lap robe/floor mat

I believe that I have mentioned that my simple, "quick" projects rarely turn out to be all that simple, or if they are simple, they do not prove to be quick.  It must be something in my basic constitution…

I had an idea that I would make a soft cushy mat for the floor, something like a yoga mat, but not a yoga mat. I needed something long enough for an adult person to lie on but which was also comfy and cushy and snuggly.  I needed something that could be rolled or folded for storage and which could go in the washing machine.

Thursday I went to the mall to buy two of those long bath-sheet sized towels, because we didn’t have any towels that large.  I bought the softest, cushiest towels I could find.

I didn’t have time to go to the quilt shop before they closed, but I found this lovely Kaffe Fassett cotton in my collection. I had one yard, more than enough for binding the edges of my mat.

Towels and fabric were washed Thursday night, so I could begin Friday evening.  I really thought I could do this in an evening.  After all the steps were so simple…

First make bias binding
Press under hem allowance one side of binding.

At this point I realized that I I would not be able to sew the binding onto the "front" side of the quilt/mat with all the layers intact because it would be too thick to easily manipulate through my machine, and there would be far too great a risk that I would not be able to keep things straight and all the layers properly aligned. So I decided to attach the binding to only one towel, mitering the corners as I went, realizing that I would have to anchor the layers together by hand when I wrapped the binding and finished the other edge.

Next I sandwiched all my layers together, first  aligning two layers of thin batting with the bottom towel and using binder clips to hold everything together.  Then I positioned the top towel over the batting, and carefully positioned it, wrapping the binding around the edge and repositioning the clips to hold all the layers.  This actually worked quite well and the binding was quite easy to manipulate into position.

This is probably obvious to people who regularly quilt things, but it took me a few minutes to figure out the binder clip technique.  I started with pins, but quickly realized that my longest pins were not going to work with the thickness of the layers.  I think it was also much easier to keep the edges of all the layers lined up exactly using the clips, whereas the layers would be more likely to shift with pins (unless I used thousands of them). Luckily I have a good sized box of binder clips salvaged from the office when we closed it last spring.

This morning I settled down with a pot of coffee and started to sew, anchoring the binding to the quilt and stitching through the layers to hold everything in place.  I think the final result is quite nice.  It makes a nice soft mat to lie on,  it can be rolled into a comfy bolster…

And it also makes a nice warm, snuggly lap robe or blanket.  I know because after I finished sewing, I sat back in my chair with it spread over my lap and I took a little nap.