DIY Silky Baby Blanket

My daughter has one favorite blanket that she insists on sleeping with every night, but after two years it's a little stained and run-down.  What she seems to love about it is the soft coziness on one side and cool silkiness on the other.  It was a fancy, generous gift (thanks Stella!) so instead of buying a new one, I was hoping to be able to replace it by making one myself.  Did I succeed?  Let's see what Scarlet thinks...

It's a simple two sided blanket, but adding satin binding is a little tricky, learn how to sew a Silky Baby Blanket after the jump...

DIY Silky Baby Blanket with Mitered Corners

1. Pre-wash and cut your fabrics.  I used a cute owl fleece I found at JoAnne's and some pink poly-satin.  I cut my blanket to 43"X36" which is sort of random but it worked.  Pin them together wrong-sides facing:

2.  Sew all the way around with a straight stitch.  At the corners leave your needle in the fabric, lift the presser foot, pivot your fabric and continue sewing:

3.  Serge your edges or cut with pinking shears:

4.  Now we want to attach our Satin Blanket Binding.  First unfold it from the package and iron it so it's nice and flat.  Notice that one side is slightly shorter then the other.  The short side is the one you want on top as you sew:

Then fold one side in (like you're making a paper airplane):

Then the other so you have a nice point, and iron it:

5.  Now pin that to the middle of one side of your blanket, and pin the binding to the edge of that side:

Now don't sew the triangle down, just sew the binding on at the base all the way to the corner with a zig zag stitch (2.5 stitch length and 3.5 width worked for me).

6.  Now you want to make a mitered corner.  Here's how you do it.  Open the binding up and turn the corner, laying one side under the blanket with your blanket to the edge.  Sometimes it helps to pin the back of the binding to the blanket since it's so silky it can slip.

Fold the binding back over the blanket:

Create a nice sharp corner and pin in place.  You want to be sure your corner lines up on both sides so you can catch it all with one row of stitches:

Sew the corner seam with a zig zag stitch.  Then sew the binding onto the rest of that blanket side with a zig zag stitch.  FYI, because you are sewing with the slightly shorter side on top you will catch the bottom of the binding as well.  Just be careful as you pin to keep it centered and flat.  Sew all the way to the edge again and repeat this step until you have sewed on all four sides.  When you reach your starting point, cut your binding just long enough to slip under the original triangle you made and sew that down (i forget to take a picture sorry).

Hope and pray your daughter finds it as alluring as her favorite blanky.  Rejoice when you realize she DOES!  And it cost so much less then a store-bought version!

Prudent Price:

One Yard Owl Fleece from JoAnne's (with some to spare) $7.99

One Yard Poly Satin On Sale $2.99

One Package 2 inch satin blanket binding: $5.23

Total: $16.21