DIY your own throw for Fall || tutorial

This tutorial could not be any easier, but the trickiest part is finding the right material to make your blanket.  Months ago I stumbled upon this fabric.  I loved it from a distance, but I was shocked when I held it in my hand how much it felt and looked liked a blanket.  More specifically, it reminded me of the blanket my mom gave to me back in the 90's.  It has a bunch of cats and flowers on it, but I cannot bear to part with it because it came from my mom.

I asked the lady who owned the fabric what it was. She said, "I dunno."  Very helpful.  Not only could she not tell me the manufacturer, but she could not tell me how to care for my fabric.   Clearly, I couldn't see a chair upholstered in this stuff nor a quilt made from it.    But I bought the fabric anyways because I loved the print and wanted to turn it into a blanket.  I was just keeping my fingers crossed that my idea would actually work.  And it did.




Let's get cracking.

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Items needed to make your own throw

• A minimum of a yard and a half of fabric.   You will want your fabric to be at least 54" in width (from selvage to selvage).  When you purchase a yard and a half, you will have a piece of fabric measuring 54" x 54".  You may want to buy a little extra, since we will be cutting some of it off.  Remember to buy material that resembles and feels like a blanket.  My material is woven, thick, and flexible.

• Sewing machine with a zigzag capability and basic sewing supplies.  If you have serger, you may want to use one of those as well, but it isn't necessary if your sewing machine can zigzag.
• Scissors, ruler or rotary cutter and mat

1.  You will need to make your fabric straight on two of the sides.  Sometimes the person who cuts fabric doesn't cut straight across, which makes it look wonky.   We don't want a wonky blanket now, do we?  I did not need to cut along my selvage since it looked it so nice, so I only had to cut along the crosswise grain, which is where the person will cut your fabric when you buy it.

source

Did I mention this blanket is reversible?!

I laid out my fabric on my mat and used my rotary cutter to cut it.  You may want to mark your fabric with chalk or a disappearing marker if you are new to cutting fabric.

I cut off as little as possible but enough to make it straight.  I think I lost around two inches on either side.

 If your selvage doesn't have a nice fringe on it like mine, you may or may not want to pull the threads off to create a fringe.  You could also use this technique for the sides as well, if you want fringe on all four sides.  I chose to keep fringe on just the two sides.

2.  Once your sides have been cut, it's time to sew!  Experiment on a piece of scrap to determine the size of zigzag you want.  I chose a smaller zigzag by decreasing my stitch length and width length.  I would avoid a really large zigzag, but you can use any size you want.  Experiment with different colors of thread too, if you want a small pop of color on your blanket.  I tried out a few colors like blue and red, but I chose to keep it simple by using a dark grey.

Sew along the crosswise grain zigzagging the edges.  This keeps the fabric from fraying.  Repeat this on the other side as well.

When you have finished, you will end up with edges that look like this.  Don't worry about those loose threads!  We'll cut them off later.

3.  Now it's time to zigzag along the fringed edge.  This part can be a little tricky, but it's not too difficult.  I'd recommend test sewing on a scrap first.  You will want your needle to go over the edge, but not over the edge of the fringe.  Sounds confusing huh?  Check out the photo.  Make sure the feet on your sewing foot do not lift up your fringe pieces either and sew them down.  If a few of them get caught and sewn down, it's not the end of the world.  Just move forward and pay more closely attention.  Repeat for the other side.

This is what it will look like when you are done.

4.  Trim the loose threads on the crosswise grains, but be very careful to not cut your stitches!  You now have a beautiful blanket!

How I cared for my blanket:

Like I mentioned above, no information could be given to me about this fabric.  I washed my blanket after sewing it.  I washed it in cold water on gentle cycle and used Woolite.  I dried the blanket on the delicate cycle with low heat.  The zigzagged edges stayed intact.  The blanket came out great!   In fact, it came out better than before.  It was softer and still very comfortable!

Owen approves!

Can I just say styling a blanket sucks?  It does.

*I have a few yards of this fabric available, if you are interested in purchasing any.  It is reversible.  You may contact me using my Email Me banner on the left-hand side of this blog.