How to Sew Baby Receiving Blankets

DIY Baby Receiving Blankets are great easy gifts for any new mom in your life!

If you are a new sewer I promise you can sew these baby receiving blankets! It is a super easy way to make something homemade for the new mamas in your life or for yourself! All you need is 2 metres of receiving material, matching thread, pins, measuring tape, a sewing machine and an iron!

I have been making these blankets for years now. Every time I make them I fall in love again with how awesome they are! Most of the time when you buy baby receiving blankets from the store they are small and pretty thin which is not really what you want from an everyday use blanket. These blankets are thick, cozy, and universal. You can lay them on the ground for a diaper change, or snuggle them up in it for a chilly walk.

To be honest every time I make one of these blankets for family or friends it makes me want one for myself! They are always so warm and cozy. I feel like I want to be wrapped up into a burrito and cuddle up on the couch.

Materials needed for a Homemade Baby Blankets!

Sewing Machine
2 Metres of receiving blanket material
Matching thread
Pins
Fabric Scissors
Iron
Metre Stick (optional)

When heading out to the store to grab your fabric there are a few things to keep in mind! The fabric you are looking for is a think light flannel feeling. Make sure to get them to cut 2 metres for you. Normally when they cut mine they will over cut just a bit to give room for error! thats okay, you can easily fix that at home! Another thing to consider is the pattern. Babies are messy, going with a super light pattern could end up with a lot stains that are visible ( there’s going to be stains no mater what haha, but a light colour fabric is going to make it very visible!).

Picking thread is pretty easy, but my two tips are to make sure it is 100% cotton to ensure that it will hold up. The other tip is to match the colour of the fabric to the thread colour. So say the material is pink with flowers on it. I would suggest going with a thread colour that matches the pink blanket.

How to Sew Baby Receiving Blankets

STEP 1

Alright first step you are going to need to wash the fabric and dry it! This will preshrink it as well as just ensure that it is fully clean and ready to use! I will normally wash the fabric on its own to make sure any dye that may bleed doesn’t get on anything. While the fabric drying turn on your iron to get it warm

STEP 2

Once the fabric is fully dry you are going to iron all of the fabric. Make sure to pay close attention to parts that have been dried in place. For me I always find this to be on the edges of the fabric. One side will curl in harshly and I have to go over it continuously with the iron to smooth it out. It is important to make sure you iron the fabric to ensure it is the exact size (length and width) before sewing. If there are wrinkles everywhere it may make it tricky to sew as well as it could impact the size of the blanket, throwing off the measurements.

STEP 3

Now that your fabric is ironed you are going to lay it out fully, flat, with the pattern faced down. So when you are looking at the fabric it is the backside.

STEP 4

Pick up the fabric and fold it in half, pattern facing inwards. Lay it back down flat ( I like to lay it on the ground to make it easier to pin and measure).

fabric folded in half inside out, sewing scissors on top, pins, and sewing bag with supplies in side

STEP 5

After folding the fabric in half if the edges are not lining up this is where you are going to want to measure and cut. Sometimes when you buy the fabric the sales person cutting can make one edge a bit wonky. When cutting your edges make sure you measure to ensure that the longer sides are the same length and the shorter sides are the same length! I like using a metre stick for this, at the moment I don’t have one so I use a fabric measuring tape when needed. This is also a great time to cut of any extra threads or pilling form the fabric!

STEP 6

Time to pin! Make sure the blanket is folded in half, pattern on the inside (you don’t want to be able to see the pattern). Line the edges up making sure everything is even. Take the time to smooth out the fabric ensuring there are no ripples or bumps throughout. Start pinning the edges together all the way around the blanket. You are going to leave one spot open from pinning though. This is where you will be able to flip the blanket back around. I normally make the opening at corner and about the size of my hand to make it super easy to turn the blanket around.

STEP 7

Now time to sew! Sew the edge of the blanket all the way around making sure you stop at the opening.

STEP 8

Time to flip the blanket right way round. Stick your hand in the hole and begin to slowly pull out the fabric. Once all out take a pic and pull out the corners to make them pointy again.

STEP 9

Time to sew up the hole. Fold the raw edges inside the blanket and line up the sides. When sewing this up keep the stitch thin and as high up the edge it can go to make it as little noticeable as possible. I don’t normally use pins to hold this in place but it is a great tool if you are worried it won’t stay the way you want it to.

STEP 10

Cut of any extra threads and wash and iron the blanket! Voila you are done!

Optional

You can sew a large shape in the middle of the blanket to keep it from separating in the washing machine. If you are really trying to step out of your comfort zone you could also try sewing in the Childs name!