Fleece Tie Blanket Tutorial

You know how your little one loves a certain character?

And you, being a loving parent, would like them to be able to cuddle with a soft version of their fav?

But when you go to the store... the snuggle-y warm blanket is $30?

 So, what do you do?

You make it!

My little guy LOVES Lightening McQueen... or more specifically Mater :)

So, I watched the ads at JoAnn's and found this:

Perfect, right?

To make this easy, no-sew tie blanket, lay your pieces together with WRONG sides together.

You may need to prep your fabric first by cutting off the white edges with the licensing information

**Don't forget to prewash your fabric!**

Once you have your pieces prepped and lined up, measure on each side how long you want your strips to be. I typically make mine about 5- 6". On the corners, measure in your chosen length and cut a square on each corner.

Then (take your time and don't rush) cut each side into strips. Make sure that you keep them all about the same length and about 1/2" to 3/4" wide. The wider or shorter they are, the harder they will be to tie.

Keep cutting... and cutting.... AND cutting until you have all the sides done.

There are several ways to tie. This is the way that I have found that causes the LEAST amount of bunching. This is as step-by-step as I could get it, but pretty please let me know if you have questions!

First, pick your strip that you are going to tie. Make sure you have 1 from the front piece and 1 from the back piece of fabric.

Taking both pieces together, twist them around to create a loop.

**You can use your finger to help keep the loop.

Bring the two pieces up under, around, and put them through the hole.

**Think back to when you learned to tie your shoes... the bunny hops around the tree, and jumps into the hole. In this case, he goes around the tree, into a hidden hole, and comes up through the front to surprise you :)

Once you have it, the knot should look like the one above. I believe this is called a square knot.

Here's a close up of a section of my blanket just to show you how it will look.

Keep going until you have all of your strips tied together. If you have any bunching, just gently pull/stretch the sides of the blanket. You'll hear a little bit of popping (that will make you think 'Oh no!') but I promise that (unless you are green and go by Hulk) you won't rip it!

There you have it! A wonderful blanket for your little one! If my little one had been a bit bigger, I probably would have taken him to the store with me and let him pick his fabric. This was especially great for my guy since his little sister has been getting everything lately. So, he has a piece of loving all his own :)

I hope this helps! I will have another tutorial coming soon about a bea.U.tiful pin that you can make... lets just say that the image is dancing in my head!!!