Sore Rear = DIY Bleacher Mat

My rear-end is getting up in age and has become not a fan of sitting on bleachers for long periods of time.  Our oldest daughter has decided that my rear will be sitting EVERY season possible in a school year.  😒 I've tried to combat this problem with my exercise mat which does work well and provides additional sitting for my hubby and youngest daughter.  As great as the mat works it is also bulky and not very attractive.  I've decided to take the mat to the next level and perfect it with school spirit.

I started by taking the mat and measuring the width and cutting it in half.  This way the sizing will fit the bleacher width better and not be so bulky. The mat is very easy to cut with regular scissors and will now give me 2 mats instead of 1!

I bought 2 yards of fleece with our school colors, orange and black and 2 large sheets of black felt to cut out letters.  I traced around my go to stencils with a piece of chalk and then cut out each letter to spell out our school.  If I had a fancy cricut cutter I would have totally used that.  If anyone wants to send me one I'd be happy to take it off your hands!! 😂   

The next thing I did was measured and laid out my letters onto the top piece of fleece that I had already cut in half and used fabric glue to tack them into place before I sewed them on. 

After sewing on all of the letters, I laid my top piece of fleece on to my bottom piece.  

I measured a 3x3 square for the corners and then used a ruler and chalk to measure out my 3" lines for cutting. 

I then started doing the no sew fleece technique by folding the flaps up and cutting a small slit.

I then pulled the fleece up and through the small slit.

It then made it look like this...

I really wanted the polka dots on top so I just pushed the orange back through the slit again which left it looking like this. 

I wiggled my athletic mat in before I tied up the last end. I'm happy with the finally results but would have looked to have a cricut, rotary cutter, and mat to speed up the project.  I added a velcro strap for easy carrying.  Hope this tutorial helped you and your rear for the next sporting event!