Tutorials



SELF BINDING BABY BLANKET



Hello there! I'm writing my very first tutorial and what has inspired me is this: I saw on Pinterest a tutorial for the same thing - a self binding baby blanket. I hate to say it, but the tutorial was awful. It was not clear at all (and I consider myself to know how to sew) and I ended up taking what I had sewn apart so many times, I gave up on that tutorial. I Googled to try and find more clear instructions for a certain part of the blanket and again, couldn't find anything very clear. After finding a youtube video that was the most clear (and now I can't find it again) I have decided that I'm taking what I learned from ALL the sources I tried and will come up with something that I think explains in detail, in a non-confusing way, how to make this wonderfully easy (once I understood it!) blanket. Once I figured it out, I made 3 yesterday (I wanted to make sure I had it down!) and one today. Definitely my go-to baby shower gift from now on! Please excuse my bad nail polish that needs to come off!

First of all, pick your fabric and wash it. You will need 2 choices, one for the front and one for the back. I have used both sides cotton, and one side cotton, one side flannel. I have some adorable minky fabric I'm going to try next, so use anything you are comfortable with.  Depending on what size you want your blanket, buy that much fabric. Keep in mind the front side is the smaller size, and the backside is the larger piece (includes the binding) and will always be 10" larger than whatever you make your front side. So if your front side is 34"x34", then your back side will be 44"x44". The first 3 I made are squared, and this one I made bigger, 34"x40" for the front and 44"x50" for the back which translated to 1 yard of my front and 1 1/2 yards for my back. 
back fabric

front fabric
 Once your pieces are cut to size, fold your back piece in half (wrong sides together) and mark the middle point with a pin. Do this for the top and bottom. Then fold the other way in half and mark the top and bottom centers too. 



Then do the same thing with your front piece, except do it with right sides together. Hope you can see my red pin there. So for both pieces you should have a pin marking the centers of all 4 sides.


Next, lay your BACK piece RIGHT side UP on your work space. Take your FRONT piece and lay it RIGHT side DOWN on your back piece, matching one side pin to pin, to the top edge of the fabric. Pin your top edge all the way across. See my yellow and red pins are at the same place.

 Then match up your top edges and pin all the way across.


I use a 1/4" seam allowance. You can use a 1/2" or 5/8" or whatever you're comfortable with. But whatever you choose, mark the beginning of your sew start to be that much from the edge, as well as that much from the edge at the end. So I marked 1/4" from my left and 1/4" from my right side.


Take it to your machine and sew.

Then, take your next side and do the same thing. Match up your center pins, top edges to top edges, mark your seam allowance at both ends and sew. When you start to match up all your sides, it's going to lay sort of funny and you will have this flappy thing at each corner - this is normal. It will all work out in the end. Do this same procedure for 3 of the 4 sides. 



For the 4th side, match up your center pins and top edge to top edge and pin BUT leave a 4"-5" opening in the middle so that you can turn your project right side out.




After you have sewn all 4 sides, bring your work to your space and take one corner and fold it at an angle to make a triangle, with your front fabric on the inside of your triangle. Match your edges together and so your flappy corner piece will be part of this triangle. This part is a bit tricky to explain, hopefully the pictures help clear it up.


 Grab one side and fold it towards the other side, edges together.
It will be flat when you  fold it in half.

 Then take your top corner and fold it down until the edge of the fold matches with the rest of the folded edge. Sorry for the weird angle!



 Mark the edge that is the noted in the picture, NOT the edge that my fingertips are on (above).
Go to your sewing machine and sew along the marked line.

Now, the next step is to cut (1/4") from your sewn line. BUT I like to turn it right side out just to make sure I did the right marking BEFORE I cut the fabric. Once you cut, and it's wrong, there's not fixing. Yes, I know this because a tutorial I read was not clear and did not tell me to check it either. UGH. Very cute fabric, wasted. Well, not wasted because I can cut it up for other things but it won't be a cute blanket!


YAY! It's right!
Now you can cut off the excess. Do this for the remaining 3 corners, checking before cutting.
Now comes the fun stuff! Turn your blanket right side out and poke out your corners as pointy as you can using a pencil, chopstick or whatever that thing I have that's for corners lol.


Doesn't it look good & it's getting exciting closer to the finish?



 Now iron your blanket nice and flat. The best way to do the opening is iron the back/binding fabric flat and then fold under the front fabric slightly and iron flat.



Now it's time to do the top stitching and you're done! Stitch along the edge on the side of the front fabric (not the binding), all around the blanket being sure to close up your hole. 

 
All there's left to do now is stand back and admire your work! 




If there's anything in this tutorial that's not clear or you need more explanation, PLEASE let me know. Like I said, it's my first one and I really want it to be clear so others will not be frustrated trying to make this like I was with other tutorials.I'm off to try a new one with my cute minky fabric! And after that I think I will add some batting to the middle of a cotton one to add some poofy comfy-ness to it!



This project was shared where I Link Party!

UPDATE: Check out my Crafts & Projects tab on the blog to see the finished result! :)

Comments

  1. I have been wanting to make one of these for a long time. Thank you for tutorial.

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  2. Oh good Jodie, I'm glad you stopped by to check this out. Once you make one, you'll love how easy it is and want to make several more! :) ~ Mama Ging

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  3. This makes me wish I could sew! I should have paid attention in Home Ec. all those years ago! Thanks for sharing at Throwback Thursday!

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  4. LOL, you can do it Alli! I have never had any sewing lessons, or didn't know how to knit or crochet and a year & half ago when I got on Pinterest and saw all these neat ideas, taught myself just by following blogs that had good tutorials or Googling anything I didn't know how to do (or asked my mom!) It's amazing what other worlds open up when you can do things yourself! :) Thanks for hosting the party! ~ Mama Ging

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  5. Excellent tutorial! I love sewing baby blankets and am excited to try something new! Thanks:-)

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  6. Thanks Debbie, you will have fun making this! I appreciate you stopping by! ~ Mama Ging

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  7. I'm going to try to make one! Am also sending this site to a friend of mine who makes lots of blankets. TY for the tutorial.

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  8. This is great. I to have been wanting ti try this.
    Thanks for the TUT.
    Kelley

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  9. I am not sure about the corners you did can you make a tutorial

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  10. Thank you!! I look forward to making these as there seem to be a lot of babies being born lately.

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  11. HI,
    I just saw a similar tutorial on another site but this one is a lot better! I was a bit confused but now after reading here it all makes sense to me! I was unsure if you can change the size but now I see as long as it is 10 inches nothing can go wrong!
    I am making my Grandson a few blankets and I was looking for a fun and easy way and am happy to have found this!
    Thanks and keep the great ideas coming! I will check and see what else you have to inspire me! Happy Holidays!

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  12. Macnana ~ thanks for stopping by! Be sure to come back and post a picture if you can of your blanket, I'd love to see it! ~ Mama Ging

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  13. For the anonymous posters - The corners can be a little tricky, especially when just reading the directions, but once you try it and are actually going through the motions they make more sense. I'd suggest trying that, I'm sure it will all just work out! If you want to start with a smaller size so you don't think you would waste fabric, you can try that. ~ Mama Ging

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  14. Carmen, thanks for stopping by! I'm glad you found this one to have made sense to you. Like I mentioned previously, it makes even more sense when you are actually doing it. Please stop by and let me know how your blanket goes! Have a great New Year!! ~ Mama Ging

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  15. Thanks so much! Made a great little blanket for my babe-on-the-way. Your instructions were really clear and I had such a great time making it!

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  16. Sara, I'm so glad you made one and had a great time! Congrats for the baby on the way! :) ~ MamaGing

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  17. Just made my first grandchild her first blanket using your tutorial- great job! It turned out perfectly! I have been sewing for 30 years but had never tried the self- binding. You took away the intimidation factor for me! Thanks so much!

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  18. YAY Caroline! - Congrats on the grandchild and I'm so glad you made one and that you were very pleased with it! I bet this grandchild will have several more. ;) ~ Mama Ging

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  19. I gave this a whirl and as usual, aspired to do something more difficult than necessary! Lol I used a very fluffy/minky-"ish"/bathrobe thick fabric for one side, and a basic cotton for the other side. It would have worked had I created it with the cotton being the backside as overlapping the fluffy stuff and trying to make that a border was a disaster! Lesson learned however and not to be discouraged, I shall try again and get it right this time. :-) Thank you for sharing this great toot! May I share it on my business Facebook page? I have an Etsy shop where I sell fabrics/notions/patterns/supplies/jewelry etc. as well as my own handmade items and am always looking for quick/easy 'toot's to engage my customers. Thank you for your kind consideration. Best regards and HAPPY SEWING!! Andrea :-)

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  20. Hi Andrea, thanks for trying the tutorial! I'm sorry the minky fabric border didn't turn out well, but please don't give up. I did make a minky one as well (you can see it on my Project Gallery Page, all the way at the bottom) & it does take a bit more patience than cotton, but it can be done! I would love for you to share the tutorial, thanks for asking. I will definitely be checking out your Etsy Shop!

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  21. Hello, I want to make sure I am following your instructions. The back fabric is bigger but you are aligning the front and back right sides together? Then after sewing the back piece will balloon out creating an excess to be used for the binding. You then miter the corners and press the binding in place and top stitch? I want to try this but need to be sure. Thank you for posting this and in advance for answering me.

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  22. I am new to sewing, in the learning stages. I would love to learn how to make this one. You could also use it for a pre-teen/teenager. I will ask my friend/sewing instructor to help me out with this one. I'm sure I could do it on my own, but will ask her to help me get it right. Thank you for posting this tutorial.

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  23. Yes Cathy, that is correct, the back is bigger to create the binding. It makes much more sense as you actually go through the steps. Thanks!

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  24. I tried to make one of these and it was a disaster!I am so excited to try your version having read it completely.It is much easier to understand than anything else i have looked at.If it works I will post the result.

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  25. i have made two of these blankets and each time the corners were puckered what am i doing wrong? Thanks Diane

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  26. Thanks so much for the beautifully clear instructions. I especially like the way you showed how to fold and mark the corners. I just made this with two pieces of fleece for my youngest grandson, and it came out great!

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  27. Yay! devo613! I'm so glad your blankets came out great. :) Thanks for letting me know!

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