The Flannel Receiving Blanket

This is one of my favorite gifts to give to first-time mothers.  As many of you know, babies seems to make frequent messes.  A new baby can go through several blankets and several outfits a day.  I love to give a bundle of these flannel blankets to new mothers: they are so soft and snuggly, you can make them in a wide variety of colors and prints, they are light (so they don't take much room), they are easy to wash, and they make great swaddlers.  Oh, and did I mention...I made these five in one afternoon?

I went to Joann's on Wednesday and it was my lucky day--all the snuggle flannel prints were on sale for 50% off!  Score!  (By the way, the sale is still on for another week)

So I bought all these cute prints.  I also love making these and using different stitches on the edge.  Each person who gets these gets a unique gift because I use different stitches and different fabrics each time.  I thought the triple stitch zig-zag went great with this heart argyle pattern.

I like how the diamonds in this stitch echoed the square design on this flannel.

I am always a sucker for a scallop edge.

This wave reminded me of the cycle the flower circles make in this flannel.

Who doesn't love hearts?  This was a big hit at the shower.

Materials (for 1 blanket)

• 1 yard each of coordinating flannel
• Scissors
• Bowl
• Pen/Marker (or rotary cutter and mat)
• Measuring tools (like a pattern board)
• Pins
• Sewing machine
• Coordinating thread
• Iron (optional)

Directions
***This pattern uses the envelope method just like the wedding blanket, and the softest blanket.***

1. Wash and dry fabric before beginning.  Flannel shrinks quite a bit, so you want to get that out of the way before you sew.  I iron the fabric before I begin because it is easier to work with.  The edges can get squishy when you wash and dry.
2. Cut your flannel pieces to 34" wide, and I keep them as long as the selvage widths (about 40").  If the two pieces were not the same original width, cut down to the smaller one.
3. Round your corners by either cutting around the bowl using the rotary cutter, or marking with pen/pencil and cutting with scissors.

4. Lay your two flannel pieces right side together, pin around, and sew around using 1" seam allowances.  I like to use larger seam allowances to allow for imprecise cutting (this saves me time).  I also want a larger seam allowance, so when I sew around the edge at the end, it catches the edges.  These blankets can get a lot of wear, and I don't want a seam ripping and all the fabric fraying.  Leave about a 4" gap to turn the blanket right side out.

5. Before you turn your blanket right side out, cut off some of the selvage on each corner (cut down to about 1/4").

6. Clip around the corner with the scissors (like we did on the flap of the school-time messenger bag).

7. Turn your blanket right side out, flatten the edges either with your finger, or the iron, and pin all around.  Be sure to get your gap edges to match up with the rest of the blanket edge.

8. Sew a decorative stitch (you could use a plain zig-zag, or a straight stitch if you don't have any decorative stitches, or try the twin needle) 1/4" from the edge all the way around.

We have so many pregnant friends right now, I am going to stock up on flannel, so I can whip some of these up for everyone.  I don't think you can ever have too many blankets.