A few years ago, I was short on money and had one weekend to come up with a baby gift. Now, unlike most sane folks, I have a lot of fabric, so I went out and purchased some chenille (picture old bedspreads) but I already had some cute baby flannel. In two hours one afternoon I was able to come up with the project in the picture and it was really easy with just minimum sewing skills … trust me, I’m not that great with a sewing machine and I hate to measure.
First, you need to cut the fabric into even squares. What’s cool about this is that it doesn’t actually matter what size, just even. So, cut out a box top, use a ruler or whatever helps you to line it up and cut it out. I think in the end I used 30, 5-inch squares, 3 fabrics, and so 10 squares of each.
Then sew those squares together in any pattern you want with a consistent seam allowance—I use 1/4-inch because that’s what visually lines up nicely beside my sewing machine needle. Otherwise, I don’t measure—just eyeball it.
When you’ve pieced your top, put it together with the backing fabric front sides together. Sew all the way around with a 1/4 seam allowance leaving maybe two to three inches (depending on how thick your blanket is) in one corner. Turn it right side out, hand stitch up the corner and you almost have a blanket. One trick here … if you cut your corners at an angle inside, when you turn it right side out, it looks better.
Now you’re going to tie the blanket. Put some embroidery thread (or yarn) on a big needle and push it through each corner where the 4 blocks meet. Depending on how you want it to look, you can do this from the front or the back. In my case I wanted it to show, so I tied it at the front. Be sure to tie securely with a double knot. If you’re concerned at all about choking, cut it down fairly far so just a bit of the tie is left.
