Making fleece baby blankets, what you need, and how to keep them in tip-top condition. They make an excellent gift at a baby shower.
Fleece blankets do not require a large amount of planning and effort if you wish to make one from scratch. They are ideal for the novice sewer who is only proficient in using a simple straight stitch on their machine. Fleece blankets do take very few notions to make. The bulk of your cost will come from the type of fleece that you choose, not to mention the quantity. You will need to know a few things about this easy-to-wash, sewing machine-friendly fabric.
What Can I Expect from Working with Fleece?
Fleece sold in fabric stores is usually the kind made of acrylic that mimics the texture of wool fleece. The main differences in the two fibers are washability and smoothness. Acrylic fleece does not hold wrinkles as well as wool fleece, and you will not have to iron it as often to maintain its appearance.
Acrylic fleece does not fray or unravel. A hem on most items made of acrylic fleece is almost optional rather than mandatory. It does, however, gather pills and bunch up a bit during repeated washings and dryer cycles. A single-layer fleece blanket will dry quickly in the laundry or on the clothesline, since water wrings out of it easily.
You will need to prewash acrylic fleece in gentle detergent and on the gentle cycle that you use for baby clothes or lingerie before you start sewing. This also helps to prevent pilling in future washings.
Acrylic fleece is most commonly 60 inches wide. Prices may vary. Printed fleece is usually a few dollars more per yard than solid colors.
Sometimes, you can finish the edge of a fleece blanket by cutting it into fringes. This lesson, however, will show you how to make a fleece blanket with a binding around the edges.
Deciding to Make a Double Layer Blanket
Test the fleece that you are making the blanket out of against your skin by rubbing it against your hands, face, or neck. Think about how it would feel to a baby wrapped up in it. Coarser, more loosely woven fleece might benefit from a backing material. In this case, sweatshirt fleece is a compatible fabric to use, since it is fuzzy on the underside but smooth and pill-free on the top. The acrylic fleece and the sweatshirt fleece will be easy to pin to each other as you sew.
Deciding How Much Fabric You Need
When the attendant at the cutting table asks you how much fabric you need, give the amount you need in yards. You will also benefit from buying 1/8 of a yard more than you need to accommodate potential shrinkage.
For a baby blanket, you will want to make it short enough so it won't dangle on the ground when it is wrapped around a child's car seat to protect them from drafts. Square blankets are nice for wrapping the baby in a "burrito."
For the sake of this lesson, let's say you want to make a large square blanket, and you purchase 1 3/4 yards of 60-inch fleece. A yard and three-quarters equals 63 inches. After prewashing, this may shrink to around 60 inches. This will give you a 60 by 60-inch square.
Buy equal lengths of acrylic and sweatshirt fleece for this project:
1 3/4 yards of acrylic (printed or solid) fleece
1 3/4 yards of sweatshirt fleece
Other Notions
You will need three packets of quilt binding for a blanket this large; for smaller blankets, you may only need two. It will look more striking or decorative to use quilt binding that matches the lightest color in the acrylic printed fabric. If you cannot find an exact matching color, then a complementary color will stand out in striking contrast. By complementary color, we are talking specifically about colors that are opposite from each other on a color wheel. Red is opposite from green, purple from yellow, and orange from blue. For a baby blanket, pastel colored acrylic looks very nice with white or cream-colored quilt binding.
For the record, quilt binding is very similar in weight and texture to bias tape. It has a double fold and it is also wider than extra wide bias tape.
For a blanket, buy the larger size spool of thread that matches your quilt binding.
Pinning and Sewing
After you prewash your fabric and trim all four sides so they are even and straight (As a decorative touch, you may even wish to round the corners), pin the blanket fabrics wrong sides together around the edges. Space your pins about six inches apart from each other.
On your sewing machine, begin your straight stitch and then backstitch about an inch to secure it. You will want to maintain a seam allowance of 5/8 inches. Continue to sew your seam going forward. Stop stitching 5/8 of an inch from the corner, lift your presser foot, pivot onto the next side, lower the foot, and then continue your seam. At the end of the fourth side, backstitch the end of the seam. Remove the pins, running your hands along the edges of the fabric firmly to make sure you have all of them out. When you have two pieces of fleece sewn together, it creates a thick pile that makes it hard to tell if you have all the pins out.
Unwind your roll of quilt binding. Sew the ends of each roll together at each end; press the seams open. Unfold the binding and lay it flat. Fold under 5/8 of an inch of one end and secure it with a pin. Pin that end to the first corner, with the folded end extending past it. Keeping the binding flat, pin it around each side of your blanket, with the wrong side of the binding against the underside of the blanket. Pin the unfolded end of the binding against the folded end so it extends on to it by the same 5/8 of an inch. Turn the blanket over so the underside is facing you. Begin stitching the binding to the blanket, staying as close to the edge as possible. Backstitch over the ends of the binding. Trim the seam allowance.
Fold the quilt binding over to the topside of the blanket, ironing it as you go to keep it flat and neat. Pin it in place as you go at the same intervals that you pinned the two pieces of fabric. Then stitch the topside of the binding close to the edge like you did for the underside, folding the folded end of the binding over the unfolded end as you finish. When you approach corners, remember again to stop, lift the presser foot, and pivot once you have folded the binding down at the corner. You may still have to tack down flaps of binding that occasionally stick up at the corners.
Note: When pinning the quilt binding to rounded corners, you may have to trim notches on the inner fold of the binding to help it curve and fit around the edges. It helps to avoid puckering and gaps where the thread did not catch the binding.
Appliques and Embroidery
If you are going to embellish the blanket with a patch or embroidery, remember to attach it to one of your blanket layers before you being to sew them together. That way, all of the thread knots and embroidery backing (if you have someone embroider something commercially for you) will be hidden by the second layer.
Avoid iron-on patches on fleece. They will not stick on very well, and they will peel off after repeated washings.
