You may remember my little dilemma from a couple of weeks ago in regards to needing mattresses for the doll beds my husband is making our daughters for Christmas. Based on my own thoughts and a couple of reader suggestions, I decided to see about buying some foam that I could cut or have cut for me to the proper size and then attempt in my own non-crafty way to cover it.
Well, that idea lasted as long as it took me to peruse the Walmart craft department. The first item I spotted (after asking a “sales associate” for direction, that is) was a package of four foam squares, intended for seat cushions. Size-wise, those might have worked if I somehow finagled them together, but at a cost of almost $12, I wasn’t willing to try it. Who knew foam cost that much??? Beside that product was a space for some thinner foam, cost of about $9, but all out of stock. I suppose I could have gone to the fabric store to check the cost of foam there, but decided to keep wracking my brain for some other idea.
The next night, I was standing in our laundry area, looking at some table place mats I had recently washed and decided that they had seen better days.
Just as I determined that they were headed for the trash, a light bulb clicked on in my brain. These were a rectangular shape that was similar to what I needed for the mattresses. Was there a way I could use them to make what I wanted? I decided to experiment.
I trimmed each of the four place mats down to the size that I needed, then hand stitched the cut side of each one to close it. I found an old, relatively fluffy towel and cut two pieces out of it that matched the size of the cut-down place mats. I stitched those three layers together – one place mat, topped by a towel rectangle, topped by the other place mat – one set of three pieces for each mattress.
Once that was done, I took some old pink fabric I had around the house and cut it to double the size of the place mat. I stitched around two sides (one side was the fold), then turned it inside out, inserted the place mat/towel configuration and just hot-glued the final side shut.
I was actually pleased with how it turned out, considering my total lack of expertise. My husband pointed out that it’s not the thickest mattress in the world, but I don’t think the dolls will be sitting up in bed in the middle of the night to complain.
Maybe touching it up with an iron would help as a finishing touch!! The doll beds are receiving their final coat of white paint, so I hope to post pictures of the completed project tomorrow.
See what others accomplished this week at Tackle It Tuesday.
way to go, Martha! The girls will love them!!!
Great Job!!! And yes I agree – I highly doubt they will be complaining in the middle of the night! 🙂 I can't believe foam was that expensive! WOW!!
Would you consider hitting a thrift store? Maybe you could wash, cut-up, and re-cover a seat cushion with those awesome sewing skills of yours!
Ha – awesome sewing skills – you're so kind! : ) I didn't think of the thrift store – another great idea!!!
Very clever! It turned out just fine! The girls are going to love it!
Merry Christmas to you and your famliy!