White: Serged Chenille Blanket

Blankets are more than just a winter staple…

We use them for picnics at the park. For laying out under the stars. For staking out our spot on the grass to watch fireworks on the Fourth of July.

So, for Color Your Summer this year, I decided to make a white…

I copied this technique from Sabra who sewed up serged pintucks for an amazingly cool looking pillow. I thought it would be a fun texture for a blanket as well. Looks kind of like a chenille texture doesn’t it?

I decided to use fleece for the softness and comfort factors…which stretched a bit as I serged. So the lines curve and wave a bit. Still, it did create a very cool texture, I think I will try repeating in future projects.

Speaking of cool, doesn’t Natalie look adorably “cool” in her sunglasses? Ha ha…The sun was kind of bright so I wanted to protect her eyes. They are a bit too big and she kept shaking them off, but I tried.

She needs a bonnet don’t you think? Me too…it’s coming soon. 🙂

Alright. Let’s make a blanket, shall we?

Materials:

TWO – 1 2/3 yard cuts of fleece
Serger
Contrasting serger thread
Washable fabric pencil/marker
Quilting ruler

Note: Before we begin, be aware that the fleece stretches. It is a type of knit fabric after all. Because of this, it can be tricky to keep everything perfectly even and square. Just do the best you can, and it will come out fine in the end. Increasing your stitch length, using a walking foot (which I don’t have but I know can be helpful), pinning carefully can all help you out.

Take the top layer that you want to serge and use a washable fabric pencil to mark diagonal 45 degree angled lines. I spaced mine about 2 inches apart.

A quilting ruler/rotary mat ruler is very helpful with this.

Now use those lines as guidelines to serge pin-tucks. Simply fold the fabric on the line and serge right on the edge of the fold.

When you’re done, the square of fleece turns into a bit of a rhombus.

Trim down the sides.

Then fold into fourths and trim again to get an even square. The rotary cutter can’t handle the thickness. It’s best to use  your mat and ruler as a guideline and cut with scissors.

Now we’re going to make a mitered cornered blanket. My friend Tori has a great tutorial on it here.

I’m going to show you how to do it here as well…

Flip your fleece squares, so right sides are facing.

Measure with a ruler to get the top serged piece as close to center as possible.

I found that an 8 inch border of gray was about right.

Slide the top fleece over to one side of your second piece of fleece. Make sure it is still horizontally centered.

Pin and sew.

Repeat for the opposite side.

Now do the same for the top and bottom edges.

For the last edge be sure to leave a space for you to turn the blanket right side out.

I marked this space with double pins.

Don’t turn it right side out just yet.

See these corners?

Sew and trim at a 90 degree angle to the corner of the blanket top.

Now it’s time to turn it right side out.

Take some time to shift the blanket around to get the sides to be even again. The fleece stretches so this can be tricky.

Once you get the blanket how you want it. Pin around the sides.

Take care to tuck the open, unsewn edge under and then over the top of the gray border.

Sew one line close to the edge of the white blanket top and then one close to the edge of the gray border.

I used a straight stitch but any stitch should do.

Now lay it out and enjoy!

The serged lines add texture but are still soft enough to lay on. Perfect!

Let’s bring on the picnic…

Thanks for reading! 🙂

Be sure to stop by Kojodesigns for another wonderful white blanket project and white polka dot walls!