Nap Sleeping Bag

In Kindergarten, nap time is reduced to about 30 minutes.  Gone are the cushy little rest mats and 2 hour naps of Junior Kindergarten.

Most bring a simple towel to sleep on - not too big or bulky; however, some kids have fleecy blankets or "Happy Nappies".  After seeing those, Phoebe's plain pink towel would not do.  It was surprising easy and fun to turn her towel into a naptime sleeping bag, so I thought you might want to give it a try too. 

Materials Needed:  bathsized towel, old sheet (or yardage that will cover the towel), fabric for pillow (or use more of the old sheet)

Step 1:  Lay the towel on the floor with the sheet on top of it about 6 inches from the top.  Cut the sheet out around the towel.  Leave only a slight seam allowance.

To cut down on hemming, I lined up the top of the sheet with the top part of the towel and used a side seam for the open side of the sleeping mat.  Hopefully the detail photo above will help to explain this.

Step 2:  Fold and iron the bottom and side seams down one time.  Match the fold to the edge of the towel and pin.  The good side of the fabric faces out.  You will be putting the folded hem directly onto the towel and topsitching.

Note:  If you need to hem the open side and top, do that now. 

Step 3:  Sew around the bottom and side.  Use your pressure foot as a guide.  Phoebe helped with this part.

Here you can see how the sheet is just on top of the towel. I took it slow and matched up the sides.

Step 4:  Now, you need to test out the nap sleeping bag on your child.  We decided that the open side was too open and sewed up the opening about 3/4 of the way.  Depending on the size of your child the opening might be smaller or larger.

Step 5:  Make a pillow if you like.  The size is up to you.  Phoebe wanted a long, purple pillow.  I just cut out a rectangle a little larger than what we wanted.  Fold and iron all sides about 1/2 inch.  Pin the pillow top directly onto the towel and sew around leaving a hole for stuffing.

Step 6:  Stuff the pillow.  This was Phoebe's favorite part.  I then pushed the stuffing to one side and machine sewed the pillow shut.

Ready to nap! 

I think these nap sleeping bags would be great for overnight trips or anytime when a little rest is needed.  It folds up well and fits into her cubby.  I need to make one for Frankie next!