2.17.2011

B Is For Bicycle Blanket


When I sold this blanket in my Etsy shop last week, I was actually sad to see it go because I LOVE the fabric that it is made with. And well I couldn't resist buying some more so that I could make The Bubb a blanket too. For better or for worse I decided to make his blanket a little more complex. I wanted to use the complimenting fabrics with the gray bicycles on the front and decided to go with a sorta quilty feel with some stripes. On the back I decided to applique, B is for bicycles. AND to make it more complicated I wanted the blanket to have piping.

So first things first, I gathered my supplies.


I figured out how wide of strips I wanted, pinned them together, and sewed them down.




I also added my label :)


Now my front piece is finished.


Next was the back and I decided that I wanted to applique "b is for bicycle" on it using the same fabric as on the front. So I first drew letters (backwards) onto lite steam-a-steam paper (used for applique), then figured out what fabric I wanted each letter to be, ironed the letters to the back of the fabric, and then cut them out. And by doing all of that it created a bunch of "sticky" letters. I must say that cutting the letters out might be one of the my favorite things.





Now for placement. I thought about doing the text centered on the back of the blanket, but decided to go for something more interesting and right justified it in the corner.


Now here is where it gets tricky. Sooooooo you're not supposed to iron minky (it removes the dots). But I needed to get those letters stuck on to applique them. So I put pins in the letters to hold them in place, then ironed the back of the fabric through a washcloth. I didn't apply any pressure or move the iron, just sorta heated up the fabric. And that allowed the letters to stick. I won't lie, it probably only got them to stick about 85%, but that was enough for me.


Next I removed the pins, cause the letters are now stuck on. And top stitched all of them to the blanket.


You don't need to top stitch them, but for me it really helps me out. Next I used my zig zag stitch to finish the letters off using my satin foot.



The back looks pretty cool too.


So now it was time to put the blanket together. I had never used piping before, so I decided to just use the store kind (won't be doing that again). Since my blanket is large, I needed two packages. So I had to attach one package of piping to the other, wasn't actually that hard. So I pinned the piping to the fabric and sewed it down with my zipper foot.



Then I put the right sides of the blanket together and sewed it closed, leaving a hole to turn the blanket.


After turning and sewing up the turn hole, the blanket was done. I must say that the piping looks pretty good on blankets.  But it takes a lot of time, well me a lot of time, to install.


The blanket all finished and The Bubb inspecting my handiwork before Dad went off to work this morning.





4 comments:

  1. Love the blanket! 2 questions: 1- why did you use a Satin foot? and 2- how do you keep the minky from stretching out/becoming larger than your other piece while you're sewing? I always end up with the minky stretched out when I sew! Hope you don't mind all the questions I'm leaving on your posts- I'm eager to learn!

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  2. Hi Audrey! No problem, I'd actually respond by email but I can't find yours on your blog :) I used a satin foot because it is easier to see the stitches when doing zigzag and it has (well mine at least) has a little red triangle so you can tell where to line the edge of the fabric up with. With regards to the minky (I had this problem too at first), but now I use A LOT of pins to keep it from shifting (like every inch or closer) and that has worked for me. Hopefully it will work for you!

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  3. Thanks for the advice! Yeah... I'm working on figuring out blog design, but I will be sure to add a contact info page! It's audreyhaut(at)gmail(dot)com :)

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  4. you both are sweet, congs for your good jobs, i love your mix and match style and had lots of inspiration, start to choose some of fabric from your shop while looking your blankets.

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Hi! I love getting comments :) Please email me if you have a specific question and I'll get back to you. Thanks :)

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