Soft Board Games

For Christmas this year, I am creating soft-board games for my families with children. They are quilts, with top, batting and bottom. The bottom of many are a very soft, silky, velvety like fabric, that's a bit slippery in the machine but will feel scrumptious to be under. Others will be very fun, soft flannel, warm and comfortable.

But they will be more than quilts, they will be soft board games that can be thrown down on the floor, pull out some game pieces and play, as friends or family are available for an hour of fun together.

Here's how I started:

First I decided what size I wanted to make. I had already purchased some backing fabric, and it was limited in size, so I decided to make mine of 8" finished squares, and sashing, to bring it out to 54x54".

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  I created electronic graph paper to sketch out a pattern

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  I decided to go with a basic board game pattern (8x8)

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  and a basic board game pattern (smaller blocks, 6x8)

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  And knew the creative locations, fun 'stops' on the board would be around the playing spaces.

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  I made more than one design, but they all start with cutting and sewing

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  Pinning the sandwich is a pretty universal next step

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  And quilting all the pieces together (top, batting and bottom)

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  I used script to put instructions on the binding

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  Game 1 - a Disney themed game

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  Game 2 - Travel and Transportation with holidays

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  Game 3 - Transportation, with a holidays border

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  Game 4 - more complex, hidden princess and travel

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  Game tokens, collected when you land on the right square

Game tokens, to make this a game that can be played more than one way, should be the simplest form you can devise, because, lets face it, they will be lost, maybe even the first time they are out. Make them something the children can create to replace lost pieces. These are balsa wood and fabric, but many are the balsa and stickers that match the content of the squares.

The playing pieces I included are also balsa wood figures, that can be colored or painted or decorated in anyway to make them more personally important to the players.