Tie Fleece Blanket

I've decided to keep a separate crafting blog. Here's my first attempt at a crafty how-to that I brought over from our family blog!

Start with some fun fleece from Hobby Lobby. I found a pretty purple that had 1 3/8 of a yard, so that’s the size I decided to use. =) You can go smaller for an infant size, but 1 1/2 to 2 yards is recommended for toddler or twin bed. For an adult or teenager, you definitely want 2 yds. Once I found the purple, I just looked for a cute coordinating pattern. Yes, normally you’d find the cute pattern first…I was shopping with a friend and 3 kiddos. Nothing makes sense.

As I said, I don’t sew (mostly due to not having a sewing machine + having a mother with skills AND the machine fairly close by), so I don’t have the tools of the trade. My friend offered me her rotary cutter and mat. It made the job nice, but it certainly isn’t necessary!

First step, lay out your two pieces WRONG sides together, as flat as you possibly can. Doing this during your inquisitive 4-year-old’s naptime is suggested so that it won’t move when he “wants to touch it and see how soft it is!” I try to be helpful whenever possible.

Obviously, the cuts aren’t perfectly even, and trimming is necessary. Also the selvage edge needs to be trimmed so there is NO ugly left. By the way, you can slightly see a curl to the material near the words in the bottom left corner. The edge with the curl will stretch quite a bit more when it comes time for tying.

Once it is trimmed and perfectly (at least close…says the perfectionist) even, you’ll need to cut out squares from each corner. This will show you about how long your fringe will be. I did mine about 3″ because it followed the pattern of blocks on the material! That made for easy decisions.

So here is what it looks like. Remember, try not to move it through the process so that everything stays in place and together how you like it.

Now it’s time to cut your fringe. I went about 1″, and I liked the final thickness. Cut through both layers at the same time. Here I am showing you that you can do it with scissors (if they’re good quality and sharp, like my Creative Memories scissors here).

And here it is with the rotary cutter that can help you keep your fringe even at 1″ spacing. Notice my lovely vein-y hands? Yep, I get that from my mother.

Here’s the home stretch for the tying! Now, I wanted to make sure that the complementing fabric showed on the opposite side, so I had to do a bizarre form of left-over-right, left-over-right to make it work. My first tie became perpendicular to the floor, then the next one finishes it:

And it’s done! It’s pretty easy, but it is a little tedious, so it can take a couple hours. I’m thinking mine took around 3 hours? It’s hard to tell since there are always distractions. But I LOVE how warm they are! I’m planning to make a nice throw for us, too.

Well, thanks for humoring me to feel like I can do great things!