Baby Blanket Tutorial and GIVEAWAY!

Today has been a very lazy day around here: Hubs is back at work, Little Miss is under the weather, and there is snow on the ground outside! Since I have no one to impress today both Little Miss & I are still in our pjs.

Since she is not feeling well, she slept until 2:45pm! This gave me the opportunity to work on that baby blanket for the giveaway I promised. I ordered the fabric from Amazon so it was here by Thursday and I have been so anxious to put it together.

Baby blankets are VERY SIMPLE to make. FYI: If you have a baby in the future and invite me to your baby shower, there is a strong possibility I will end up gifting you a baby blanket I made!

Here is how I made my baby blankets:

What You Need:
Sewing Machine (I <3 my Brother CS-6000i)
2 Types of Fabric,
   *I prefer using flannel on one side and minky fleece on the other
Thread
Stencil 
Disappearing Ink Pen
Sharp Scissors
Pins
Pinking Shears
Iron & Board

How To Sew It:

Cut your fabric. Like I said before, I prefer to use flannel on one side and minky fleece on the other. I don't like to make a huge baby blanket, hence why is it called a baby blanket. I want my final blanket to measure about 3 feet long and 2 1/2 feet wide (36" X 30") so I cut my blanket a little larger, around 38" X 32". So when I order the materials, I generally order 1 yard of each fabric. That way I have extra too!


I took a scrap piece of the flannel fabric and grabbed my stencil. This time I chose an anchor. I traced the anchor on the wrong side of the flannel, cut it out, then pin it to the right side of the minky fleece. 

Next you will need to sew down the anchor. I chose a zig-zag stitch and I go around the anchor twice. Go slow. Minky fleece is very slick so the slower you go the more accurate you will be. You can choose any sort of shape to stitch down, on the last set of baby blankets I made I sewed on the new babies first initial.

Now to pin the blanket together. Place the right sides together and pin, about 2 inches apart. Then pin some more, making the space between the pins around 1 inch. The more pins the better, like I said minky fleece is slippery!

You will need to leave a gap on one side of the fabric. This will allow you to turn the blanket to right side out.


Now to sew. Slowly. Did mention how slippery minky fleece is? 
In order to make sure I sew slow enough, I multitask: I remove the pins right before they would slide under the needle. This makes sure I go at least slow enough to remove the pins. Normally I wouldn't hesitate to sew over the pins but the minky fleece complicates things. Remember, DO NOT sew the opening closed!




After you sew, you will need to cut off the excess fabric. For this I use my pinking shears. Hello, my name is Shannon and I love to use pinking shears whenever I can! You can of course use normal fabric scissors but how can you resist the zig-zags of the pinking shears?!


Time for the fun part, turn your blanket right-side out through the opening you left. This is my favorite part because your blanket actually looks like a baby blanket now! 


Turn on your iron to iron flat the edges all the way around the blanket. When you get to the opening you left, fold it under slightly and iron down.

Pin the opening shut. 















Now top-stitch around the entire perimeter of the blanket, this will close the opening you left. I will sew as close as possible to the edge, usually its a 1/4 inch seam.


VOILA! You have just sewn a baby blanket! See how easy that was?

Now for the best part: I AM GIVING THIS BABY BLANKET AWAY!

Even if you don't plan on having any (more) babies if you are a milispouse like me, chances are you will be invited to a baby shower in the near future!

Entering to win this blanket is simple and you will have multiple chances to win:

1. On this blog entry, leave a comment telling me what crafty things you have been up to lately. Please leave your email address.
2. Refer people to "Like" my facebook page and have them write on my wall saying that you sent them!

That is all, see how easy it is to win? Its about as easy as making a baby blanket....

The Baby Blanket Giveaway will run until 12am on Saturday, February 25th. On Saturday, I will tally up the entries and decide on a winner using Random.org.

Good Luck!!