Oh Boy!

In honor of baby boy King, I sought out to make a soft & cozy baby blanket...

In my mind, I thought a blanket would be really simple to make....sew a couple of pieces of material together, line with a satin ribbon and presto snapo, your done! 

Presto snapo did not happen when I made the blanket. More like rip, tear, and re-sew again and again.

I have come to the conclusion that each new sewing project that I attempt, I learn a lot about sewing...all from the mistakes I make along the way.

Here is what I learned when making the blanket:

1.) Take note of the fabrics you are buying and how they are going to piece together...do they have a lot of stretch to them? Will they slide around a lot? Will the fuzzy pieces get caught in your sewing machine over and over again? Try to be fabrics that have a similar pull to them or at least be aware of the difference of how the fabrics pull when sewing and take into consideration when pinning and sewing.

2.) The actual sewing of the two pieces of fabric inside out...not a bad task and very simple. I learned to go slow on this part and make sure not to get the fuzz caught in the machine.

3.) When you come to putting the satin binding around the perimeter of the blanket, have an assistant (thank you AJ), help you pull the fabric tightly as you madly pin around the side you are working on. If it is stretched while you pin, it make the sewing part a lot easier. Also, keeping a tight even tension while you feed it through the sewing machine and while it comes out seemed to help as well.

4.) Take one side at a time. Line up the satin binding with the blanket, pin. sew. sew corner. repeat for next side.

4.) Then we come to the corners. Take them slow and make sure you have your seam ripper in hand. That is all I can say about that!

However in the end, Baby King isn't going to care if the corners aren't perfect or if my top stitch dips a bit in spots. All he is going to care about is that he has a soft place to roll around on, spit up on, and fall asleep with. And although this blanket will surely not win any mediocre talent awards, it will for sure allow for a stain, a cuddle, and an occasional nap.