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Do you want to make a DIY baby play mat? I just finished this sweet little farm quilted play mat!
I just finished making this play mat for my daughter and love the way it turned out! This was pretty easy to make, and I’ll show you how I made mine.
I’ve been wanting to make a circle play mat for a little while, and once I saw this fabric I knew it was perfect!
DIY Baby Play Mat
This was my first ever circle design, and only my fifth sewing project total. So let me tell you, it is not perfect! But I’m really happy with how my dreamed up plan came to life.
This would be a great beginner quilting project. You can make one for your baby or for a baby shower gift!
I’ll show you how I made my little DIY baby play mat with step by step photos.
Supplies:
1 yard printed flannel fabric (I found this sweet farm print at Hobby Lobby)
1 yard solid flannel fabric (light pink flannel from Hobby Lobby)
Quilt batting – 1 yard
Cricut machine – to make the “E” sticker
Scrap piece of vinyl
Directions:
1. Cut your fabric into a circle.
I used a rug that was the perfect size to trace a circle. You could find something the size you want and trace it, or use a pencil and string to draw a perfect circle.
2. Pin the printed fabric, solid fabric, and quilt batting together.
You can cut just one piece into a circle, then pin them all and cut the other two pieces together.
Place your fabrics in this order from bottom to top: quilt batting, solid piece good side up, printed side good side down.
Pin these three pieces together with the flat head pins and cut the remaining fabric.
Mark with extra pins to leave about a foot long piece. This will help you remember to stop sewing at these places, so you can turn your piece right side out.
3. Sew all along the edge, leaving a foot long hole.
I left a 1/4″ seam all the way around, and made sure to reverse sew to keep the seam intact. Start at one of your marked pins, sew all around, and stop at your next marked pin, so you have about one foot left to turn the piece right side out.
4. Turn your pieces right side out.
Use the hole you left to turn the flannel pieces right side out.
5. Pin the remaining hole.
I just eye ball this, and use the flat head pins to tuck the fabric together and pin to match the rest of the seams.
6. Pin the edges all around.
I used my fingers to make sure the edges were pushed all the way out, and pinned all three layers all the way around.
7. Sew all around the edge.
For a nice finished edge, I sewed a 1/4″ seam all the way around the edge, making sure to reverse sew to keep the seam intact. This gave me a nice finish and sewed up the hole that was left.
8. Sew your quilted squares.
I folded my circle in half and placed a pin to mark the middle. Then, I used my measuring tape and clothespins to secure the tape on the fabric as I pinned across.
After I had a row of pins, I took my play mat to the sewing machine and sewed a straight line across the mat, making sure to reverse sew to hold the seam.
Once I had the middle line sewn, I measured 4.5″ down and repeated the process for another line. I repeated this in both directions until I had my squares all sewn.
>> You could stop here and have a beautiful quilted play mat! I wanted to personalize mine a little more for my daughter’s play mat.
9. Cut the smaller circle.
For my smaller pink circle, I traced the circle using a large mixing bowl. You will want two pieces of solid fabric, and one piece of quilt batting.
10. Create a letter stencil using the Cricut machine.
You can use whatever you have on hand to create a letter stencil. I used my Cricut machine to create a vinyl sticker to trace.
11. Place the sticker/stencil on the printed fabric, trace, and cut out.
I placed the sticker vinyl “E” I made on the printed fabric and cut it out using my wheel cutter.
12. Pin the fabric letter in the middle of your solid circle.
You can measure to get this exactly in the middle, and pin it in place with flat head pins.
13. Sew the letter on using a zig zag pattern.
Select a zig zag pattern on your sewing machine, and sew on the edges of the letter to secure it to the solid fabric circle.
14. Pin your circle together, leaving room for a hole.
Just like with the large play mat, you will want to pin all around the circle, leaving a hole so you can turn it right side out.
Pin these pieces in this order from bottom to top: quilt batting, solid right side up, solid with letter sewn on right side down.
15. Sew the circle together, leaving the hole open.
Sew a 1/4″ seam all along the edge, stopping at the hole.
16. Turn the circle out and pin the edges.
Just like with the big play mat, you will want to turn the circle out, and pin the hole closed and all around the circle.
17. Sew along the edges.
Sew a 1/4″ seam along the edges for a nice finish, making sure to reverse sew to keep the seam intact.
18. Place the small circle in the middle of the play mat and pin in place.
You can measure this to get it exactly centered.
19. Use an embroidery needle to hand sew the smaller circle in place.
>>Alternatively, you could use the sewing machine to sew this piece onto the printed fabric in the very beginning, if you don’t want to hand sew anything. With this option, you would have quilted squares over this circle, too. Also take in to consideration if your machine could handle this thickness.
I’m so happy with how this DIY baby play mat turned out! It’s so fun to make up a design, find the perfect materials and fabrics, and see your ideas come to life.
This was so fun to make for my daughter, and I hope she enjoys it for many years!
You can make one for your child, or this would be such a sweet baby gift!
There are so many cute fabrics that could be used for this project! Go see what you can find and make your own DIY baby plat mat! 🙂
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