Making Minky Blankets for Christmas Presents

So yes, I am planning for Christmas officially.  I do try to make the kids a bunch of things and I just don’t have time unless I start planning months ahead.

These particular blankets have fleece on one side and minky fleece on the other.  The bottom one with diamonds is for Anthony.  For him it is not a surprise because he chose brown diamond pattern.  I took him to this store called Marden’s in South Portland Maine.  It is a really cool store with oodles and oodles of things we all can’t live without – you know all that surplus stuff?!  I can go in their looking for a hairbrush and leave spending $100 on stuff I can’t live without.  They have clothing, holiday supplies, health and beauty, shoes, some food but not much, kitchen goods, furniture and most importantly – Fabric.  Tons and tons of inexpensive fabric!  So Anthony set out one morning last month to find something for a blanket for him and this is what he chose.  It is really attractive and I am glad he chose so well.  His blanket is a solid brown fleece on one side with the diamond pattern minky fleece on the other side.

Sephora’s fabric I also picked up at Mardens but she didn’t want anything to do with fabrics the match.  The zig zag pattern is your basic fleece and the pink and brown leopard pattern is her minky fleece choice.

I truly wish I had more minky fleece because once I made these – I now want one.

To make them I simply cut them to the same size – easier said than done.  Anthony’s is not exactly the even on all sides.  That minky fleece doesn’t stretch quite the same as the regular fleece and since it was the first time I worked with it – it took some time to get used to.  Once the pieces are cut, match them up with right sides facing each other.  Then I sew three sides and trim the corners so they will lay nicely once I flip it right side out.  After three sides are sewn, flip in right side out and be sure to push your corners out all the way.  For the side that has not been sewn I flip the two edges inward and top stitch approximately 1/4 inch from the edge making sure to catch both sections folded in.  Lastly, I follow that topstitch all the way around the rest of the blanket.

When I made Sephora’s once I cut the two sides, I pinned every side with right sides facing in to try to minimize the stretching and slipping.