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!
Thank you!!! Your instructions were so clear.
Is there any way to correct a mistake when making a fleece tied blanket? I cut out my corners 6 inches square and i had already cut out one corner and placed my ruler back on that same corner and cut it another 6 inches just in one direction, i didn’t cut the whole corner out. is there any way to repair this so it isnt noticeable
Oh, it sounds like the only way to fix that would be to make those two sides 6″ shorter if I’m understanding you correctly!
These are soooo cute!!!! I\’m a newbie in this department, trying to figure out what to make first after I bought my first sewing machine. If anyone needs a new machine there are great options and prices at a1vacuumandsewing.net
What does it mean wrong side touching?? First time making these for my many nieces and nephews.
The “right” side of the fabric is the pretty side, the “wrong” side is basically the back of the fabric. If you have a printed fabric, the print will be on the “right” side, and not the back or “wrong” side. Hope that makes sense. Since the rag quilt is sewn together as indicated in the tutorial, you’ll want the pretty side facing out on the front and back of the quilt.
Great no sew fleece blankets. Thank you for the pics and instructins.
My corners are getting all scratched up. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong?
The corners do scrunch up a little bit. You can also cut them just a tad deeper if you like.
I cut one corner square larger and tried to fix but doesn’t look good. Can I cut another corner square ?
You can just straighten it, but it wouldn’t worry too much about it honestly. Once it’s all tied and washed no one will know.
Approximately How long does it take to make? Start to finish.
You can usually make one of these in a an hour or two depending on how fast you are 🙂
This is great! What is a square knot? Do you just tie the two to each other like a regular sort of knot, or do you grab both pieces at once and knot? Thanks!
Yep! I tie them in a knot like shoe laces sort of. I show how to knot them in the video as well.