This is one of my favorite gifts to give as a new baby gift or at a baby shower. But this blanket is not limited to baby gifts! Fleece comes in an amazing number of patterns these days. You could make one of these blankets for anyone!
If you know how to crochet it's very easy to make and works up quickly. I am by no means a crochet expert. I taught myself out of book a few years ago. I still have trouble reading patterns so I hope these instructions make sense! If you make one of these blankets I'd love to see it! (Send me a picture at nolongerconforming*at*gmail.com)
If you don't know how to crochet and would like to learn there are some great instructional videos on YouTube. Just borrow or buy a crochet hook and some yarn and sit by your computer for an hour or two learning a few basic stitches. If you can chain, single, and double crochet you can make this blanket!!
- Find some fleece that you would like to make into a blanket. I like to get enough to make the blanket square but you can make it any size or shape you would like. I make my blankets with only one piece of fleece, but you could use two pieces sandwiched together (similar to making the fleece blankets that you tie).
- Buy yarn that compliments your fleece. When I make a baby blanket it ends up being about 58 inches square and one skein is more than enough.
- Prepare the fleece. There are several ways you can do this. You can blanket stitch around the entire piece of fleece. You can use a serger to serge around the piece and then crochet in the serger stitching. Or you can go through and make holes around the edge of the fleece. This is the method I use. I use a ruler/tape measure of some kind and washable marker to make marks 1/4 inch apart about 1/4 inch in from the edge around the entire blanket. If you have a small (1/16) hole punch you could use that to make the holes. I use a seam ripper and just poke it through the fleece at every mark. With this method as you are crocheting you'll occasionally come to a hole that has closed up (or that you skipped) and you'll have to punch it again. I don't know why this happens, but it does, so just keep the
seam ripper handy so you don't have to wander off to go find it and realize you have dishes to wash or something! :) - Now comes the fun part!! Once all the holes are ready. Single crochet into each hole all the way around the fleece rounding the corners by putting 3 single stitches in each corner. There is no need to count and when it comes to the second round you'll be fudging the
numbers a little to get it to come out even. Chain three when you get to the end to get up to the next row. - The second row will be: double crochet, double crochet, chain one (repeat). Your chain will count as the first double, then double crochet again into the single crochet below it. When you chain, skip a stitch on the single crochet row so you get a little space between the two
doubles. (Is this making sense?) For corners: 2dc, ch3, 2dc. These spaces make a great place to weave in a ribbon for an extra special touch. Chain one to get up to the next row after you've gone around. - The third row is the hardest. This row makes a cute, little bumped edging. Single crochet in the first double below then in the "hole" or space you created in the second row make one single crochet, chain
two, and another single crochet. Repeat. So it will be *sc, sc, ch2, sc, sc* repeat around the outside edge. For the corners: sc, ch2, sc, sc, ch 2, sc. When you get all the way around finish it off. If you have to add a few stitches or skip a few to make it come out even it won't matter. Just play around with it a bit until it looks right.
Fold up your blanket, tie a ribbon around it, and give it as a gift. Who wouldn't want a cuddly, made with love, blanket?!
[Click any of the picture above to enlarge if you need to see better. If you have questions feel free to leave a comment or email me.]
I love this and am going to try it soon!!! By the way, thank you for the tip about holes closing because I probably WOULD go looking for the seam ripper and realize dishes needed to be done! Thanks~
ReplyDeleteI love the look of this one and the ribbon is a great touch. I use the skipstich blade and it makes holes around an entire fleece blanket in about a minute. Sure makes it a lot easier, and I was suprised at how cheap the blades were. I have to admit, if it weren't for the blade, I wouldn't enjoy making fleece blankets very much. I bought mine at skipstitch.com
ReplyDeleteI just recently learned about the skip stitch blade that fits onto a rotary cutter. Does the hole punching for you just lickity split!
ReplyDeleteWhen I make mine, I use a prewashed piece of flannel the same size and blanket stich them together. Crochet as usual. Then one side is flannel the other side is fleece.
ReplyDeleteThis looks so pretty so I attempted
ReplyDeleteto try crocheting around the edge.
Bought Skip Stitch cutter and went
all around the edges. I began crocheting & the edge with crochet
on it was pulling away from the
rest of the blanket because of too
many cuts from the Skip Stitch
cutter. Tried serger, tried seam
ripper, pokeing a hole to put
crochet needle in-same result.
I am so disappointed.
Now I am stuck with lots of
fleece and do not know how I will
finish the edges.
I use my sewing machine on a long basting stitch with a denim needle and no thread in my needle. I also finish the edge with a zig zag stitch or serged edge. It almost disappears once the crochet edging is complete!
DeleteI'm trying this on my next blanket. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteAmazon sells a thing called edgit. It's only a few dollars, comes with a sharp hook for round 1 and a regular hook for other rounds and a pattern book
ReplyDeleteI have made hundreds of these for local hospitals using fleece
ReplyDeleteJust need to trim the selvedge usually use a rotary cutter, and round the corners
I have found that using a piece of plastic mesh (for needlepoint) works great. I cut it in half and usually round the corners, just pin the mesh to meet the edge(you can pin several rows down). I usually line it up with the edge and use an awl to put the holes in the 2nd row down, and in every other hole. when you move to the next section, just match the last hole to the new first hole. If you curve the corners you will have to eyeball around the curve, and I usually go back and add a few holes the accommodate the curve.
What size hook and yarn did you use
ReplyDeleteI just purchased some fleece at a 70% off sale, so am going to try this. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteDo you use regular weight yarn that coordinates with the fleece or do you use baby yarn?
ReplyDeleteI use regular yarn with the fleece. I have used crochet thread when I make flannel blankets.
ReplyDeleteI use Nylon #2 Crochet thread for flannel - It doesn't fray like yarn. My grandkids would put the edge of the blankets in their mouth and it stayed intact. I've never tried crocheting around fleece - going to have to give that a try.
ReplyDeleteMakes great stadium blankets in school colors. Great gifts for teenagers to give friends too.
ReplyDelete