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No-Sew, Double-Sided Fleece Blanket | Tutorial

November 6, 2010 By Laura 4 Comments

The kids and I were recently brainstorming for ideas, to put together a very special package for a certain little boy.  It was very special circumstances, that called us to put something together very special, just for him. I wanted to share with you all this idea our oldest, {A}, came up with:  Making a no-sew, double-sided fleece blanket for him.

no sew double sided fleece blanket
It was the perfect idea for this little boy.

The kids had received fleece blankets like this before, as gifts, and as single layer blankets.  But I wanted to see if we could make a double-sided blanket, so that it would have a different pattern on each side. How FUN, right? And it would be double warm and cozy!

It’s really quite easy, and well worth the effort!   Maybe this is a home-made gift idea you can use sometime, for Christmas gifts, or birthdays.


They are great for anyone, at any age.  From babies to grandparents, and anyone in between.  Just change up the patterns to be more suitable for the recipient, and it’s perfect. Who doesn’t use blankets? It can be a single layer too, and would take even less time. It just wouldn’t have a different pattern on the reverse side.  They are great as throws for beds, getting all wrapped up and cozy to watch a movie, as a lap blanket while you read, or even traveling in the car.  Just choose the appropriate patterns, and a suitable size for whom ever it is for.

Here’s How Easy it is to Make a No-Sew, Double-Sided Fleece Blanket

no-sew-double-sided-fleece-blanket-tutorial We found this set of 2 different patterns, at Joann Fabrics!  I didn’t know there was such thing, and had planned on having to choose 2 patterns separately, and have them cut off the roll to size.   So we were pleased to find these available!  (I also unexpectedly got it at half price!!)  There are a few sizes available in sets. This one was 48″ x 60″.  Perfect width and height for a little boy.  But you can buy any patterns you want off the rolls, and just cut them to matching size.

no-sew-double-sided-fleece-blanket-tutorial-1

I was tickled with this 2-in-1 fleece fabrics of chocolate brown with colored polka dots, and bugs!

Again, perfect for a little boy.

  • The first thing we did was lay it out on a clean table, layering the 2 pieces, one on top of the other, as perfectly lined up as possible.

Then we chose a side to start on, and laid a heavy board several inches away from, but along that edge, to keep the fabric from moving too much.

no-sew-double-sided-fleece-blanket-tutorial-2

We were prepping to cut fringes through both layers.   So using a snapline chalk, we measured up 5 inches from the edge, and snapped a chalk line across from one end to the other, to indicate where to stop cutting, so the fringes would all be the same length. This would create 5 inch long fringes, minus what is taken up when we knot them. Then we measured in from each corner 4 inches,  and cut 1 inch wide fringes, all the way across in between.   In other words, we stopped cutting fringes 4 inches from each end.   This would leave you a squarish block piece on all of the corners, for now.   We’ll get to why we did that, in a bit.

Now, if you don’t have a chalk-line to mark things off, you can use a ruler and chalk per usual.  But this was faster.

no-sew-double-sided-fleece-blanket-tutorial-5 Then, we just started tying each top layer of fringe piece, to the bottom layer fringe piece.

no-sew-double-sided-fleece-blanket-tutorial-6 Now because this blanket is 2 layers, the fringe pieces need to be double tied. Or else it would just un-tie.

But if it was a one-layer blanket, you would just knot the one piece of fringe, and once, would do.

You get me? ; )

no-sew-double-sided-fleece-blanket-tutorial-3
This is how it starts looking.
–

There can be a cool little technique here, where the print of the same side can show most. or the other side.  While tying it (like the beginnings of shoe tying), I found whichever side you stuffed through the whole, is the side that ended up on top. I wanted the opposite side showing, so I made sure to stuff that piece and pull it through to on top.

Now you even get that, or you don’t.  Either way will not ruin your blanket.  This project is virtually fail-proof!

no-sew-double-sided-fleece-blanket-tutorial-4
This is done all the way down, to your 4 inch corner piece.

The same process is done on every side of the blanket.  Again, stopping 4 inches for each corner.

Now what to do with the 4 inch corners:  We just cut 1 inch fringes, on angles, to go around the corner. I think it was 3 cuts, creating 3 more fringes.  Just make then 1″ -ish wide, like the others. This was to create a rounded corner blanket.   It IS an option, to just make fringe cuts one inch apart, all the way to the end, on 2 ends, to make the whole blanket more rectangular.  If you do it that way, I would do one whole side first, and then the opposite side, so they are the same.  Then work on the other 2 sides.

no-sew-double-sided-fleece-blanket-tutorial-7

Cutting 2 layers of fleece at once was a little hard for the kiddos, but they were very helpful for tying!    They took a lot of care with their work.

no-sew-double-sided-fleece-blanket-tutorial-8

Look how cute!   I just loved the colors.  And the bugs.  And the polka dots!

We were really happy with how it came out.

no-sew-double-sided-fleece-blanket-tutorial-10

The kids were really excited to send it out to our special gift, to this special little boy, along with some other gifts. It was a big package.

We hope our home made blanket warms his heart, as much as it warms him, head-to-toe.

It was certainly made with love!

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Filed Under: Crafts & Creations, DIY (Do-It-Yourself) Project, Holiday Crafts, Homemade/Handmade Gift Ideas, Kids Arts and Crafts, Tutorial Tagged With: birthday gift ideas, blankets, Christmas-gift-ideas, gift-ideas-for-anyone, gift-ideas-for-kids, handmade-gift-ideas, homemade-Christmas-gift-ideas, how-to-make-a-fleece-blanket, how-to-make-an-easy-blanket, no-sew fleece blanket, no-sew projects

Lavender Sachets

February 19, 2009 By Laura Leave a Comment

We believe this is the last craft to reveal.  Lavender sachets. It was actually one of the first we made.  Probably one of the least creative, which may be why I saved it for last. lol.

If you all recall this header:

homemade-lavender-sachets

And husband/Daddy, learning how to use the machine and sew, all in about 2 minutes, (and then hogging the machine, because he was having so much fun)……….

m1hand

(One-handed showoff)

…..while the ‘other kids’ were working at the other end of the table……. all4

He did let {A} get in there for a LITTLE bit….

a

….until he kicked her back out, because he wanted another turn, and couldn’t take it anymore.

m

It was definitely a gift-making family affair!

how-to-make-lavender-sachets
NOTICE how the sachets are hung out to air out!!  It’s a comical little story, really……

We had bought real dried lavender.  That is what the 4 kids in the photo up there are doing….cleaning the buds off the sticks.  WHICH, mind you, smelled NOTHING like lavender, flowers, or ANYTHING NICE.  It smelled like…well, dried weeds.

SO, we had lavender scent oil drops that we had bought, and had planned on adding a drop or 3 anyway. Just give it a little boost in smell.  But from the smell of that bowl of dried buds….it needed LOTS of help. And our sweet little helper was there, ready, willing and waiting, to help….A LOT……..

That is, until we ventured to take that saran wrap off and spoon some in our sewn sachet bags anyway.  HOLY…..the SCENT SURELY SHOWED UP!!  Gees…it was through the whole house, and stuck in our noses for DAYS.   We made all of the sachets, but man….they were SO POTENT!!  Really…just…..a little MUCH.

So I hung them out one day….ALL DAY.  Not sure if that helped, much.   When it came time to package them with other crafts, for Christmas gifts, we triple zip-locked them.

And-you-could-still-smell-them.  Grandma was so kind about how nice hers smelled, with her little telling-giggle.

If it is true, that a lavender scent helps you sleep well, these babies will knock you out for a lifetime!!  They did smell like SOMETHING NICE in the end.  Just a little more than necessary. : )   Update-2016:  These days, I know to use 100% real natural lavender essential oil, as opposed to the concoctions they sell in the store. (We use doTERRA, for all of our essential oil needs.)

It’s been fun, showing you all of our craft-gift ideas this year! Hope you’ve been enjoying it, as well.

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Filed Under: Crafts & Creations, Homemade/Handmade Gift Ideas Tagged With: easy-homemade-gift-ideas, handmade-gift-ideas, homemade-Christmas-gift-ideas, lavender-sachets

Handprint and Footprint Aprons – Homemade Gifts from Kids

February 5, 2009 By Laura 8 Comments

handprint-footprint-aprons-homemade-gifts-from-kids_00

One of the gifts the kids did for their paternal grandparents for Christmas, was this apron set.   We found the denim aprons right at our favorite place….Michael’s Arts & Crafts.   Then, we just picked up acrylic paints in the colors we wanted.  Their grandparents are both FANTASTIC cooks (they even make their own pastas), and take turns in the kitchen cooking, or cook together.  So we thought this idea of an apron set, with the kids hands and feet prints, would be cute for them. I only took photos the night we did feet, which was first.  The kids had a good time, and never stopped smiling and giggling.

how-to-make-footprint-aprons-homemade-gifts

First, we coated the bottom of a foot really well with paint.  You need to work quickly though, because it starts drying pretty fast.

how-to-make-homemade-aprons-homemade-gifts-from-kids_1

They stepped on the apron with their painted foot, putting their weight on it. Then they lifted their foot off the apron, going straight up!

afoot

ahop2

Then they went hopping off to the tub, to wash their foot.

ahop

Our kids are color coded (from the triplets birth), so their grandparents would know anyway, whose prints were whose.

how-to-make-footprint-aprons-homemade-gifts-from-kids

They all giggled from the tickles,  while their feet were having paint put on – you might notice the firm grip on this ankle, because for some…

stickle

…it was practically torture!!!

But didn’t they come out so cute??

footprint-apron-homemade-gifts-from-kids

handprint-apron-homemade-gifts-from-kids

I wanted to keep them for myself. lol

But, I knew the kids would be HAPPY to do it again sometime.

Now, on to a related topic:   I’m not sure if anyone happened to notice the yellow on our boy’s cheek in this photo we showed above? :

stickle

That’s from a couple of days before.  I was out on a job, and when I came home and walked in, they all came running in to meet me with excitement.  That’s not unusual. But they wanted to show me what their big sister spent quite awhile doing for them….

spuppy

She did face painting for them. I was impressed with her work!!   {S and O} got something on each side of their face.  {S}, above, got that puppy on one side….

sbee

…and a bumble bee on the other.

ounicorn

{O} chose a unicorn, and…..

oflower

…a flower.

jdolphin

{J} just wanted a dolphin.

rainbow-paint-arm

And then {A} did her own arm!

She always has such creative ideas to spend time with them, and they LOVE it!

They are blessed to have her as their big sister.

Well, that’s it for this edition!  Dang….that took me a long time to get together!  lol.  We sure hope you enjoyed it, and perhaps it sparked some inspiration for you, or an idea of your own!

See you soon!!

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Filed Under: Crafts & Creations, Homemade/Handmade Gift Ideas, Kids Arts and Crafts, Kids Arts and Crafts Tagged With: denim-apron-crafts, gifts-for-grandma-grandpa, handmade-gifts-from-kids, handprint-footprint-ideas, homemade-Christmas-gift-ideas, homemade-gifts-from-kids, kids-decorating-aprons

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