I don’t know what it is about the holidays, but they make me feel all “crafty”. I break out my knitting needles (more on that to come), I start making Christmas decorations, cookies, and this year I made these super soft no sew fleece blankets! You really can’t beat these in the cold snowy winter months!
I’ve made them before and the kids absolutely love them. Since ours are well worn, I decided to replace a few of them with new ones. The good news about these is that they’re so easy and quick! Minus your trip to the store for fleece, you can literally have one of these blankets done within about 2 hours…give or take.
Since this is the 12 Days of Christmas and all, I really wanted to make a more festive red and white blanket, but the crew out voted me and we went for the bright pink.
Supplies:
1 . You will need 2 pieces of fleece Fabric at least 40 inches or wider (most are 54 inches)
- Toddler/Crib Size: 1 1/2 yards of each piece of fleece, the print and the solid
- Child size 1 3/4 yards of each piece
- Teen/Adult size 2 yards of each piece
2. Sharp Scissors or I use a Fiskars Rotary Cutter, so much faster!
3. Ruler or tape measure (I’m using a Fiskars 3×18 Clear Acrylic Quilting Ruler)
4. Optional: Cutting Mat if you are using the rotary cutter. (I use a 24×36 Self Healing Mat, but you just need one large enough to do a 7 inch strip, so a regular sized 12×12 mat would be fine too.)
Instructions:
STEP 1: Lay both pieces of fabric on the floor with the WRONG sides touching. (The right sides will be facing out so you can see them) Carefully trim away any of the seam edges. This is also to make the edges of both fabrics match up.
TIP: It is easiest to cut BOTH pieces of fabric at the same time.
STEP 2: Once your edges are straight, cut a 7 in x 7 in square from each corner, do this on all 4 corners, again cutting both pieces of fabric at the same time.
STEP 3: Using your rotary cutter or scissors, cut 7 in deep strips at 1 inch widths apart all the way down each side, again cutting both pieces of fabric at the same time. Tip: The strips of fringe don’t have to be exactly 1 inch, you can eyeball it, but just try to make them basically the same width.
Like so: (Sorry for the dark picture, I do these kinds of things at night :o)
STEP 4: Once all of your fringe is cut, you can start tying hand knots. I tie using a square knot. Make sure not to skip any strips or you will have a mess on your hands. (Alternate method: If you’d like your fringe to alternate colors along the edge, you can tie every other one, flip the blanket, then go back through and tie the remaining fringe.)
Here’s a close-up of the knots:
STEP 6: Let the kids in.
STEP 7: Then go and make another one…
STEP 8: Then enjoy your new cozy fleece blankets and a Christmas movie! (I realize that my poor son is in the middle of a lot of pink here. Don’t pity him, he has his very own blue and red “Cars” blanket upstairs on his bed.)
Note: These particular blankets (and most of my supplies) were purchased as a buy one get one free deal from my local JoAnn’s store so they ended up being about $15 per blanket. Depending on the fleece you choose cost shouldn’t be much higher than that.
Happy Tying!
So absolutely adorable! And the blankets are too. 🙂
You are so creative! Nice idea! Thank you for sharing:)
Thank you for this tutorial! I am making fleece blankets for our siblings, but I’ve never done it before. I am so glad I now have directions (with picutures!) to follow!! 🙂
Blessings,
Heather
I love these blankets! I made one for my daughter when she was about a year old. It has been her “blankie” ever since then. Wonderful tutorial. 🙂
So cute!! A friend of mine made Sammy a no sew blanket like that but she attached his name to one side! He is in love!
Completely adorable!!! Did you iron the owls/trees, etc. on? Did those come from JoAnn’s also? So stinkin’ cute!!
The owls came from a kit at JoAnn’s, cute aren’t they! :o)
I LOVE owls!! I have been wanting to try this forever!
Thanks so much for putting this on here! I have made these for years…never thought to use a rotary cutter…DUH! I wish I would have seen these earlier as I just got done making the three blankets for Christmas presents this past week…but I will remember from now on! They turned out so cute!
I made three of these in Fall when things started getting a little chilly in the morning. All of them have come untied. I tied them again…tighter…and they still came undone. I guess I’ll have to secure them with the sewing machine. I’m curious to see if yours stay together.
I love the pattern! Where did you get the owl fabric at?
Stephanie, the owls are from a kit at JoAnn’s