How to Make a No-Sew Throw Blanket
What you will need: Two pieces of fleece fabric (3 yards each), rotary cutter, scissors, measuring tape (Optional: Extra fleece to create appliqué, sewing machine, exacto knife, painter’s tape)
At any fabric store, you will find rows upon rows of fleece fabric bolts in all colors and designs. Choose two that fit the style of your home, or represent your favorite team, and create an easy no-sew throw blanket to accent any living area or bedroom. Of course, there is always the chance (or likelihood, in my case) that these countless options won’t quite fit what you are looking for, but you can customize this throw even further by creating and attaching your own appliqués. For the blanket shown throughout this post, I used two different fleece designs with similar stretch, and sewed a homemade University of Wisconsin logo to one side for my favorite Badger. Follow the steps below to make your own no-sew, no tie fleece blanket and a custom fleece logo should you wish to add that as well!
To begin, I cut a piece of fleece from each bolt, trimming the sides with a rotary cutter to create clean edges while also maximizing the width of the blanket. For reference, the blanket used in these instructions measures approximately 60″ x 80″, the size of a queen mattress.
Once I cut both pieces of fleece, I created a Wisconsin Badger logo that I sewed to the solid red side of the blanket. Refer to the bottom of this post for instructions on how to make your own fleece appliqué! After attaching this logo, I made sure the fleece pieces were perfectly matched (right sides facing out) and began to create fringe for the blanket. I first cut 4″x4″ squares out of each corner, and proceeded to create fringe pieces that were 4″ long and 1.5″ wide, along each side of the blanket. To speed up this process, I placed a piece of blue painter’s tape in a parallel straight line 4″ from each edge of the blanket, and cut through both layers of fleece at once with a rotary cutter.
As I cut sections of fringe, I created slits through both pieces of fabric in the middle of each 1.5″ piece, at the very top, with an exacto knife. I would recommend creating very small horizontal slits, just wide enough to pull the fabric through, as this will keep your blanket from coming undone and create a uniform border around one side of your blanket, as shown in the picture below. Note that the border is created with whichever fleece pattern is on the bottom, in this case the solid red fleece.
As I created these slits, I looped both layers of fleece through the the top, as shown below, and pulled the fleece gently through each slit to create a border around the edge. It actually helped to complete the blanket in sections as it kept the fabric pieces lined up (and I was also far too antsy to wait until everything was cut to see how it would look).
Before I knew it, I had created a custom throw blanket, perfect for fall weather. Create blankets in different patterns and designs for different rooms of the house or for gifts, and if you are feeling really ambitious, follow these instructions to make matching pillows as well!
BADGER LOGO
To create the logo shown above, I used extra red fleece (NOT the piece I had cut for the blanket) and a yard of both black and white fleece. To start, I printed and traced the logo I wanted to recreate on a fresh sheet of paper, and measured the length and width at multiple points of the logo to create accurate proportions. I multiplied these dimensions by four to create a logo that was approximately 2′ x 2′, and carefully cut out the design from the red fleece with a rotary cutter.
Once I had cut the red ‘W’, I placed it on top of the black fleece to cut the same shape, and then pinned them so that the black fleece created a shadow effect. I pinned these to the white background to make the logo pop, and started to sew! Because fleece is stretchy, I used a lot of pins to make sure the logo kept its shape. As shown below, I sewed very close to the edge around the red ‘W’ to create a clean outline, and then sewed the visible black sections to the white background. I also made sure to change the thread color in my sewing machine with each section to match the logo color.
Once the logo was finished, I attached it to my pre-cut piece of red fleece fabric by sewing along the edge of the white background. Create an appliqué of any shape or size to customize and add texture to your next throw blanket!
