Easy to Sew Baby Blanket Tutorial

Yesterday I had the great joy of seeing a friend of mine I've known since 4th grade.  She lives out of state now and was visiting here with her husband and brand new baby boy.  He is 2 months old and this was my first opportunity to meet him, so of course I had to create something for little Baby A!

As much as I would like to make a quilt for every new baby, if prior experience tells me anything it's that they wouldn't receive the quilt until it was time to go to college, so I settled for a soft and sweet flannel baby blanket that hopefully will be very useful to mom and baby alike.

This project is a perfect one for a beginner sewer or anyone needing a quick gift.  I made this blanket the afternoon of the baby shower and it turned out nicely.

What you will need:
1 yard each of two coordinating flannels
Scrap piece of another flannel for applique
Fusible fleece (see picture below)
Letter template
Basic sewing supplies

I used this fusible fleece to applique the letter because it's what I had on hand and I thought it would give nice texture/loft to the letter.  You can also use a fusible interfacing without the fleece, resulting in a more "flat" letter. 

Let's get started!

Step 1: Cut out a template for the letter you will applique.  

In the past I've hand drawn my letters, but I got smart this time and found free printable letters in upper and lower case from Skip to My Lou.

Some people like to cut the letter out of template plastic.  I used the lazy efficient girl's way and simply pinned the paper to my flannel scrap and cut around it with sharp sewing scissors.

Step 2: Use your letter template to cut out your fusible fleece or other interfacing.

An easy trick for cutting the centers out of letters such as a, o, b, is to fold the template and fabric and cut a small line in the hole, then unfold and cut around the hole.

Make sure you pay attention to the correct side of the interfacing, or else you end up with a backward letter like this one!  Back to the cutting table... aka my kitchen island.   No one gets to eat when mama's cutting.

The rough side of the interfacing should be adhered to the wrong side of your fabric.  Be sure to follow the manufacturer's instructions on your interfacing for the best result.  There is sometimes minimal variation in instructions depending on what type or brand of interfacing you use.

Step 4: Once you've ironed your interfacing to your flannel letter, place it and pin.  I placed my letter in the corner of the blanket and folded the edges in 1 inch to see how it would look taking account of the seam allowance.

Step 5: Stitch around the letter to applique it to the blanket body.  I used a blanket stitch on my machine.  Confession time: I planned to use the zigzag stitch but I couldn't remember how to set it correctly and I didn't have time to dig out the manual.  The good news is I actually liked the blanket stitch better for this project!

Step 6:  Once the applique is finished, pin the right sides of your flannels together (make sure you've trimmed them up to make them the same size since 1 yard cuts are not always exactly equal).  Using a straight stitch and a one inch seam allowance, sew around all 4 sides, leaving several inches unsewn at the end.  This unsewn area is what you will use to push the blanket through to turn it right side out.

Unfortunately this step is where I was running really late and I did not get any good pictures of this part.  Hopefully you can visualize how to do step 6 or feel free to ask me any questions.

Step 7: Once sewn, you may want to trim some of the seam allowance to reduce the bulk in the blanket.  Push the blanket through the opening you left on one side.  Use your finger or a blunt point to push the corners so they are nice and squared.

Step 8: Grab a needle and thread and hand stitch the opening closed.  You should now have a soft and personalized baby blanket.

For a quick and pretty presentation, use pinking shears or pinking rotary cutter to cut a strip of leftover fabric  and tie it around the folded blanket.

I hope you found this tutorial helpful.  This project is a great way to develop your skills in applique and learn how to use different stitches on your machine (if you can remember how to set it right!).  So go find an adorable baby and make him/her a blanket.  Lynn - thanks for sharing your little guy with me!

Please feel free to leave me a comment or email if you have any questions.

Happy Creating!

Shared at these fine blogs:
Saturday Show-licious at Sew-licious Home Decor
Saturday Show & Tell at Cheerios and Lattes
Sew & Tell Saturday at Sew Country Chick
Sunday Show Off at Twigg Studios
A Bouquet of Talent at Life on Lakeshore Drive
Submarine Sunday at USS Crafty
Think Pink Sundays at Flamingo Toes
You're Gonna Love It at Kathe With an E
Sweet Sharing Monday at Say Not Sweet Anne
Busy Monday at A Pinch of Joy
Creative Mondays at Clairejustineoxox
Just Something I Whipped Up at Project Inspire