Airplane Tray

Hello Kitty for Emily

The Zoo for Nicolas A. (for his next trip)

And the 3 little Pigs for Ava.

They are airplane tray table..tray's.

As you know, I'm flying home in a week and a half. It's 10 hours to Atlanta then 5 hours to San Diego. I'm so so stressed about flying with Ava that I've been thinking a lot about how to make the flight better. I have tons of new DVDs and new toys put aside but then started thinking about how the Pop Beads among other things I got are going to roll off the tray and be all over the place. So I made a tray table tray. Below is what it looks like laid flat

If you're interested in making one too, here is how I did it:

It consists of 2 pieces of vinyl @ 16"x 9". The Hello Kitty vinyl is very thin and floppy so with that tray I used 1 layer of peltex in between the two pieces of vinyl.

1. pin two layers of vinyl wrong sides together (if using peltex, sandwich it between the two pieces of vinyl) pin all over the place.

2. Mark 2" out from your needle on your machine using tape (I use blue painters tape).

3. Sew all layers together 2" from edge, all around tray.

4. Sew double fold bias tape around raw edges making sure all layers are captured inside the bias tape.

5. When you sewed 2" all around the tray you will have made a large square in the middle with a 2"x2" square in each corner. Cut 2" wide velcro to fit corner square then cut velcro in half. Sew one male and one female piece of velcro in each corner (see picture above).

I cover my throat plate (except for the feed dogs) and the bottom of my presser foot with blue painters tape so the vinyl can slide over it easier. It still gets stucks sometimes but you can just guide it with your hands. I also used a size 16 needle. I did buy a Teflon foot for my machine but I keep forgetting I have it!

It can be rolled up and put in your purse! Or laid flat in the bottom of your carry on. I'm thinking of attaching elastic or ties on each short side so I can either slip the elastic over the tray to keep it in place or tie the ties under the table. i suppose it could double as a changing mat..

I got the measurements for the airplane tray tables on line so hopefully I made these to fit correctly. Also, they aren't hard/stable on the bottom so I don't know how holding it on the lap will work.
After we fly, I'll post as to whether this was a good idea!