This Receiving Blanket Is So Easy To Make, A Monkey Could Do It

I am so excited about this receiving blanket pattern and how easy it is to make. Seriously, if you can sew a straight line and put down a half way decent zig zag stitch, you can make this cute blanket.  The first time I made one of these it took about an hour but now that I am a pro (I like to think so anyway!), 15 minutes is about all I spent on it.  Here is what you do!

Choose two coordinating flannel pieces of fabric and decide which one you want to be the top of the blanket and which piece you want to be the backing and binding of the quilt.  The binding and backing are all one piece so other than a coordinating color of thread, these are all the materials you will need.  Cool!

Take the piece of flannel that you want to be your backing and binding piece and cut it into a 40" X 40" square.  Take the other piece of flannel that you want to be your top piece and cut it into a 30" X 30" square.  It's important for you measurements to be exact so take your time here.

This is a tutorial so get ready for a lot of pictures.  And I do mean LOTS!

Take the two pieces of cut flannel to your ironing board and press them both in half and then in half again so that you have two folds in your material like the picture above.  You have now divided your fabric into quarters.

Take your pressed fabric to your table and lay the larger piece face up on the table like the picture above.

Take your second piece of pressed fabric (the smaller piece) and lay it face down on top of the larger piece like so.  The right sides are now together.  On one of the four sides, pick up the bottom piece at the crease. 

Pick up the top piece at the crease and match it up with the bottom piece at the crease and pin the two together.  Make sure that the salvages are even.

Pick up the material to left of the section you just pinned, moving about 6 inches away and match the top and bottom salvages again and put a pin here.  This pin mark is where you will start sewing when you get to that point.   

Go to the left again and pin the corner of the top piece to the bottom piece so that it is still straight and place a pin through both layers at the 1/4 inch marking.  This is where you will stop stitching when you get to that point.

There will now be several inches of the bottom piece still showing to the left of where you just pinned.  Since the bottom piece is larger than the top piece, it will seem a little weird but just keep going!  These longer bottom pieces are going to be your border and mitered corners.

All your seams should be 1/4 inch.  You are not going to be sewing the corners yet of the bottom piece so when you pin this part, it will look again like you are not doing this right but you are.  Turn your material counterclockwise so that you now have a new side in front of you.  Find your two middle crease marks for the top and bottom pieces and pine them together with the salvages lined up.  This time move to the right and put a pin in to mark the middle and then a pin at the end of the top piece as we did on the other side. Again, you will have a larger bottom piece than a top piece and it now looks like a dog ear but that is what it is supposed to look like!  Do these two steps for the other 6 sections of the blanket top and bottom until you have done the whole thing.

This is what your corners will look like when you have pinned it all together. Funny, right?  These are going to be your mitered corners!

I forgot to take a picture after I had sewed all the way around so just imagine that the next 3 pictures show my seams for sewing the top and bottom pieces of fabric together!

You are now going to miter the corners.  Lay one of the corners flat so that it looks similar to the picture above.  

Bring the two sides of the "bunny ears" together forming a point.  Adjust the blanket bottom and top by pulling them together at the top and shaking a little so that the material is all hanging flat.  

Lay the pointed corner down and smooth it so that everything is flat.

Take your quilting ruler and put the edge of it on the fold with the side edge of the ruler running from the fold down to the beginning of the stitch line as shown and mark with a pencil or fabric marker.  Do this to all 4 corners.

Making sure that all the other layers of material are out of the way, sew a straight stitch line from the fold of one corner to the stitch line on top of the pencil marking you made.  Do this to all 4 corners.

Cut the excess off 1/4 inch away from your stitch line on all 4 corners.

Now find the 6 inch hole you left for turning, stick your hand in there and start turning!

It's going to look like this for a minute but I promise you are going to love how it looks turned right side out. Make sure to pay attention to the corners by pushing each one out.  If you need to, use a pin to pull the corners out so that you have nice sharp corners.  Well not really sharp, it is flannel!

Tada!  This is what it looks like almost finished.  Two more things to do.  First iron the whole thing flat.  Be careful to press the opening well so that when you are doing your top stitching, you catch both pieces and you can't see where the opening is!

Do a zigzag or decorative top stitch all the way around making sure to catch the top and binding pieces with your stitches. You are done!  

Isn't it so cute?  It was the easiest project to work on  and I had a great time making something for my little grandbabies! If you like to sew, give this one a try and I promise you will love it.  Really, it is sew easy to make, a monkey could do it!

Happy Sewing!