Thursday, May 05, 2011

~Faux Chenille Blanket~

While I was sewing my daughter's Easter dress, I was mentally making a list for my next projects I wanted to sew. Namely, a skirt (for me), a purse (for me), a pair of pajamas (for me), and last but not least, a reusable grocery tote (for me). This was not on my list:



Pillow case and faux chenille blanket (not for me).

But somehow, before I even knew it I was sewing for my daughter again. *Happy sigh* I just can't help it!

It started with purchasing a crib pillow for our daughter. Well, she needed a pillowcase for it, right? So I got to work making that, with fabric from my bins that matches the valances in her room. Then of course she needed a matching blanket too, right? For the past winter she's used a lovely polka-dot blanket that I was given at my shower. But it is getting small for her and she was quite attached to it. Switching blankets on her wasn't going to be easy. Until I started sewing this blanket! While I was making this, every time I tucked her into bed she asked for the "pink blanket".



For the pillowcase, I just started sewing. :-) For the faux chenille blanket, I followed these two tutorials: tutorial by Dana at MADE and tutorial by Anneliese at Aesthetic Nest. I used lightweight cotton for the back (or front?) and three layers of white flannel for the chenille. This project is tedious. Quite ridiculously so. But fun. ;-) While I was sewing and cutting and thought, "I should just buy chenille at Joann's and be done with it." But when I ran in to get binding for the blanket, I took a closer look at their chenille, and it is not soft like this faux chenille. However soft this blanket may be, this will probably be the first and last faux chenille blanket I make!



I used my walking foot for this project. I don't think you'd want to make this blanket without a walking foot! I just pin basted the layers together, and started sewing. The front and back were nice and smooth. No puckers!

I finished this last week, and my daughter has been using it ever since. She loves it, and so do I!

2 comments:

Becky Dempsey said...

The blanket is lovely! Almost makes me want to make one, but the kids already have so many blankets and I have so many projects that need to be done!

Tammy said...

Thanks, Becky! We have a bunch of blankets that are smaller, but not too many this size. :-)