Baby Blanket tutorial

I love getting back to my sewing machine the last couple of weeks.  It has been quite a long while (months to be honest) and I'm happy to be finding some time during our hectic schedule.

The hubby's counterpart at work recently had a baby and Ed wanted to give them something sweet and pink for their first girl.  Normally, I would make a shirt like the one I made for my cousin's birthday the other day

but I had just stumbled upon a minky tips Pinterest post and wanted to give a minky blanket a try (especially since our oldest's favorite blanket is minky and she is wearing it out rather quickly).

1. I began with preshrinking the flannel material I got (Minky does not shrink so it's up to you if you wash it first)
2. Cut the material to size.  I cut both materials 41x41 - I only had to trim a little off the side with the JoAnn's Fabric advertising
3. Begin pinning with pretty sides together.  This was a tip from the Pinterest post... pin every 1-1 1/2". As a sewer who kind of hates pinning and usually does bare minimal pinning, I heeded their warning and did as told.

   4.  After pinning your heart out, begin sewing.  I used a 1/4 seam from the edge of the flannel material.      Don't forget to leave 5-6 inches to turn your blanket right side out.  BEFORE flipping, trim off the excess minky to avoid bulky edges. 

   5. After flipping over, you may wish to add another stitch to give the blanket a more "professional" look.  I did so with a 1/2" seam. 

   6.  Trim off any extra threads and TADA! 

A soft, warm and, best of all, large baby blanket for a quarter of the cost of buying one in store.  Now I'm ready to hurry back to JoAnn's to pick up some more material to make one or two for Aria! 

Best of luck... XO!