How to Make a Nap Mat

Making personalized nap mats renders you the liberty of making it as per your specifications and need. Making a nap mat is a very easy process, if the required material and the right technique is employed. There are many ideas one can come up with on how to make a nap mat. A nap mat can be spread anywhere for sleeping and can be folded and kept away after use, just like a sleeping bag. In short, a nap mat is a temporary and portable bed mattress. It can be designed and patterned in numerous ways, depending on who will use it and where it is to be used. Nap mats are mostly made for infants and children, since they can sleep at any time and anywhere.

Material Required to Make a Nap Mat
All the material should be purchased after making a rough sketch of the pattern and size of the nap mat. No professional training is required to know how to sew a nap mat. The basic material required for a nap mat is fleece, padding material (old quilt), cover cloth, scissors, matching thread, sewing machine and plastic / waterproof material.

How to Make a Child's Nap Mat

• Cut two pieces of fleece of the same measurement.
• If you want the nap mat to be thicker, you can use an old quilt, an old yoga mat or decide on a suitable padding material for the nap mat.
• Cut the padding material in the same size as that of the fleece sheets. Take care to cut the pieces an inch or two more on all sides, so that after sewing the edges, the final size of the mat will be according to the size you had decided on.
• Place the two fleece materials such that their printed sides face each other. Now place the padding material over it and pin-up all three pieces together.
• If the nap mat is for an infant, sew plastic or any other waterproof material sheet between the padding and the fleece cloth pieces. Avoid placing the plastic material over the fleece material, as it will make the surface of the mat uncomfortable to sleep on.
• The sequence of the materials from bottom to top will be, plastic sheet (in case the floor is dirty or water-spilled; also if it is an infant's nap mat and is placed on the carpet/sofa, the plastic sheet will prevent the carpet/sofa from getting wet) - fleece cloth - padding material (conditional) - plastic sheet/any other waterproof material (for a bed-wetting infant's nap mat) - fleece cloth.
• Now, use a sewing machine to sew up only three sides of the pinned materials together, leaving one short side unstitched.
• Turn the mat inside out from the unstitched side and hand-sew that side.
• If you want your nap mat to have an attached pillow, place a proper-fitting pillow inside the nap mat from the open end and sew the mat exactly where the pillow ends, so that it is locked on one side of the mat. (otherwise the pillow will slide down the length of the mat).
• Now you can sew the open end of the mat securely.
• You can also attach a blanket to your nap mat. While sewing the materials (fleece, padding and plastic sheets) together, you can place a thin blanket material above the topmost fleece sheet and sew it along the length only on ONE side. Be very careful of not sewing along the blanket sheet while stitching the other three sides.

How to Make a Nap Mat Cover
There are many ways of making a cover for your nap mat. You can either just roll the mat and tie it up with a string or you can have a separate cover for the nap mat. To sew strings or ribbons to the mat, all you have to do is, stitch the ribbons to the short end of the mat when you are sealing it at the very end. Either stitch press buttons at suitable places or then sew two ribbons at the same point of the short end so that you can roll the mat and tie up the strings. To make a separate cover, take two pillow cases, cut off the short sealed end of one of them so that the case is open on both the opposite sides. Sew up one of its open end to the open end of the other pillow case. It will look like a long sack.

Many of us know how to make a nap mat. However, to improve the nap mat further, you can use neon post-ons, cloth flowers, fur toys, etc., to decorate them. While making a child's nap mat, use colors of their choice. Mellow and light colors are more preferable for a nap mat. By selecting the right nap mat patterns and knowing the basics of stitching, you can easily make your own long-lasting and comfortable nap mat.