No Sew Fleece Blanket
@mikesgal4ever1999 (732)
United States
July 17, 2007 4:26pm CST
I have made these for the last several years. I give them as gifts and my kids beg me for new ones all the time. They are very simple to make. I can make one from start to finish in about 2 hours. I have made baby blankets, adult size blankets, and even doll blankets.
No Sew Fleece Blanket
Materials Needed
1 2/3 yard of 2 coordinating fleece prints and/or solids
Sharp fabric scissors or pinking shears - or rotary cutter, mat and ruler
Quilting or safety pins
Masking tape
INSTRUCTIONS:
1 - Lay one piece of fabric on your work surface with WRONG side up with selvages on the left and right. Lay the second piece of fabric RIGHT side up on top of the first, with the selvages on the top and bottom. This will stabilize your blanket.
2 - Remove selvages and trim fabric to a 58" square. Use a few pins to hold the pieces together. Place masking tape on all sides of the top piece of fleece, four inches from the edge. Cut fringe at one inch intervals, using the masking tape as a guide. You may use scissors, pinking shears, or your rotary cutter and mat.
3 - Tie the top and bottom layers in a knot at each fringe. At the corners, cross over the fringe so the bottom right connects to the top left, etc.
The same technique can be used to make a matching pillow. Or, use the same measuring and cutting technique to make an easy single-layer blanket!
3 people like this
8 responses
@gewcew23 (8007)
• United States
18 Jul 07
I make these as well. I started out by making them for baby shower gifts but have gotten into making them for other occassions and now I take special orders to make them to sell. I love to make them and they are so easy. Thanks for taking the time out to post the instructions for those here that don't know how to make them.
Here are a couple of other tips also:
1. You can use your fingertip as a rough guide for
spacing.
2. Also, long, smooth cuts give a cleaner look.
3. Cut a 5" square from each corner.
4. Cut fringe 1" wide and 5" deep on all sides.
5. Don't tie the knots so tightly that the blanket
will not lay flat - the blankets will look more like a bowl or basket than a blanket.
Here is also a great website that gives different ways to finish the blankets with different techniques for the fringe.
http://www.linusidaho.org/finishafleeceblanket.htm
Hope that this also helps and I wish you happy crafting.
1 person likes this
@mikesgal4ever1999 (732)
• United States
19 Jul 07
GREAT tips. I do some of those now but didn't think about the rest of them and didn't even think to post little helpful hints. Thanks for the new link...I have bookmarked it and going to check it out :-)
@jeannebean (73)
• United States
18 Jul 07
Fabulous Blankets!! The organization, Blanhof dsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss thse are great gigd s6
@bonbon664 (3466)
• Canada
18 Jul 07
Ok, I don't really get it. I've seen these instructions before, and I was thinking of making one, until I realized I could just buy one blanket and that would be cheaper than making this one. I don't understand the advantages to it.
1 person likes this
@mikesgal4ever1999 (732)
• United States
19 Jul 07
To each their own as I always say. You might be able to buy a ready made blanket the same price or even cheaper however I persoanlly prefer to have a handmade one. A handmade blanket (or anything else for that matter) comes from the heart. Can't think of a better advantage than that :-)
@mikesgal4ever1999 (732)
• United States
19 Jul 07
They are so easy and make wonderful gifts. Good luck with trying one out.
@Ravenladyj (22902)
• United States
18 Jul 07
aAAAWWW My daughter made me one of those for a Christmas gift last yr....My husband was telling me that they went and got the supplies then she sat in her room for like 4 hours putting it together for me! I absolutely LOVE IT...its a little small mind you LOL but I love it all the same.....and it seems to flipping easy to do too!! great gift idea....
1 person likes this
@Nykkee (2522)
• Canada
17 Jul 07
Is that the same os the growing blanket? A friend of mine was given a small blanket like that for her baby and every time she washes it, it seems to grow, and she has a friend whose child has had one since he was a baby, when they got it it was baby blanket sized and now it big enough to be the top cover on a twin bed.
1 person likes this
@mikesgal4ever1999 (732)
• United States
19 Jul 07
I haven't ever heard of a growing blanket but would love to find out. Do you have a link about them? Neat idea.
@catejames (19)
• United States
18 Jul 07
These blankets are so easy to make!! I actually made one at the eleventh hour for the coworker I got to exchange with for Christmas a couple of years ago. Another coworker had brought one to work and told me how she did it. Between that and looking at the blanket--I did it! It took me a couple of hours. My biggest struggle was with my scissors. It was hard cutting, so my recommendation is that you have a pair of real sharp scissors or some heavy duty scissors.
This is a versatile gift especially for baby showers and kid's gifts since that fabric comes in so many different characters. I usually see it at Walmart in the fabric department. My nephew has a camo one and the gift I made was a Jeff Gordon Nascar blanket.
To be frugal: watch for sales at popular stores like Walmart and JoAnn Fabric (also online) and use giftcards and closeout sales to your advantage. JoAnn Fabric regularly has days where you can get certain percentages off any item. Watch all stores after holidays for bargains on holiday fabrics.
@mikesgal4ever1999 (732)
• United States
19 Jul 07
Oh I love JoAnns LOL These blankets are not hard to make at all. Personally I recommend using a rotary cutter and a cutting mat and that makes all the difference for me. I have carpal tunnel syndrom and holding scissors for that long makes it really tough on my hands. The patterns and the panels for fleece are wonderful. Ben Franklin is another place to get fleece as well. They don't have as wide of a variety as JoAnns but they do have some.
@margieanneart (26423)
• United States
3 Aug 07
I have never made, or recieved such a lovely thing. I think I will give it a try. Thank you for sharing this mikesgal4ever.
@Feona1962 (7526)
• United States
17 Jul 07
I make these as well..they are very easy and no sewing involved..you can buy them already to make or you can purchase exactly what you want..my grandsons took theirs and made a sleeping bag type thing out of it..They had undone a few of the ties and crawled into it. I thought that was a great idea..
@mikesgal4ever1999 (732)
• United States
19 Jul 07
Oh what a cute idea! I never thought about sleeping bags...hhhmmmm....that might start yet another crafty idea in my head (so many ideas and so little time LOL). I love these blankets because no sewing is involved. Unfortunately I can't sew but want to learn LOL
