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!
IMPORTANT QUESTION:
My first! Bought my supplies today! Was curious why the corners are cut out?
Thanks for the clear step by step instruction.
BTW, not a home school parent, but an online cyber school parent!
The corners are cut out so when the ties are tied together the blanket actually comes out square at the corners. The extra fabric needs to be removed for this to happen. It makes sense once you start tying the two together. Fear not. It is fun and quick. You can work your way around in no time, and if you have help, well even less. Square knots work just fine.
I have made four of these in the past. They are wonderful. They are also very expensive. Fleece is not cheap, especially if you want it to be actual blanket-sized. And you need a fairly large area on the floor in order to put one of these together. As an aside, I also made matching pillows using ready-made pillow forms, from the extra fabric. May or may not be something I would tackle again due to the price.
Thanks so much for the clear instructions and the ideas about tools to make the job easier. My daughter is going to make these blankets as a craft and party favor for her 11th birthday this summer, themed around an overnight camp-out.
this was great mines for my daughter when she’s at the rink at comps (she does figure skating) now she will stay warm 🙂
Very cute!!!
Question: If I wanted to make this for an adult, would I use the same measurements for the fleece?
I have made many of these and find that 2 yards of each is a good size for an adult. I make the fringe 5″- 6″ long for the adult ones. If you sew, I have found that men sometimes prefer less fringe, so I sew the long edges together and just tie the fringe along the short edges. When sewing, I have used both a straight stitch or a decorative stitch, usually using 2 rows of stitching. I stitch about a quarter inch from the edge and then the second row another quarter inch in, using a longer stitch length. Be sure to start and stop stitching 5″- 6″ in from both edges (depending on the length of your fringe). Great post with clear instructions!
Great tutorial sharing with the photo of how to do. i have to try it out today.
Hello: Love you site!!! Question: the Fiskas rotary cutter you use, is it a special blade for fleece? I know polar fleece is deadly on rotary blades and just wondering about this one. Thanks 🙂
I have a Splash 45mm Olfa rotary trimmer now (which I LOVE!) , the pink one in the pics was what I used before. And YES FLEECE IS HORRIBLE ON BLADES! I have an old blade that I keep marked special for fleece and then I just pull it out when I’m working on a fleece project. Otherwise it destroys all of my blades!
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My blanket turned out round like a sack is there anyway to fix this?