Now guys, listen. Don’t be a craft snob like me and think you’re above a no sew blanket. I have turned my nose up to these since I knew about them years ago and this year I saw JoAnns was having a doorbuster sale on 48″x48″ ones that I could easily afford and gift to my nieces and nephew and decided to stop being above it and try it out. Now I’m the fool for all those years because it’s a quick and crazy satisfying project!
So like I said, I purchased kits, JoAnns was having a sale, 2 for $10 instead of $7 each. I’m wanting to keep my Christmas costs down so this seemed like an affordable way to do it and still gift something to all the kiddos in my life. I also got permission from my sister because I didn’t want to load up her kids with blankets if her house was exploding with blankets. She gave me her blessing and said that they would actually be great car blankets and it’d be nice if they all had different blankets from each other.
Of course while I was at JoAnns for the second time in 3 days (because my last sewing machine needle broke!) I saw another sale they were having on no sew blankets and these were different but it was buy one get two free. I really can’t resist a good sale. These were more expensive at $24 a kit, but I was buying the one for myself and figured I could probably gift my two free ones.
Maybe shouldn’t be surprising but the more expensive kit’s fleece was a higher quality in my opinion. It was thicker/more dense. I do think the lower priced ones will still be fine to gift to my nieces and nephew and will be great car blankets. They will still be plenty warm and I don’t see them getting overly hot like I do under the one I made for myself.
Project Time: 1 hour
The kits come with instructions which I didn’t think I would need, I just figured you’d cut a bunch of fringe, tie some knots and call it a day. But they say to cut 5″x5″ squares off the corners and then to cut 5″ deep fringe and space it 1″ apart from the next one. I stuck with the 5″x5″ square but just did my own thing for the most part on the fringe. Some strips might have been one inch, others were probably thicker. I will also admit that the thicker strips didn’t knot as easy as the skinnier strips that were probably 1″. Also make sure to have the right sides on the outside. So if you have designs on both sides of the blanket, make sure the right side of the design will be on the outsides (one will face down, one will face up)
I also didn’t make sure that the blankets were exactly the same size or cut the selvage. I’m 8 months pregnant and bending and being on the floor right now isn’t really my jam. So I knew I wanted to do a majority of the “knotting” from my couch with my feet propped up! To do this I would go ahead and tie the knots at the corner and then tie knots about every 3-4 strips.
If you decide to buy fleece and not purchase a kit I recommend getting either 1.5 yards (54″x60″) or 1.75 yards (63″x60) If you’re wanting to do the least amount of cutting. You’ll want to get two fleeces – you can chose to get coordinating colors or patterns, or just go wild! Crafting is suppose to be fun! You can also chose to go with less yards but most fleece will be 60″ wide so you’ll probably want to trim your blanket down before cutting your strips unless you’re wanting a rectangle instead of a square. I did read that some people will chose to cut longer strips, like 7″, I found 5″ to be plenty.
So once you tie all the knots you’re done! Like I said, it’s a pretty fast and satisfying project! If you have kids that can use scissors or know how to make a knot I would say this is a great craft for them to make too!
What have you guys thought of the Handmade Holidays series so far? Let me know in the comments below! I can’t wait for you to see the other projects I have lined up for you! Yay!
See you tomorrow!
xoxo
-Robin
