Reversible Play Mat: A Tutorial

Back when we had just started blogging, I made a play mat for K's dollhouse. At least... *I* thought it was for her dollhouse. It was a single-sided "lawn" for her dollhouse, with a pool and a garden for her dolls to play. K does use it that way, but she also started pulling it out for all sorts of other imaginative play. She's grown flowers and vegetables to give as gifts, collected water for her thirsty friends, lounged in the grass on the coldest winter days, and on occasion uses it as a blanket when it was the closest thing to her and she was chilly. And now M is old enough to play, too. As far as a handmade play item, I'd say it's had the longest active life of anything I've made so far.

After seeing my girls use it for much more than I'd originally thought, I decided to expand its possible uses and add a "beach" side.


This one I made as a (late! so sorry, so sorry!) gift for friend Alexa as she turned 4.


It makes a nice, tidy little package for toting and giving.

The project requires only a few materials. Here's what I used:

• 1 yard of blue background flannel, prewashed
• 1 yard of green background flannel, prewashed
• Heat n' Bond or similar 
• 1/2 yard or less of sandy-colored fabric (I used linen I had on hand from a remnant buy)
• Colorful scraps

I eyeballed the appliques for each side. A "beach" section on the blue side that's about 8" wide and a "sand bar" that's about 12" x 8" at its widest.  I drew stars with disappearing ink onto a fabric I thought would work as sand dollars and ironed those onto the sand fabric before pinning the sand onto the flannel and stitching with a straight stitch around the edges. I didn't bother using any adhesive underneath the sandy sections-- I like the look of it rippling.

The pool and shrub/garden areas are also eyeballed. With these I did use an iron-on adhesive to hold them in place as I stitched around the edge of each shape.

Once I'd finished the appliques for each side I laid them on the floor right-sides together to match up the edges and pin-basted the two sides together. I cut around the perimeter to add some nice, curvy organic sides and corners. No need for sharp corners here.

I stitched all the way around the edge with a 1/2" seam allowance, leaving an opening of about 6" so that I'd have plenty of room to turn the piece right-side out. I clipped the corners a bit, did the turning and ironed around the edges so that I'd have a nice, smooth path to edge stitch the entire thing. That, then, closed up the 6" gap I'd left previously to turn it. We're basically making this on a larger scale.

And now this one lives in Alexa land. For pretending to relax on the sand...

Or hosting a beach party. Or tea on the beach?

Inside, outside, wherever you like. With dolls or with real friends, if you're so lucky as to have a play date. Speaking of, that's Adrianna's Z on the left with a piece of pizza, and that's P's pink sandal on the bottom edge. My M's chunky legs next to her, and K's jumble of arms and legs at the top. Alexa's out of view fetching more snacks. This, and discussion of what was happening on the last day of Skirt Week Voting, is the extent of craftiness when 6 little girls and 3 moms get together.

If you make something along these lines, as always, we'd love to see. E-mail or add it to our Flickr group any old time.