My husband has been doing some training with the military and has been sleeping on a cot. Trying to sleep, anyway. It's been super uncomfortable so he asked that I buy him a foam pad for it. They were really thin and not very squishy, so I bought a queen-sized foam mattress pad instead. Doubled up it will be thicker and more comfortable.
Materials:
Queen Sized Foam Mattress Pad
Fabric (or a queen sized sheet would work better)
Velcro
Rope
Directions:
1. First cut your foam mattress pad in half. It should be almost perfect size for a cot (or to lay on the ground under a sleeping bag). My mattress pad measured 56" x 77" x 1.25". If yours is different the next few measurements will be different also.
2a. If you are using fabric instead of a sheet you need to cut your fabric. You should have two pieces that measure 33" x 80". I was using fabric I had, so I had to sew two pieces together to get the right length.
2b. If you are using a sheet, you don't need to cut anything, just fold your sheet in half.
3. Next you will need to sew around all the edges but one of the skinny sides. Make sure your outsides of the fabric are together. When you are done turn it inside out.
4. The final step of sewing is to hem the edge and add velcro. We're going to make that one step. Fold the edges, and pin the velcro on top of them. Sew the edges of the velcro.
5. Now for the fun part. Getting the case onto the doubled-up foam pad is a little bit of a nightmare. It's just like a pillowcase. Bunching it up and putting it on like panty hose helped.
Velcro it shut and your done! I used rope to tie it when it's rolled up, but you could sew on straps. Have fun camping more comfortably!
