8 Car Tote/Playset Combo Tutorial

I am entering this into the:

$5 challenge!

Here's my cost run-down:

Plastic canvas was free from my Aunt

Yarn was $4 for 4 spools at the Dollar Store

I used floss threaders as a needle (already on hand)
TOTAL COST: $4.24 including tax!

When I was little my Aunt Michelle made these AMAZING car playsets for my male cousins and my older brother.  They were made to go with micromachines (do you remember those little vehicles?).  I can remember every little detail of them and my brother and I would play with his for HOURS.  I loved to squeeze the buildings because it would squish and make a funny noise.  Needless to say while my mom was going through her basement she found a bunch of old micromachines and my son fell in love.  I contacted my Aunt to see how she made the playsets and she gave me a brief description and then gave me some plastic canvas she had kicking around.  I sat down and got to work.  I had the basic concept of how to make it work and I could still see in my minds eye my brothers set.  I was still flying blind, but it came to gather well!  This is the result:

Above: Full view

Below: Closed up with cars tucked safely inside

How fun is this?  Not only is it a playset but it also closes up and holds all those little cars.  And no fear - although Micromachines are no longer around, Micro Vehicles are!  Fast Lane makes them and I have found them at Toys r' Us.  This set can also fit a matchbox car if you wanted it to. You want to know how to make one?  Alright then!  I'm going to teach you in stages.  The first step is to pick up some plastic canvas.  My suggestion to you is to get a dark green... you can tell I used white and blue, but the dark green blended the best. You can make whatever size playset you want.  The basic shape will always be the same.  Here is how you should cut up the pieces:

The green and blue pieces are the same size - all one sheet.  The side pieces are cut to match the length of whichever side they are going to.  You can choose whatever height you want.  Mine are 16 squares (on the canvas) high.  The little section to the right is how you will make your buildings.  Again, cut them to whatever size you want, but make sure their height is shorter than the main piece size.  I made my buildings 12 squares.

You then will draw you road plan right onto the canvas using a sharpie.  THIS IS IMPORTANT: Make sure you remember that one piece is going to have to close over the other so your buildings can not line up on the opposite canvas sheets!  I knew this before I sat down to draw it up, but then got into the project and FORGOT to pay attention!  Needless to say I had to rework the blue piece so that everything would fit and it would still be able to close. Thankfully I remembered before it was too late!

I will share with you the next step on Saturday so make sure to get the following materials:

Yarn - Definitely need green and black and any other colors you may want for buildings.  I got all of my yarn at the Dollar Store.  If you have a better quality yarn it will fill out the sheets better.  This was my prototype so I was OK with the inexpensive yarn and too be honest it worked perfectly fine!

You will also need a needle to thread the yarn.  My yarn needle kept cracking my canvas because the eye was too thick so I actually ended up using my floss threader (free from the dentist!) as a needle.  You can also use masking tape wrapped around the end of the yarn if you don't have a needle (although this would prove a little difficult when attaching the buildings).

That's all you'll need (well, scissors too!).  So get that all together and come back here for the next step in the process on Saturday!