Roll up Car Mat

We couldn't find a good car mat that we liked and I wanted one that could roll up small and fit nicely in a closet and not take up a whole room.  Greg wanted one that the roads were the correct size so that one car could drive on each side of the road.  So I decided to make one.  This is going to be one of Eli's birthday presents since it is at the end of this month, and he got some match box cars for Christmas.  He is still a bit young to use it, but it sure was fun to make!

1/2 yard Green Felt
1/4 yard Black Felt

Red, Blue Felt- small amount of each as I made the structures out of my scraps from making the trains.

Hot glue gun/glue

I took my Green felt and cut it in half length wise, so like where the natural fold in the fabric was from the bolt.  This is the size piece that I used since I wanted it small.

Next I cut out my road pieces.  I decided to make them a square, with a one way street going each direction down the middles so it forms a t shape in the middle of the square.  I then hot glued all theses pieces onto the green felt.  (Note: when you hot glue them don't put any glue down the middle, this will make it really difficult later when you add your middle street line) I put them mainly off to one side because on one of the short sides I am putting a storage place for some of the cars so we can take it with us if we go somewhere.

Next I made all of the buildings that I wanted.  I made a lake(really small with a boat and some fish), a car wash, a house, and of course a gas station.  These were fun to make.  I put one in each of the small squares.

 

I then attached the blue felt to the side of the mat.  I sewed this on, but make sure you keep one of the long ends open so you can slide the cars into the slots.  I then sewed on the blue piece, to make pockets each one is about 2.5 inches wide so the cars can fit inside with ease.

I then attached one last strip of felt to the outside so that I could roll the mat up and tie it all together. I sewed it on first, and then I hot glued it on either side of the sewing just to make sure it stayed in place.  You could always use a cute ribbon, or put a nice backing on it, but I liked it simple! The last step that I took was I quilt stitched a line going all around the outside road down the middle, for the dividing line in the road. If I wanted to do it correctly I would have used yellow thread, but I only had white available so I used that instead of running to the store.

In case you want to make one the same size as the one I made here are all the measurements for everything I made (with the exception of the buildings)

Side road: 4"X11.5"

Top/bottom road: 4"X20.5"

Middle road horizontal:2"X13

Middle road vertical:2"X11.5

Blue car holder:4"X19" -each pocket is 2.5" wide
Green mat: 19"X 27.5"

Tie: 3"X32"

I hope this helps, and I hope if you have a little one that they may enjoy it to, as I know my husband is looking forward to playing with Elijah by the hour with this! Now we just have to wait until his birthday