G’Kid Stuff and Preschooler’s Cot Sheet Pattern

Alastair with his new preschool cot sheet, fresh out of the priority mailer envelope. There is a tiny race car crossing the “t” in his name.

It’s been busy and hectic here with lots of fun with grandchildren and friends.   And some sewing, but there is nothing pretty to show you.

Alastair is 4 now, though the celebration at Nana and Granddad’s is not scheduled until next week.   But to my great surprise, this early birthday cot sheet gift seemed to thrill him only slightly less than a visit from superhero Captain America.  It was made to compensate for the duck fiasco detailed below.

At the beginning of the school year, I made 24 cot sheets for his preschool.  Using what I had on hand, the sheets were varied, but each had a piece of 100% cotton novelty fabric along the top. There were some darling Michael Miller prints in my stash, including firemen, cowboys, trains, etc. and an especially pretty piece with ducks.

This  gorgeous print featured sparkling aqua water and charming yellow ducklings swimming merrily. My  Rebecca hoped her son would get that sheet, though they were handed out randomly by his teacher.  Alastair’s middle name is Drake, so Rebecca likes to include ducks for him whenever possible.

As luck would have it, with no request from his parents, Alastair was handed the duck sheet.  Hurrah!!!! (we thought)   Every Friday, each child brings home his sheet and returns it freshly laundered on Monday.  About a month ago, for two consecutive weeks, Alastair brought home one of the nasty, slightly-better-than-paper original institutional sheets.  Rebecca inquired.

“Well,” the teacher explained, “Alastair declares that he does not like the duck sheet and has refused to rest on it.  So we gave him one of the old sheets.”

Need I say more?  Not only did he wish for a different sheet, but he confided to his mother that his best friend Carson was also unhappy about his sheet because it included a pink and red plaid!.  Alastair wished Carson had a guitar sheet, as guitars are Carson’s current passion.

Alastair and Carson, BFFs

So…..

This is Carson’s sheet with musical instruments and a guitar embedded in the “n” in his name.

Alastair called, ecstatically thanking me for the sheets.  This child is so exuberant!  He talks in caps!  “The sheets are SOOO COOL, NANA! I LOVE THEM!!!”  He was thrilled that both he and Carson have new sheets. I was so pleased to have made him that happy.  At the end of this post, I will give directions for this standard size preschool cot sheet.

Recently, at the Odyssey of the Mind competition, Robert and Laurel’s team placed third and will advance to the state meet.

At 9 p.m. at the awards ceremony, the exhausted team proudly shows off their 3rd place winner medals. The children, ages 5-9, were at the competition site at 7 a.m.

Their skit was an updated version of the Wizard of Oz.  The children must do everything for their skit, from writing the script to making costumes and scenery.  Laurel’s black and white Dorothy costume (pre-tornado)was a black velveteen jumper from Goodwill ($3) which she cut up the back and added Velcro.

She also made her black gingham pinafore and sewed patches onto the Wizardess’ costume.  She added ribbons to her sparkly Dorothy Halloween costume for the color portion of the skit.

This was dress rehearsal.. His sagging pants were a wardrobe disaster in the making.

Of course, for the skit, they all wore shoes and Laurel’s were perfectly sparkly ruby red slippers.

singing their final number

Robert’s pants were then tied up securely and as WWW (Wicked Warlock of the West) he sported an “evil moustache” by make up artist Laurel.  Each child was just precious.

Wicked Warlock of the West with his “evil moustache.” His line was “but you can call me Dot.” He wears a superhero cape party favor I made for his 5th birthday.

The shirts I embroidered for them last year still fit, so the team looked all put together for the remainder of the day and for their “spontaneous” event.

The new uniform item this year was hairbows for the girls.  The striped fabric simulated the rainbow in their skit.

The embroidered button cover ups really added a nice finishing touch.  I love that button machine.

I happened upon this simple bow style in a YouTube how-to video done by a cute little girl.

The final highlight of this busy time was Judy Day’s visit.  I can’t believe I took no pictures, but we were so busy talking that it didn’t cross my mind until she had left.

We bought more fabric at my favorite store, The Sewing Studio, visited Florida Victorial Architectural Antiques, a neat old warehouse filled with treasures from houses and buildings that have been torn down, visited  Marshall Groves where Judy ordered citrus to be shipped to her home and to her parents, lunched at the Old House Cafe and plundered  through several bins of my antique textiles.  It was a fabulous visit.

I’m sorry this post has been so long.  What have you been up to?  Sewing for Easter? Tell us about it.  ~~~~~~~~~

Cot Sheet Pattern–Did you know that pre-school children in Florida are not allowed to spend nap/rest time on the floor?  They must be on a cot and the cots need a sheet.  Sewing a simple sheet is not rocket science, but following these directions might save a few minutes if you take on this project.  Of course, check the cot size to see if these will fit.  I used an existing sheet from school as a pattern.  This size sheet fits the cots both in Alastair’s school on the other side of the state and in our church’s preschool, so I assume there is a standard size.

materials—

• fabric 24″  x  47″  This can be any economical combination of fabrics in blocks.  A contrasting print above a solid is nice and the print can be any width from 9″ to whatever.  These are for sweaty, playground dirty children to lie on for as long as required, not for Hyatt Regency bedding.  NOTE:  The finished measurements of the sheet are 24″ x 47″.
• 34″ elastic

directions

1.   Serge the pieces together and then serge around the edges with a 3 thread wide or whatever.   Of course, you may embroider a name or whatever but it’s best to make sure it is not up where the child’s face would be in contact with it.

2.  Press each corner in forming a triangle measuring 3 1/2″ on each side.  Straight stitch in place.

3.  Cut elastic into four 8 1/2″ pieces.  Stitch securely to each corner (see photo above).

All done.