Chalkboard mats

I am finally getting around to updating my blog. I've been healing up my back, potty training the kitty, and making some cute chalkboard mats. I saw one briefly as I walked past it at a craft show, and thought 'I can make that'. Unfortunately, I did not take the time to look it over and get the details, but I've made my own version. I hear tell these are hot right now. So glad I'm a trend-setter ;).

 As you can see, I have taken regular fabric (in this case Spiderman) and paired it with chalkboard fabric. I was able to find the chalkboard fabric at Joann's . When I searched for this fabric, first no one seemed to know what it was and second, it seemed a bit pricey to me, but I was able to get it here for about $4 a yard and free shipping. I bought several yards and I'm on to my 8th mat already!

If you want to make one, they are super easy. In order to maximize the CB fabric, I cut the pieces out 14 1/4" x 18" (which gives me two pieces along the width of the CB fabric, with no waste). I then take the exterior fabric and make that approximately 16"x 20". Next, lay the wrong sides together (regular fabric face down and CB fabric face up), then fold over the edge of the regular fabric to meet the CB fabric, and then once again to overlap it. Pin it this way along all four sides. For the corners, I fold the fabric over, bend the corners diagonally, and then fold over on to the CB fabric. The corners are now mitered. Sew a straight stitch along all four sides.

Now pick a tie. I have used ribbon and binding. If you use binding, sew along the 'open' side first. I do this with a decorative stitch to make it look a bit nicer. You'll need about 20-24" in length. Fold it in half and then find the middle of one of the short sides. Attach the tie onto the outer, fabric side (not CB side).  You are now finished! Now, I like to also add in chalk pockets (The last of the above photos shows a couple of the chalk pockets.) and a piece of cloth (I use Velcro to attach this) to wipe the board off with as well, but you don't have to do this. I found boxes of skinny chalk (6 colors, 2 of each) at Wal-mart for $1, so I bought a couple of these and a couple boxes of white. I like to include four pieces of chalk, and this makes a fairly inexpensive gift.

Hmm, speaking of the price, let's see, I get about 4 pieces of CB mat per yard, so that's $1 for the mat. All of my fabric is clearance, and I probably get 2 pieces out of it, so let's say about $1.50 (probably less) for that. I already had all the binding and thread, but let's throw in 50 cents for that. And, finally, 33 cents for the chalk, since I split the box in thirds. So, overall, we're looking at about $3.50 +/- a little; and my time of course, but I still would have spent the time to shop and wrap if I would have bought it. These really are fun gifts. My girls each have one (the prototypes, so their's aren't so fancy) and we use them all the time. One of our favorite games with them is hangman.  (Prototype below--no pockets or fancy sewing on the binding)

Happy sewing!