This next project, a travel tray, was an interesting one. The idea started with a trip we had coming up. I wanted my daughter to have something to color on or to play with toys as we would be in the car for a while.
I searched ‘tray for travel’ on Google and came up with quite a few pictures I found travel trays, both do-it-yourself and those sold on Amazon. I knew I wanted one that was soft, but still offered enough structure for her to write on. And therefore, I decided to try my hand at making my own (this is the interesting part).
I initially thought of using a softer craft foam board and settled on this. While I was at the store I also came across an educational board/place mat and thought that was a great idea to add further structure and easier to clean off as she colors on this instead of the fabric.
Michael’s had exactly what I was looking for. I grabbed 4 foam boards, not sure if I needed all initially, but that turned out to be a good idea. I also still had extra fabric left over from two previous projects. This extra fabric was used to cover the foam pieces.
Now, I have to stop here and admit that I am not great at sewing. Nor do I have as much patience as I should have to sew better. There was a bit of a time crunch to finish this in a few days before our trip. I could have easily bought something off of Amazon, but I liked the challenge of crafting something up by myself. Next time I may set it up better and also change the thread to match the blue fabric so that it is not as visible.
THE PROJECT:
The first step was making the base. The foam pieces I picked up were 12 x 18 inches and this worked out very well for size. I also wanted to create side and back “walls” to hold in objects that she’s playing with or coloring with. The back wall can also be used to hold up a tablet, too.
With each part of the project, I covered the foam with fabric. I initially planned to use all of the left-over blue fabric but ended up using the coordinating (somewhat) flamingo fabric as well. This fabric was mostly used to attach the sides and back to the base, but I also used it for one of the pieces that hang down the side of the car seat. These pieces are nice to hold the travel tray on the car seat. One side currently has a pocket for extra storage.
Speaking of storage, I also added mesh side pockets to the inner parts of the two sides. This can help hold markers or other small objects while she is playing. I’d say one of the more fun parts in making this project was thinking of ways to add in little parts like this. It was also fun using techniques I had recently learned from other projects I had worked on.
Although I was generally basing this project off of one I saw for sale on Amazon, I worked this up without a true pattern. Just using what I had available for fabrics at home, the ideas in my head for what I wanted it to look like. (Thanks mom for the velcro, too, that really helped to hold the sides together well).
Hope you like it.
