Pillowcase Mattress

Recently in the Weekend Reading post on her blog, Down to Earth, Rhonda had a link to a great tutorial on how to make an Easy Floor Mattress for Kids. It was basically made from five pillowcases joined together before inserting pillows. I thought what a good idea that was especially for grandparents who might have children visiting and they the little ones might need some time out to read a book quietly and have a rest.

A while back I had bought six 'vintage' pillowcases for $1 from Vinnies and planned on sewing up a few as an experiment. However when I sat down to sew them I realised they were all different sizes so ended up buying some more expensive ones from Lifeline which were four for $2 :-) The floral one in the middle of the mattress is the vintage one I already had so I found four others the same length which weren't wonderful colours but this was an experiment after all. The lady in Lifeline probably wondered what I was doing matching up all the pillowcases.

So all you have to do is sew the long edges of the pillowcases together making sure you have all the open edges facing the same way .

When that is done just stuff each pillowcase with a pillow and you have finished. In the tutorial I noticed that a length of ribbon was sewn onto one of the pillowcases on the end so that the whole mattress could be rolled up and tied with the ribbon. However, I wouldn't personally add a length of ribbon which a little child may put around their neck. If I was rolling it up to put in in a corner or somewhere if it was in use regularly, I would prefer to use a belt after the children had left and then put it out of reach when the mattress is rolled out again the next time.

If you have grandchildren visiting on their annual holiday or not very often, then you could take the pillows out again and just fold up the pillowcases and they are ready for the next visit and your pillows are available if you have guests staying over.

You could also use a sheet or a Doona to make this mattress up as well. It wouldn't be very difficult at all. Of course, choose better colours than I have for this experiment. I saw a Winnie the Pooh Doona at another Lifeline shop which would have been great for making up into a mattress but my grandchildren are rarely here so I didn't buy it. If you would like to make one you can get more ideas on this Pinterest page as well.

So...what do you think? Isn't that a great idea? Some people have very clever ideas don't they?

I meant to mention the other day that Clare from bobwilson123 is having a CAL  crochet-a-long which starts next Monday the 16th February. You can find the details on her website in the link I just gave you and if my Northern Hemisphere friends would like to hear an Aussie accent you can check out her YouTube video where she explains what the CAL is all about. I am not sure which state she lives in but obviously it was cold when she made the video as she has a beanie on in the middle of summer! She has some great tutorials on her website and YouTube channel for all levels of crochet so do check it out if you are interested in crochet.

Have a relaxing weekend everyone!