I gave a baby shower to my daughter-in-law back in February.
I thought that as part of the activities in the shower we could tie a baby quilt.
When I was shopping for the fabric, I found some soft, pretty fleece. (I LOVE fleece material!!)
The fabric store had a sample blanket made up that had a really unique edging so I decided to make a baby blanket with that edging on it.
This fan fold edging is super easy to do. It doesn’t take any special sewing skills — just a simple zigzag stitch.
The pattern on the fleece was a blue and white checked. I cut the fabric along the lines of the checks all around the edge of the blanket.
Then, I fan folded the fabric and used a very small zigzag stitch in the center through all the thicknesses of the folds. This created a little fan so there were fans all along the edge of the blanket. It was really simple to do and made up really fast. It took me less than an hour to make the blanket.
Click on these two pictures so that you can see a larger image of the fan fold design. This first picture shows a close up view of the edge so you can easily see the fan fold.
I think this edging would be cute to have on pink blankets for little girls, too! In fact, this edge will work on any fleece type of fabric. Just make cuts that are 4 inches apart and 4 inches into the fabric.
This was a VERY easy baby blanket to make. It is something that anyone can make — even if you have minimal sewing skills. I hope that by seeing pictures of the one I made and the video below that you will be motivated to try your hand at making a similar blanket.
18 thoughts on “Making a Baby Blanket”
New to sewing and want to try this. Do you back stitch the fan fold? If not what keeps the stitching from unraveling?
Yes. Before I start zigzagging, I take about 3 stitches, back stitch 3 stitches and then zigzag. After doing several zigzags, I do 3 regular stitches and back stitch 3 stitches.
?? your fan fold edge blanket.
Does it matter which direction you sew the zigzag stitch on the folds?
I don’t think it matters too much. Here’s of a screen shot from my video (at 1:51 minutes) that shows that the zig-zag is going the short width of the fold. I did it this direction because it was easier to have the bulk of the blanket to the left of the needle.
Watching the video might be helpful . . .
So it’s just one piece of fabric?
Yes. This was a single piece of fabric that was 60 inches by 60 inches.
I am going to try this but I am going to make 3 inch cuts
That should work, too! (I just followed the pattern on the fabric . . . )
Did you only use one piece of fleece instead of a front & back?
Yes, I used only one piece of fleece!
Thank you so much for sharing this lovely way to finish a fleece baby blanket.
I’m not sure if my arthritic hands will allow me to make this work, but I shall certainly give it a good try for my first great grandchild.
Your presentation was excellent, and I also still have my 45 year old Kenmore sewing machine and it still works fine. Thank you again.
I sure hope this edging works for you! A great-grandchild. How wonderful! They are so precious. (I thought that I was the only one with an ancient Kenmore!!)
I love this pattern. Can it be used on a double sided blanket?
Mmmm . . . I think it would be hard to do. And, if it were made out of a fabric different than fleece, the edges of the fabric would fray.
Did you sew the fan fold to another layer or was it just on layer?
I sewed through all of the fan fold layers.
I love your quilts im new to sewing just got a sewing machine and your quilts are adorable my first grandchild was born 5 months ago and im dieing to make her the fan fleece and the quilt brown and pink i couldnt find your video though if you could help me with instructions. .thank you
Laura,
Congratulations on the birth of your first grandchild. That is wonderful!
Here is the link to the post that has a video showing how to make the blanket with the fan fold edging. It is very simple so that even though you are a beginning seamstress you will be able to make it. All it takes is doing a zig zag stitch.
http://grandmaideas.com/fan-edging-on-a-baby-blanket
All the best,
Nina