Fleece baby blankets are easy to make without a sewing machine, or even a needle and thread. Adding a sewing machine to the mix makes for an endless variety of options. Babies love the softness of fleece and parents love the ease of cleaning. There are so many fun colors and patterns and textures available. This article will give some ideas which will get you on your way to making fleece blankets for everyone on your list.
Fleece is great to work with especially since the cut edges are clean and don't need hemming. To make the blanket, pick at least 2 colors or patterns of fleece that look nice together. Often I will get three pieces -- two that I will use for the main body of the blanket and a third that I use as an accent. Fleece comes in different patterns and textures so feel free to mix and match.
Kolcraft Contours Car Seat
The size of the blanket depends on what it will be used for. Make it a meter or so square if you want to put on the floor for a baby to play on. For a car seat or stroller, make it a half meter wide and 3/4 of a meter long. There is no 'right' size for a blanket, it all depends on how you want it to be used.
After you have the pieces that you are going to use for the main body of the blanket you are ready to cut. Cut the pieces into panels. Here is where your creativity comes in. If you want two panels - an idea is to cut one wider than the other. Another option is to use three panels, two of one pattern and one of the other. Sew the pieces together using a straight stitch. After the straight stitch you'll go back over the seam again but this time with the seam opened out so it sits flat. I use a scallop stitch for this.
Once you have all of the pieces sewn together and have flattened the seams with the scallop stitch you are ready to give the blanket a nice edge. If you are going to make a lot of blankets, there are rulers you can buy in the fabric notions area that guide you in cutting scalloped or diamond edges. If you don't have a rolling cutter you are really missing something. You will also need a cutting mat to use this. For one or two blankets scissors are fine, but if you think you'll be making more, I highly recommend the small investment.
If you have a ruler with the different edges, pick the edge you want to use and either mark the fabric and cut it with scissors or use the roller cutter and ruler together. You can also make a nice edge using a regular ruler. Draw a straight line along the entire edge of the blanket. Using scissors, cut inside the line in either a scallop or 'v' pattern all the way around the blanket.
Now you are ready to add some accents. There are so many ideas for this and I encourage you to explore anything that sounds fun. You can cut out parts of the pattern of one fabric and scatter and sew them on the other panels. You can cut long strips of the accent pattern and sew them on in a diagonal. You can leave it simple and not add any accents. You can cut out hearts, butterflies, flowers, etc. and sew them onto a panel. Use your imagination.
You're done! Fold the blanket nicely. Cut a strip of the accent fabric and use it to tie the blanket up and there is no need for gift wrap.