Quick and Easy Baby Gift (FAL #1)

My favorite go-to hand made baby gift recently has been a flannel receiving blanket.  They are quick, easy, inexpensive to make, cute and practical.  A can't lose gift!

I have had fabric ready for a blanket for my niece's new little girl for a while.  Actually, I had planned to gift the blanket at her baby shower last month, but it didn't get done.  There's really no excuse for that, though, because honestly, this is a project that can be completed in about an hour.

There's a tutorial out there in blog land which is very close to the process I use to make these, that calls it a 10-minute blanket.  I must be slow, because as quick as these are, I've never made one in 10 minutes.  Getting my two pieces of flannel to lie nicely together with no wrinkles takes me longer than that!

I also add a few details that aren't included in the version I linked to, above.


 I round my corners (using a bowl or plate as a template)

and that necessitates clipping which adds a whopping
thirty seconds right there!


I also add a few  of these little zig zag "bar tacks" through out the middle of the blanket.  It might not be completely necessary, but I feel like it helps the blanket maintain its shape in the wash, and not come out looking like a twisted mass of wet flannel sewn together at the edges.

And, I always add some sort of decorative stitch around the edge.  It just adds such a nice touch.

Flannel can be found in so many cute prints that its easy to make these blankets to match nursery or shower themes.  I use two one-yard cuts of flannel, which I almost always buy on sale, so they are also really economical to make and give. And because they are so quick, they are perfect for a lot of baby related situations.

For example, I once made a boy version AND a girl version and took them both to a gender reveal party. The mom-to-be got to keep the one that matched the inside of the cupcakes she was using to let us know what she was having.  I might have come up with that idea on the afternoon of the party while at WalMart shopping for ingredients for a pasta salad to take to the party.  I also might have cruised through the fabric department to pick up 4 yards in appropriate colors and a spool of ribbon that coordinated with both.  And, it's entirely possible that I also might have made my teenage daughter make the pasta salad while I whipped up the blankets!

I hope that the moms I've given these to find them to be useful.   They are a nice size,  perfect for swaddling,  and the double flannel makes them feel so much more substantial than the receiving blankets that come three or four in a pack at the store. I love it when I catch glimpses of my blankets being used and loved by babies in Facebook photos.  Makes me so happy!

This was one of my Quarter 2 FAL projects, and, yaaay! It's done!

Linking this up to Sew Cute Tuesday at Blossom Heart Quilts and Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.