I Did Something Crafty!

You all might have figured out by now that I'm not the craftiest of people and I'm sorry if I may have led you to believe otherwise. I can't work a sewing machine, I can't recover or paint furniture, and I can barely scrapbook and make cards.

I have managed a few projects in the past.

Poor sad gray heart. It's been on the fridge so long it's lost all its lovely purple color. But Mom likes it.


Not like this colorful masterpiece. It's still be-you-tee-full.

That's why this craft project is so wonderful -- you don't need any real crafty skills! All you have to be able to do is cut fabric and tie a double knot.

The last project I remember attempting with scissors involved cutting my own hair. It did not end well. This time I fared much better.

My church has women's fellowship events every month or so and I don't always make it out to them but this month was different. This month we made Fleece Tie Blankets. It also happened to be the week that fleece was half price at our local JoAnn's, making it the perfect Friday to make blankets!

Here's my finished blanket.

Cupcakes on one side...

diamonds on the other.

This was NOT a thrifty project. It was fun and pretty easy to do, and I LOVE my blanket, but even at half price and with a 15% off coupon, it still cost about $22 for the fleece.

In order to make a blanket like mine, you will need:

2 yards each of any two kinds of fleece.
1 pair of very sharp scissors
a large flat surface to lay/cut your fabric on.
optional: yardstick or other long, fairly straight edge

For the fleece, you can choose any two kinds you like or even just all one pattern or color. Just keep in mind that they will be opposing sides of the same blanket. I made mine with a total of 4 yards of fabric and I cut my ties very large, decreasing the surface area of my blanket somewhat. If you want a slightly larger blanket, I suggest increasing the fabric size to 3 yards each side.

I apologize that I do not have step by step photos but it really is quite simple to make:

1.Lay one piece of fabric right side down on your surface, and lay the other right side up on top of it.

2. Line up the edges of the fabric and trim off the selvage edge, keeping both pieces of fabric the same size. Try to cut in a pretty much straight line, but it doesn't need to be exact. Set one long piece of selvage aside for later.

3. Cut a square out of each corner of both pieces of fabric. The size of the square will determine the length of your ties before they are knotted, so if you want longer or shorter fringe, adjust the square accordingly. I wanted large fringe, so I made mine 6X6.

4. Take your selvage scrap and lay it out along one edge of your blanket, from the inside corner of one cut-out square to the inside corner of the other. This will make a guideline for cutting the length of your ties. You can also use your yardstick for this, if you prefer.

8. You are ready to begin cutting! Eyeball about how wide you want your fringe to be (mine were 2 inches) and cut through both layers of fleece in as straight a line as possible, making sure not to cut past the line made by the selvage strip.

9. Continue cutting ties all the way around the blanket.

10. Once you are finished cutting, take corresponding aligned ties and double knot them together, taking care not to pull too tight at the corners, as this can cause stretching problems. Tie all the way around the blanket and you're finished!!!

You now have a very warm, very cozy little blanket. I find that the 2 yards length is a generous lap blanket and I am using mine in the car as it is quite cold in the mornings. If you would like to make a baby blanket, use 1 to 1 1/2 yards for each side. These blankets make great simple and fun gifts and are easy enough to make with a child's help -- they can even pick out their own fabrics!