EASY Ragged Baby Blanket Tutorial

Today we have the how to for the easiest baby blanket ever….a ragged baby blanket tutorial!

Alright…maybe it’s not the easiest baby blanket ever…but it is pretty simple to make.  Seriously, if you can sew (and cut) semi straight lines you can make this blanket.  (And have it turn out practically perfect!)

We put this tutorial together as a part of a series that Melanie from The Crafty Cupboard and Lisa from Maybe She Made It are putting on called:

It is to celebrate the upcoming arrivals of both of their babies.  (Isn’t that fun???)  I love babies…they are just magic.  Pure and simple: magic.  So we were so excited to be a part of this fun series…and I wanted to share something that I’ve made for my own babies and for baby gifts numerous time.

Now, like I said earlier this is an easy blanket to put together but it also washes well and my kids have loved them.  (Especially because it seems like the more you wash them the softer they get.)  And….this was one of the first sewing projects that I tackled on my own…and I’m telling you if you are new to sewing, this is a project for you!

Let’s get started!

Here’s what you will need:

84 squares of flannel that are 6″x 6″  (42 for the front and 42 for the back)

And here’s how to put it together:

#1.  Lay out the top of your blanket (6 squares across and 7 squares down…like in the photograph below)

*You can lay out the back of your quilt now as well….I’ve made so many of these that I don’t lay the back out anymore but if you’d like to lay the back out as well, now would be the time.  And I’d recommend it if this is the first one you’ve made!

#2.  Make a flannel sandwich…like this:  Square one front side face up, square one back side face down, square two back side face up and square two front side face down.  (Like in the photograph below.)  Another way to say that would be to take the front and back side squares from your first square and put them together with the wrong sides touching.  Then do the same thing to the front and back squares of your second square.  Then take those and put them together with the back sides together.  (Either way, the photo describes it better than my words do.)

*It sounds confusing…but after you do it one time…it’s easy.

#2.  When you have your front, back, back, front pieces all stacked up sew them together using a 1/4 to a 1/2 inch seam allowance.  (Like shown in the photograph below.)

*This is what the front side should look like.  And the photograph below will show you what the back side should look like.

#3.  Now you are going to connect all your blocks together in the same way.  I work through the blanket row by row…I connect all the blocks in row one and then move to row two and so on until all the rows are finished.  (As shown in the photograph below.)

#4.  Once all the rows are complete I put row one on top of row two (right sides together) and sew the rows together.  Then I will place row three on top of row two (right sides together) and sew.  I keep repeating this until all the rows are sewn together.  And your blanket is formed!

#5.  You just have one last sewing step to complete.  Sew a stitch around the entire perimeter of your blanket 1/4 to 1/2 inch in from the edge.  (As shown in the photograph below.)

#6.  Now it’s time for clipping!  With your scissors clip all your seams (the perimeters of each individual block).  Clip about every 1/4 inch (or closer).  Just be cautious to clip up to your sewing stitches but NOT through them! 🙂

#7.  After you finish just wash, dry, fluff, and enjoy!

They really are great blankets to use and are one of those projects that helped convert me to sewing.

-liZ

PS:  Happy Aztec New Year!