Busy Town Quiet Mat
I am so happy with how this turned out! I made this mat for a friend's son and I hope he gets many years of use out of it. The mat took me a little over a week to finish. It folds out into a 10x15 inch mat, just like my Valentine's Day mat, so it is easy to transport. The roads are also wide enough to play with matchbox cars, in case any of the felt cars become lost over the years. There are a ton of pictures below with descriptions of each play scene!
The Cover
The cover is made from a piece of cotton fabric and fusible interfacing (pellon 808) for structure. It closes like a book and is secured by a strap with velcro. The strap is made from the same cotton fabric sewed around a scrap piece of firm interfacing. Before assembling the cover, I hand stitched Owen's name, birthday and a heart onto a piece of blue felt, and then whip stitched that piece to the back of the cover.
The Mat and Cars
Everything on the mat was cut from acrylic felt and hand sewn to the green background, which is a 10x15 inch piece of acrylic felt. The cars are all made from two layers of felt, with a smaller layer of firm interfacing in the middle for stability. I also sewed buttons on for the wheels and attached a snap to the back of each car. The cars each have a place to be snapped onto the mat. This helps keep them in place when the mat isn't being used so they don't get lost! Each car also has a matching scene to play with in the town:
The Farm
The farm scene is the home of the green pickup truck and has two fun hidden features. There is a cow behind the barn doors, and two carrots growing under the dirt!
The House and Beach
When I was thinking of ideas for the town, I knew I wanted to include a small beach scene, because the boy I made this for lives near the beach. You can lift the waves to see the two fish under the water, and I also sewed a beach chair and beach umbrella to the page. The blue car snaps in next to the house.
The Construction Zone
The construction zone is the home of the orange dump truck. There are mounds of dirt and piles of rocks strewn around the area, and there is one mound of dirt with a hard hat and shovel hiding behind it. The dump truck snaps to the page in the middle of the traffic circle.
The School
The school house has three colored flaps that lift in different directions to reveal the letters A, B and C (backstitched). There is a snap next to it for the school bus, and a school crossing zone on the road in front of it.
The Hospital
The Police Station
The police station has a parking lot out front for the police car to attach to, and both of the black windows open to reveal jail cells inside. I used long stitches of embroidery floss to make the parking spots and jail cells.
That's fantastic, I don't know where you find the time to do this. .so much detail. .
ReplyDeleteDeb
Just when I think I have a favorite one, you surprise us with another! Proud Mom!
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