Jenny shows us a new take on the original self binding baby blanket that makes this project easier than ever! (Watch the original tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqwdNqMZ8Ro ). Learn how to make this blanket with Shannon Cuddle Fabric.

Hi everybody, it’s Jenny from the MSQC. And I’ve got a great project for you today. Let’s take a look at this quilt behind me. Isn’t this fun? It’s made with Shannon’s cuddle fabric. And it’s just beautiful. You can see several other ones around the set. So this is an uptake on our old original self-binding baby blanket. This is a way to do it that’s even easier than that. I know when I travel all over there are so many people who say I’ve made a zillion of those. Well you’re going to want to make a zillion more because this makes it so much easier.

So the fun thing about this quilt is that you get to decide on the size and you can make it any you want. We’ve decided to use a 30 inch piece for our middle right here. And then we know we want a three inch borders so we add 30, 31, 32, 33 over here 34, 35, 36. So our middle square is 30 our outside square is going to be 36. So this is our outside square. I’ve done it just opposite of the one behind me so you can see both ways. And this should fit right in the center of this one pretty good on all sides. And it does. Now if I were doing a giant quilt, I would definitely want to do some basting spray or something like that to keep this in place. But for these little ones it’s easy.

So now we have to, I have to show you how we figure out these 45 inch corners. And this is where the easy part comes in. This is so much easier. So you’re going to want a square, any square ruler that has a 45 line on it. You’re going to line your 45 up with the edge of your fabric right here. Now we know that we want a three inch border so we’re going to go three inches and maybe a quarter of an inch for seaming just like that to make it a little bit bigger so that when we take our seam we don’t lose that. Now right here, this gives you the 45 inch cut so look at this. We’re going to do this, we’re going to do it to all four sides. So let’s go around and I’ll show you how this works again because this is, this is what makes it so easy. I love this. So we’re coming in here 3 ¼ inches and we’re making our cut. We’re cutting a 45. Now again, one more time. We’re going to line our 45 line up here in the middle along the edge of our fabric. So it is important that your block is square. And we’re just going to slide it along there. If we put our edge of our fabric on the 45 it’s going to give us that perfect cut. And lastly this one right here. Alright line that on the edge. There we go.

Alright now, now wait until you see this. This is so much fun. So now what we’re going to do is we’re going to take these pieces like this and we’re going to fold them together just like this. And we’re going to stitch right across there. That’s going to make our pocket. We’re going to do that on all four sides. So let’s go to the sewing machine. And I’m just going to slide this under here. And on, whenever I use cuddle fabric I like to use a, I just like to use a little bit wider seam allowance so I’m not quite at a quarter. I’m a little bit bigger. And you know, just because, just because. But that’s kind of personal preference. And I’m going to backstitch on this because I don’t want it to come out. And I’m just going to go to the next corner and where it’s straight across like this, I’m just folding it straight in half just like this. And then we’re going to go a sew it down. Right after that. We’re going to do this to all four sides. Alrighty. So once you have all your little corners sewn like this it makes these little pockets. And we are going to flip that right side out like this.

So we’re just taking, my fingers, I’m putting them in here and I’m just, I’m just turning this around and pushing the corner out with my thumb, just like that. Now we have this great little outer blanket like this.  Lay down all your sides and all we’ve got to do is take our middle and just slide it in there. So we’re just going to slide this in there just like this, see. Isn’t this so easy. So much fun. A much easier way, I think, to do this. Both ways work but this is much, much easier for me. Alright so we get it all nice and flat. We’re going to pull our border in. And then you want to go ahead and pin your border down so that you can stitch it. Because now all we have to do is topstitch this right around the outside.

Now I would suggest using some bigger pins with the head on them. These are those flower head pins. You know there’s all kinds of them. But on one of them I used little small headed pins. And seriously I had to hunt to find them. And you do not want to make these blankets and leave a pin in them. That would be terrible. So we’re just going to go ahead and pin this all the way around. And I kind of do one in the center and you know, kind of along, I mean just about every four inches or so I guess. And I’m just using my big pins here because I can see them. Oop, like I didn’t want to go in there. And make sure it stays nice and flat. That pin has had a life hasn’t it. Let me straighten that up right there. Alright we’re going to go across the top now. Pin in the corners. And then what I like to do when I’m ready to stitch down, I’m going to look for one of those fancy stitches that we have on our sewing machines that we rarely use. So you’re going to look for one of those stitches. And I’m actually going to use a zig zag just because it’s quick and easy. And one of the best things about using cuddle fabric is that’s it’s so forgiving. You will hardly even see this stitch when you’re done which makes it really nice. So isn’t that the easiest thing you’ve ever seen ever? I mean we just go around, pin it down and now we get to sew. And it’s so simple. We just, we’ve just simplified something that was simple to begin with.

So now we’re going to go over to the sewing machine and I’m going to find a stitch that, that I like here. And I’m going to go with a zig zag and I’m going to make it pretty wide and pretty long as well. I just want a nice big stitch on here because we just have to hold that on and zig zag it down. Now you can use, this is a great place again to use your fancy stitches. And so I’m just going to set my foot down here and we are going to go ahead and whoops I just lost a ruler. But we’re going to go ahead and just sew this down right here. And just do a zig zag. And one of the things that fun is that as we go along you will see, you’ll see that the stitch really gets hidden in all that fluff. Now I did one of these in flannel as well. It works very great. But of course there’s nothing as soft as the cuddle fabric. So then you’re just going to go ahead and sew all the way around. So to make sure your border lays nice and flat you want to make sure that you pin a lot with this fabric because it can slip a little bit and slide. And so you just want to make sure that you get those pins in there so it lays down and just slides along. Trying to keep this nice and flat so that you guys can see it as I go along here. So there you go. Just as quick as that sewing around. And you get this great little project.

So let me show you this one. This one is just the opposite. We used the soft in the middle and the fluffy on the outside just like this one back here. So cute. Let’s look at some of these ones we have around the set because we’ve got some beautiful ones. This uses the double gauze inside and it’s dandelions. And the cuddle on the outside. Look at this one. It has the sheep in the middle and then this furry sheep-like stuff. That’s going to going to be really forgiving. Even though these are just sewn flat on a sewing machine they just disappear. It just completely disappears. Over here we have some with the blue gauze and the blue dot on the back. And then this one with these cute little purple birds and the blue fluff on the back like the one we have here.
So this is really a super easy project . You can knock them out in like ten minutes. You can use any fabric. It’s just all up to you. And they just go together so quickly and easily. So we hope you enjoyed this tutorial on the even Easier Self Binding Baby Blanket from the MSQC.