So I'm in denial. It's true. I've told a few people that and they sort of laugh at me and shake their head but I'm serious. No Name Baby Girl #2 is due in 8 weeks and I haven't done a thing to get ready for her. Yes, I'm knitting a baby blanket - that's it. I haven't pulled the baby clothes out of the attic, I haven't rearranged the furniture and closet in Macie's room to make room for little No Name. It's a sad state friends. I need to get on the ball and realize that give or take some days, I am having a baby and walking back into bottles, baby carriers, more diapers, and no sleep.
After giving myself a pep talk today about sewing I decided to take the plunge into readiness. It was the wrong plunge. A few weeks ago I had gone to Joann's for something else and popped into the fabric section and decided to get some for a cute baby blanket I had pinned from The Crafting Chicks. It was actually a follow up post but I had no idea at the time. It was for a simple double sided minky blanket. I found cute fabric and then let it sit... until today. Lucky for me, I did have half a brain cell left and decided to start on the fabric I liked a little less as my "practice." Here's where I went wrong - I cut my fabric too small by accident. I have a small cutting mat and was trying to fold the fabric for ease of cutting and well, I miscalculated and lopped it off. If you have more than half a brain cell you won't mess this part up and you won't have to make a baby doll blanket - you can make a real baby blanket! I do have my other fabric and on a day where I can think, I'm going to make a full baby blanket. Cross your fingers for me!
This really is a simple blanket (if you can measure). All you need is:
Fabric (cotton or flannel)
Minky fabric
Thread
Tough right?
1. Cut both fabrics to the same size. In my case I cut two 19" squares but if you want a real baby blanket, I would go with about 36-42".
2. Lay the fabrics together, wrong sides together and pin them together in a few places. As you know by now, I over pin and I highly recommend it.
3. Sew (with the minky side up) the fabrics together. To do this just sew straight lines the length of your blanket in-between a line of the minky dots. I did every five rows, but you can do as many or as little as you like.
4. Once you've sewn all the way across in one direction, turn the fabric 90 degrees and do the same thing in the other direction. This will create a quilted square look.
5. This is the step that makes this blanket easier than most. Instead of adding binding to the edges, do a rolled hem stitch. If you know what that is - good for you - if you don't hang with me. Basically you fold the edge of the now sewn together fabrics over and then fold them a second time (get it? rolled). Once you've done that - I'd pin it. Do what you want though, I'm an over pinner. Sew the hem down and repeat it on the other three sides. The corners are a little tricky because they are pretty thick, but you can do it.
That's it! The perfect (and easy) baby doll blanket --- or baby blanket for all of you accurate measurers out there. The blanket itself is nice and would make a great gift for a new mom, or little girl with a beloved doll... I know one little girl that was happy with my error!
