No-Sweat summer Sewing Series : Magic Baby Blanket (PICTURES!)

This is a Magic baby blanket class I took at Sewvac Ltd.
It was super easy to make! 🙂 I was so excited to make it for my babies, and yes I’m talking about my kitties!
It’s taken me some time to edit and just get around to posting this, so I’m going to jump right in!

I got to class late and didn’t get time to take pictures of the materials before we got started, but all I needed was two pieces of fabric: the main top fabric (32″ squared) and a back/border fabric (42″ squared).
So the backing is ten inches wider than the top, I find my centers on all sides, place the fabric right sides together and pin. We actually pinned from the center of each side out, and because the backing was wider , we had to be careful with the excess fabric for now.
Pinning up to the corners, leaving about an inch to mark the sewing corner to make perfect mitered corners. 🙂

After pinning, we marked a half inch square on each corner to leave for sewing the mitered corners. Linda Jones is such an incredible teacher! I love her classes! I guess you can say I’m a teachers pet.. Hehe 🙂
We then marked a 4 inch opening in the middle of one of the sides to, later, turn the blanket right side out.

After sewing, with a quarter inch seam allowance, all around the edges, it’s to the ironing board. Linda helped me press my seams to the (dark fabric) borders, just to get that crisp straight edge. 🙂

Aligning my corners, Linda showed us how to properly mark the corners to get perfect mitered corners. Super easy!! After sewing my corners, I cut the excess fabric and turn right side out.

With my 4inch opening, I simply did a stitch in the ditch all around my blanket. The magic baby blanket Linda made actually had two lines of zig zag stitches, one on the main top fabric and another an inch into the border. As I was deciding how many lines to stitch on my blanket, thinking aloud I say ” I think two lines will be just fine for my babies”. Linda jokes ” most people BABY-proof their things, and Diana KITTY proofs hers!” 🙂 I’m always thinking about my babies!

My magic baby blanket was a hit! 🙂 the babies love it and, to this day, hangs on a dresser near a kitty bed!

Have you made a magic baby blanket? I’d never seen anything like this construction method for a blanket before, so I was super excited to take the class.
I hope I can continue to take classes and learn more about sewing and quilting!

Thanks for reading and don’t forget about my Labor Day GIVEAWAY! Go enter for a chance to win a soft picture book and plus toy panel OR a Mini charm scrapbook paper pad! 🙂