Blanket Tutorial

As I walked through the fabric store a few years ago I spied some cuddly, adorable nursery flannel. Never mind that I didn't know anyone with a baby, I bought a few yards of coordinating fabric and some satin binding in hopes that I'd be able to figure out how to make a baby blanket. Being a sewing novice, this was quite ambitious.  


After some trial and error (read: sew, rip stitches out, sew, thread breaks, sew, backstitch, thread breaks, repeat), my first few blankets were made albeit rather crudely.  My mom had a few clients who were having babies so I gave her a couple of blankets to give to them.  

A few months later, my friend, Erin, told me she was pregnant. I raced to the store and bought new material.  This is how her son's blanket turned out

It is folded in this picture; one side is polkadots and the other is jungle animals. Apparently, her two year old still sleeps with this all the time.


When Erin told me, almost two years later, that she was expecting again, I got to work making another blanket. I don't have a picture of that blanket. Upon delivering baby Ian's blanket to Erin, her oldest two boys not-so-subtly hinted that they would just love a blanket like their brothers'. I took them on a "date" last week and let them pick out their own material.  Every time the oldest showed interest in a print, his brother did too.  They ended up picking camo. I was able to convince them to get two different camo prints so they could tell them apart.  


Instead of just revealing the finished product I thought I'd do a little tutorial. Keep in mind I'm still learning.


First, pick out two coordinating fabrics. I usually pick flannel and minky (soft, bumpy material), but these boys chose fleece. For baby blankets I use a yard of each fabric. For these older boys I used a yard and a half of each fabric.

If you are using a binding then it is ok to sew the fabrics wrong side together.  Use lots of pins. I left a 1/4" seem around the edges. (The blue minky was a bit larger than the camo, but i just trimmed it after I sewed the pieces together)This is what it looked like after the border was complete.  (Again, the corner of one side is folded over. Camo is on one side, blue minky on the other).

Then, I pinned on the binding. 

And sewed it on (sorry about the lack of lighting)

Ta-da!

This is younger brother's blanket. The oldest one's was finished at 11:30 pm last night. I was in such a hurry to get it done and head to bed that I didn't take any pictures of that one. Maybe I'll be able to add a picture of it later.


I'm heading over to Erin's to deliver these in a few hours and I can't wait to see the reactions!

Plans for today

I went to bed last night with a list of things to get done when I woke up.
1. Put away laundry
2. Put newly-purchased wedding decorations in some kind of order so they can be found again in less than six months
3. Finish making the Cowan boys' blankets (more on those later)
4. Hang out with friends who are back from school on winter break
5. Make new Thai Peanut Sauce recipe since I used all of the store-bought kind last night

This is how my day ended up:

1. Put away laundry
2. Put newly-purchased wedding decorations in some kind of order so they can be found again in less than six months
3. Finish making the Cowan boys' blankets (more on those later)
4. Hang out with friends who are back from school on winter break
5. Make new Thai Peanut Sauce recipe since I used all of the store-bought kind last night
6. Take care of fiance who has a nasty, nasty case of the flu
7. Sneak new duvet cover into guest bedroom while the patient slept

That's right folks, my wifely duties have begun six months before the wedding. Although dolling out dose after dose of Pepto Bismol and making more than one trip to the grocery store for items requested by "the patient" was not exactly on my to-do list for the day, it ended up being a pretty good day.

While the patient rested, I put a new-to-us duvet cover on the guest bed.  It's a nice nature-y greenish color which matches well with the flannel black sheets that it doesn't quite hide... and the navy blue blanket that is poking out. Oh, and the red throw pillows. And the dark purple mini throw pillows.  And the shiny purple throw blanket. And the pink lamp I got for my dorm room a few years back. When I come over next, I'll try to bring my camera so I can show you a picture of the lovely set up.

I also made up a batch of Thai Peanut Sauce (with almond butter instead of peanut) while the patient napped. I'm going to make Chicken Satay for dinner tomorrow if the patient is feeling better and able to keep food down. He told me that maybe this flu is a way to go "out with the old and in with the new," and start the new year out right. That, folks, is punny. And disgusting.

I hope you are all enjoying your New Year's Eve.  Hopefully your day hasn't been full of nauseated fiances and mismatched bedding.

Katie