Chenille Backed Blanket Tutorial

This is a great first project for the begining sewer, and makes a great baby gift.

1. You need to start off with 1 piece of chenille cut 36″x36″ and 1 piece of cotton or flannel cut to 36″x36″. For this tutorial, my chenille is actually 2 colors of chenille sewn together and cut to the correct size.

2. Line up the pieces, RIGHT sides together and pin to secure around the outside. Sew with a 1/2″ seam around the entire outside of the square, leaving an 8″ hole in the middle of a side for turning.

The hole for turning:

3. Snip the corners. Cut near, but not on the threads making up the corner.

4. Turn the blanket right side out through the hole. Iron a nice, crisp crease into the edges.

5. Fold over the raw edges of the open hole ~1/2″, iron and pin the openning closed. Set aside.

6. Select a decorative stitch to stitch around the outside of the blanket (a zigzag stitch looks nice). Get some scraps of similar fabric layers to practice the stitch, adjusting length and width until you are satisfied with how it looks. This is my practice piece:

7. Sew with your decorative stitch all the way around the outside of the blanket, closing up the hole as you go.

8. Snip threads and YOU’RE DONE!

Close up of the decorative stitching:

9. Take a nice picture for your blog.

All rolled up and ready for gifting!

Other options:

Instead of chenille on one side, try flannel for both sides.

Try using pre-peiced cotton on one side for a blanket that looks like a quilt.

Tips:

If using a sheet, you may need to anchor the sheet and chenille together in the center. This would be the final step of the process. Some sheets tend to be polished so that they don’t grip the chenille as well as regular cotton fabrics.

See previous post about using a walking foot when sewing with chenille.

21 Responses to “Chenille Backed Blanket Tutorial”

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1 capello July 23, 2006 at 6:21 pm

Pretty picture for your blog, indeed!

Cute blanket!
2 Nanny Louise July 23, 2006 at 11:18 pm

I love this. Oh thank you. My husband just gave me a brand new sewing machine for my birthday this past friday. It is my first one and I cant wait to get started on all the possible crafting I could do. This will be my first project. I will start it the first week of August. I cant wait. Thank you so much.
Great tutorial!
Gorgeous blanket!
Lovely blog!
3 Cindi July 24, 2006 at 6:58 am

You did a great tutorial. Thank you.
4 Randi July 24, 2006 at 8:21 am

Hi Linda, Very cute blanket–it looks so soft! Do you mind if I link this for my craft post that I do at the HomeschoolBlogger Company Porch? Also, can I use the picture of the finished product? Just let me know!

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HSBCompanyBlog/

Randi
5 Pam in Colorado July 24, 2006 at 9:59 am

Very nicely done. I can follow these instructions! Now to get some chenile. Oh, wait, I must finish painting and cleaning up first. Then get the house on the market.

In the meantime I will look for my chenile and be ready!!!

Thanks so much.
6 Lauri July 24, 2006 at 10:55 am

I have that same sheet! lol! I buy sheets A LOT for fabric, and couldn’t pass that one up!

The blanket is beautiful!
7 Cathy July 24, 2006 at 11:01 am

Great tutorial! And the blanket is very cute.
8 mijk July 24, 2006 at 1:29 pm

I did something similar with a piece of pull on one side so I had a washable dipaer-changing pad on one side and a cozy blanket the other side.. I coud have used your tutorial at that time though.. It is well used but a bit odd.
9 lera July 24, 2006 at 2:26 pm

thanks for sharing. i’ve been wanting to make something new for my baby. i have chenille and some of that dotted minky stuff, which i fear will be hard to sew. i just need to bite the bullet.

(and thanks for your chenille sewing tips, too!)
10 Shelly July 24, 2006 at 5:11 pm

Hi !

Thanks for this one. I saw your previous post with your favorite patchwork material and thought…I wonder how she did that? I dug in my stash and found some great chenille like material - a little lower profile and some matching flannel. I’m hoping to put them together this week and take a stunning photo for my own blog.

Just in time for baby boy due next month!!!

Blessings,
Shelly
11 Selena July 25, 2006 at 12:17 am

I love the color choices in this tutorial. Green and pink are so delicious together. Makes me think of ice cream. I really enjoyed finding your blog tonight.
12 quenna July 29, 2006 at 9:15 am

Thanks for the tutorial! One question…if I used two pieces of flannel (not ready for chenille yet) and I placed some of that cotton batting (Warm and natural?), do I need to quilt it so it can be washed?
13 Melissa December 29, 2006 at 5:59 pm

I tried putting a chenille backing on a baby quilt I made one of my nieces a year ago but it didn’t turn out very nicely but my sil kept it still. Now my sil is expecting another baby and I hope to use your tips and tutorial to put together a really nice keepsake quilt this time for her and the new baby. Thanks!
14 Linda February 5, 2007 at 8:30 pm

These are great! I have made them as gifts before. Minky works great for the back side, too, and is oh so soft!
15 Judi Brayman April 18, 2007 at 2:07 pm

Hi there
I’m just curious about blogging. How does one set up a blog site? Which one are you on?
Thank you. Keep up the interesting work and site!
Judi
16 Cheri (I love chenille blankets) May 27, 2007 at 11:12 am

Hi,

The blanket you made looks as nice as some of the ones we have. Very nice job you make it look possible to do it yourself.
17 Laura Gleason August 22, 2007 at 10:43 am

I make these blankets as well, it was so helpful to learn some tips form someone else. Your “lesson:)” was really well written, and great pics. I use minky.
18 Nancy - The Unlikely Homesteader February 27, 2008 at 5:14 am

I finally got around to trying it and it was so much fun! Thanks for posting the tutorial. I’m just a beginner and *even I* could follow along with your instructions!