Blanket Tutorial

Materials Needed:

• Minky fabric (I bought 3/4 yard)
• Cotton fabric (I bought 3/4 yard)
• Tape --painting tape or masking tape
• Large safety pins
• Binding (1/2 yard)
• Matching thread
• [Note: no batting!]

My friend Tami made me the most beautiful baby blanket when Corban was born. One side is a minky brown material that is unbelievably soft, and the other a modern blue & brown cotton. It has become our favorite blanket. I would suggest this as a beginner project, and even for a "tween-age" larger blanket in cool groovy colors.

So when my friend Abbey was having a baby shower, I had to try making one for her. Plus, she's having a girl, and how fun would it be to make a pink, green, and brown one?

Directions:

1. Wash fabrics (press the cotton fabric)
2. With wrong sides together, tape the fabric to a flat surface, making sure the fabric is taut removing any wrinkles.
3. Safety pin the 2 fabrics together.

4. Decide what size you want your pseudo quilt blocks to be. I chose to sew between every 5/6 row. You'll sew between the cute little bumps on the minky side of the fabric. I used green thread on top and brown for my bobbin. I marked near the edge before beginning to sew across the fabric.

5. Sew the two pieces of fabric together. Do not backstitch at either end. The two fabric are so different, and the minky fabric is so stretchy, you'll avoid bunching of the fabric by not backstitching. Just leave a generous amount of thread on each end to account for stretching when you go to flatten the quilt when you're done.

6. I cut my binding 2 1/2 inches and followed the directions on the Chasing Cotton Quilt Designs Blog for how to make a binding. Her tutorial is wonderful and my corners were mitered perfecting! I love it!

Doing the binding this way you'll press your border in half, line up your binding fabric and sew on the machine, then flip the folded edge over the raw edge and hand stitch it to finish it off.

I had enough of the minky material to make a soft matching cuddle blanket (not sure of the official name). This is the first time I've used the satin blanket binding. I followed the directions at the My Spare Time Blog. Her tutorial is for a baby blanket, and the satin binding part is near the end.

However, I was not pleased with how it turned out. I didn't sew the brown satin on well and therefore it wasn't square. I didn't end up giving it to Abbey and instead, my son is using it. He loves the one Tami made. Almost as soon as it touches his face, his eyes close. Its precious.