Homemade Fuzzy Blankets

It was The Year Of Fuzzy Blankets at our house.

All three of my girls have had their birthdays now, and I made a fuzzy blanket for each of them.

I initially made one for Zoe because she wanted a marine-themed blanket, and I couldn’t find one for the life of me! So, I bought fabric, hemmed it, and she was thrilled.

Then Sonia wanted one, of course, so for her birthday (two weeks after Zoe’s), I made a turtle blanket.

And then it didn’t seem right for Lisey not to have one, so I made a third blanket when her birthday rolled around.

If you’ve got a very basic sewing machine and skills to match, you can do this. It’s super easy…so easy, I almost feel silly writing a post about it!

But a number of you asked, and so here I am.

You’ll need 1 1/2 yards of fabric if you want to make a throw of typical size. A yard and a half makes a blanket that’s perfectly sized for kids…it’s big enough to cover them generously, and still small enough to be quite portable.

You’ll also need a spool of thread in a color that matches or complements the colors in your blanket. I always choose a color that blends in as much as possible…contrasting thread shows mistakes too much!

When you’re ready to sew, lay the fabric out on a table or on the floor, and trim any uneven edges.

Then fold the raw edge over about 1/8 of an inch, and fold it over again about a generous half inch, pinning as you go.

My edges look a little wonky because of the pins, but I promise they really were pinned straight!

You can use a ruler to help you keep your pinning even, or you can just eyeball it. This is not rocket science.

Once you’ve got a side pinned, sew a straight seam, keeping the needle an even distance from the edge of the blanket and pulling out the pins as you go.

Repeat this with the remaining sides of the blanket.

You can make the corners of the blanket very plain and simple, or you can make a mitered corner. This is a good explanation of how that works, but know that it’s a little tricker to do when you’re working with plush, puffy fabric.

But then again, plush, puffy fabric also means that a less-than-perfect corner won’t be quite as obvious.

Is this project worth your time?

Well, that depends on a few things. If you can find a great deal on a blanket in the color and size you want, it might be wiser to buy the blanket.

On the other hand, if you can’t find what you want (fuzzy turtle and marine blankets are almost impossible to find), and you’ve got an hour to spare, sewing a blanket is a great way to go.

If you watch for a fabric sale or go shopping armed with a 40% off coupon*, the fabric will probably only cost you around $12, and the spool of thread will be just another couple of dollars (you might even already own the right thread, in which case you’ve just got to pay for the fabric.)

* You can usually print 40% off coupons at michaels.com or acmoore.com, and most fabric stores will accept them as competitor’s coupons.

My girls have been so pleased with their blankets…they take them to bed every night, use them to build tents, and snuggle up under them while we have family worship.

And that makes me feel like my time was very well invested.

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Today’s 365 post: I ate a half pound of these. By myself.

Joshua’s 365 post: Fading