Your kids can make their own bed (linen)
My son is extremely active in his sleep. He tosses and turns and it is impossible to keep him covered at night. So at first, we bought a sleeping sack. That was perfect right until the moment he learned to unzip himself from it. He would fall asleep in it, and then somehow take it off during the night without even waking up. The only thing I could do at this point was to go over to his room 100 times per night and cover him, which also proved completely useless, because he would kick everything off himself before I was out of there.
This problem really needed a solution.
First, he got his own BIG-BOY-QUILT and pillow for Christmas. The idea behind it was really that he would just be happy to receive a huge present. You can still make kids this age happy by presenting the thing as very, very exciting. I don’t think I will get away with such a present next year. By next Christmas he will probably be like: A quilt? Whatever mom…
Anyway, he really did enjoy getting a big present, but staying covered with it at night was still a problem.
Here comes the second part of the scheme. I took a cheap Ikea sheet I had at home, some foam beads I bought who-knows-when, fabric paint and fabric painting markers and then I told P he was going to make his own bed linen.
Make sure you put something under your sheet if you decide to do this, to avoid stains. We did some practicing for a start (I cut this out for the finished product).
Our stamps were, as I mentioned, foam beads. But there are endless possibilities for stamping, from store-bought stamps, to carved fruits and veggies, wine corks or erasers. Just look around the house, I am sure you’ll come up with something creative. Kids like unusual solutions.
Halfway though the stamping process he got a little bored with it (it is a big sheet for a 3 year old), so I let him create his own pillowcase using fabric markers.
Pictured above is an Ikea Bomull pillowcase, 100% unbleached cotton, it is cheap and fun for projects. They don’t always have them, so I stock up when they do.
After our little intermezzo with the pillowcase, we went back to stamping the sheet.
I let the paint dry for 24 hours and heat set it after that, but this will differ depending on the type of fabric paint used, so read the instructions carefully. After this it was just left for me to sew it up. It’s just straight stitching, very easy even for beginner sewers, or someone who wants to learn to sew and needs a success project to keep them going.
And, what do you know? This was not just a fun project for us to do together, but he actually loves his cover. He is so proud to have made it and he stays covered at night. Unbelievable, but true!
Warm at night, happy in the morning!
He also pulls it out of his bed in the morning and brings it to the living room to snuggle with his little brother.
Now get stamping, it is FUN!
Check out my other refashion projects, like upcycled boy pants here and more pants here, and a double-layer knit hat here. Or see what I did with P’s first portrait of me here.
Thanks for reading, see you next week.
************************************************************************
I am Petra, a Croatian living in Budapest for many, many moons now. Mom to two little boys and an English bulldog. I am a master of typing with one hand while holding my baby in the other. I love to do stuff with my son, but I will occasionally sit him in front of a cartoon just to have some facebook time. Yes, I am bad that way. And I don’t sleep much, as someone so nicely put it: sleep is for people who don’t have Internet at home. For more of me you can visit my blog Bag of Pretty, like it on facebook or follow on twitter.
....
