B is for Boat

Materials:

• Royal Blue Background (duck cloth10.5"x12")
• Small sew-on snaps
• Red and white felt
• Scraps of black felt
• Scraps of clear vinyl
• Fabric for boat cover (I used cream-colored, window blackout fabric I had leftover)
• Small black button (optional)
• Iron-on letter "B"
• Black embroidery thread

The original design

 On this page the child will be able to snap the boat cover over the boat, unsnap it and roll it up to be stored at the back of the boat.  To start I made a boat-shaped pattern on regular paper and cut it out.  I used it to cut out a piece of red felt for the base of the boat.  I then used the pattern to cut out a piece of the blackout fabric, but I cut about 1/4" larger all the way around so that I could sew the edges to make a nice finished look.  I trimmed the pattern 1/4" smaller all the way around and used it to cut out the shape for the inside of the boat in white.

 After that I got a little lazy about pattern making and pretty much just cut-to-fit the boat details including the steering wheel, seats, ski platform, window (clear vinyl), and window frame.  I made the steering wheel moveable by attaching it with a button.  The middle window also lifts up on one side so you can "walk" into the front of the boat.  I used black embroidery thread to hand-stitch around the seats to help them stand out a little more.

Once the details for the boat were completed, it was time to attach it to the background.  I "stitched in the ditch" around the white part of the boat, and then switched to red thread and stitched around the red part of the boat as well to reinforce the fabric where the snaps will be pulling.

 As I stitched around the red, I pinned in the boat cover and the two "cover ties" to the back of the boat so that they were stitched in under the back of the boat.  Notice that the cover ties are actually on the inside of the cover.

The snaps came next.  I started with the two for the cover ties.  I sewed one side of the snaps to the ties, and the other sides to the edge of the ski platform in the back (so that, when the cover is rolled up, it will fit nicely in the snapped-down ties).

  Then I sewed the snaps to the boat, and finally the cover.

Last steps: iron on the letter "B" (I always sew around it too, just to reinforce it) and hand stitch "oat" using black embroidery thread and the chain stitch.  Ta-da!