawlers' could make the journey themselves, have enough room to play, while the 'layers' could have their seat-belted seats put at the end as a sort of wall to stop 'crawlers' from going farther into the yard. 'Layers' transition to 'crawlers' as they learn to push themselves over and need a variety of environments to test their new skills. 

The fabric was trimmed and squared, sewed right sides together and is ready to be top-stitched at the edges. The plan is to join the two pieces with a serpentine stitch between the bigger heart on the top fabric so it will lay relatively flat when tossed on the ground. Its light enough to go into the washer / dryer, not too hard to handle, and soft enough for baby skin.

I had hoped for that bin of flannel scraps to come down more than it did, yet, this was a remarkably easy project that made use of two lovely pieces. It is never my intention to toss perfectly good fabric away, and always my intention to make the best use of what I have. This project pleased me.