Ruffled Baby Blanket and Matching Tag Blanket

This will soon be your new go to gift for new moms. My mom taught me how to make this ruffle blanket and it is amazing! It feels wonderful and looks really expensive. Every time Ada and I go out with one people comment and want to know where we bought it! As for the tag blanket, I just kind of made up the "pattern" for it, they are super quick and easy, plus Ada loves hers!

Watch the video below, or keep reading for the full tutorial. This is my first video, so please be kind :)

 Materials: 
1 yard cute printed fabric
1 yard minky (if you're going to make 2 sets, get 1 1/4 yard)
1-1 1/4 yard silky fabric for ruffle
2 coordinating spools of ribbon (or 36" of each)

Cut out your fabrics:
Printed fabric: a 30"x30" square and a piece about 10"x15" for the tag blanket.
Minky: a 30"x30" square and a piece about 10"x15" for the tag blanket.
Ruffle fabric: For a larger ruffle, cut 4 strips 8" wide. For a smaller ruffle, cut 4 strips 6" wide.
Ribbon: Cut eight 4" long strips from each ribbon (you should end with 16 total).

The Ruffle Blanket 
Step 1: The ruffle is the hardest part of the entire project, but it's really not that bad, just push through and you'll be super impressed with yourself at the end! So you just should have cut your strips. I like to make the larger ruffle for girly blankets and the smaller ruffle for boy blankets.

Stack your strips like so with all the folded ends at the bottom and the loose ends at the top. Take the top piece and pull it off the the side like in the picture. You're going to pull this top piece and fold it around the bottom so that it comes back to meet with the loose ends, but it is now on the bottom.

Take your loose ends, two at a time and sew them together. You should end with four pairs of sewn ends, and together they've formed a large ring. Trim off the excess up to 1/4 away from the seam.

Step 2: With the wrong side facing up, fold the bottom edge up to the top edge and pin together along the length of the fabric ring.

Using a basting stitch (a 5 stitch length on your machine) go around the entire pinned edge 1/4" away from the edge. When you come close to your starting point, stop about 1/4" away and do not back stitch.

Step 3: Tie your top strings together and pull on your bottom strings to gather the fabric into a pretty ruffle. We want the ruffle to fit perfectly around the edge of out 30"x30" square, so check it periodically by folding it into fourths and seeing how close you are to 30" long. Once you've gotten your ruffle the right length, tie your bottom two strings together.

 

Now you can take your cotton fabric right side up and pin the ruffle to it. Make sure that your raw edges of the ruffle match up with the edge of the fabric so that ruffle is going in toward the center of the blanket. Now sew the ruffle in place.

Step 4: Once you've sewn the ruffle in place, lay it out on a table and push all of the ruffles toward the middle of the blanket. Then take your square of minky and place it right side down on top of your cotton and ruffle. Pin everything together.

Step 5: Now it's time to sew it together. We're going to use a 1/4" seam and leave a 4"-5" opening for turning. This part can be tricky because the ruffle has a tendency to want to get caught in your seam.

To prevent this, you're going to stick your hand in between the layers to flatten out the ruffle and keep it in place. Do this around the entire blanket, fix the ruffle, then sew a little, fix the ruffle again, etc.

The corners can be especially tricky, be sure you push the ruffle out of the way for one edge, then when you get to the corner, adjust the ruffle by smushing up against the seam you just sewed.

Step 6: Turn your blanket right side out. Poke out your corners with something pokey and check your ruffle for any weird catches. If you need to use your seam ripper to free the catch and sew it up again. Once everything looks great hand stitch up the opening.

Topstitch with a 3/8" seam from the ruffle all the way around the blanket.

You're done, now snuggle up!

The Tag Blanket
Step 1: Cut eight 4" ribbon strips from two different ribbons so you have 16 total. Fold them in half to make little loops and sew the loose ends together with a  1/4" seam.

Step 2: Place the 10"x15" cotton piece right side up and place your ribbon loops evenly around the edges. I place five on the long sides and three on the short sides. Pin the ribbon loops around the edge so that the sewn edge matches up with the edge of the fabric and the loop end it going in toward the center.

Step 3: Lay the minky right side down on top of the pinned ribbon piece.

Pin it in place starting with the corners.

Step 4: Sew around the sandwich with a 1/4"-3/8" seam Make sure that the minky on bottom, this will prevent your minky from waving and stretching. Leave a 3"-4" opening for turning.

Turn your blanket right side out and poke out the corners with something pointy. Hand stitch up the opening.

Step 5: Top stitch around the blanket 1/4" away from the edges to give it a nice finished look and to anchor those ribbons in place!

Enjoy your ruffle baby blanket and matching tag blanket!