Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Making a Baby Blanket from "Minky" Fabric....


If you haven't yet heard or felt Minky fabric....you really should.  This is a very, very soft fabric that is fabulous for baby's.  I decided to try sewing a Minky blanket for one of my grandchildren who arrived in the last little while.  

One of the drawbacks to sewing a 2-sided blanket with Minky is that the 2 sides will not 'adhere' to each other.  Rather, they will slide around and you will have more of a sack than a blanket if you only use Minky. So, I saw a suggestion on-line that I decided to try.  I put a third layer in the blanket. This third layer is flannel.


I laid out all 3 layers of the fabric and trimmed the edges to match each other.  I had to sew two strips of flannel to achieve a 60" width/length for this crib-sized blanket.  I then took a simple bowl and drew a curved edge on the corners.  I then trimmed all 3 fabrics.



I chose to add this simple trim around all the edges.  It is a small pom-pom trim.  I used my zipper foot and sewed it about 5/8" from the edge of one of my Minky fabrics.


To end the brim, I overlapped the end pieces and sewed back and form on the juncture to secure it.


I sewed the flannel to the backside of the other piece of Minky. See the seem on the pink piece?  This is from joining the flannel and the Minky together.  I then sewed (with right sides of the Minky together) all 3 layers together using my zipper foot.  This food edged along the trim to give me a nice clean finished edge.  I sewed around all 4 sides but left an opening of about 1 foot on the 4th side to allow me to turn the blanket right-side-out.  I then hand-stitched this section closed. 


Here is the result.  The Minky did not 'collapse' as it did before I added the flannel.  It still can slide, but it acts more like the blanket I was looking for.  

Take-away points:
  • The Minky Fabric is very heavy
  • The Flannel has 'tooth' to hold the 3 fabrics together somewhat.  If you wanted very little sliding you could strategically tack the fabrics together.
  • The least expensive Minky fabric I found was on-line.  So check out all of your options.
  • I made another blanket with a silk ruffle instead of the trim.  It was just as cute.
  • You need LOTS OF PINS to hold this 'unit together.  You will not get even seams without it.
  • It is so soft!  Your little ones will love it!

Try it!




4 comments:

Julian Levi said...

I like this baby blanket and thanks for sharing the tutorial... I will try this and will come back soon for more..!
cot blankets

The Little Red Hen said...

Thank you Julian. Good luck!

Quilting Fabric said...

Beautiful work, and thank you for teaching me how to do, loved it!
Fabric Store

The Little Red Hen said...

I'm glad it was helpful. Thank you for stopping by!

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