Fleece Blankets with Small Ties: Tutorial

I bought some fleece with traffic signs on it when I was at Jo-Anns sale.  I bought it to make blankets for someone else...but then when I got it home, I started thinking about how much Little Brother would LOVE something out of it...so he's got something in progress that hopefully I can show you later.  I was pleasantly surprised that there was still enough to make a blanket for a smaller child. 

I didn't want want to lose any of what was left to fringe though, and I had some scraps left over from what I made for Little Brother.  Little Brother's birthparents gave him a fleece blankets with little ties tied into it rather than fringe on the blanket itself and the knots are small enough, they're not bumpy when he plays on it. 

Since he loves his blanket so much, I decided to do the same thing with this traffic sign blanket that's going to a child on the giving tree at Firecracker's school. 

I straightened up all the edges...which I generally dread with large pieces of fabric, especially if they have any give to them.  This time, though, I thought of laying the cutting mat on top to give me a really long straight edge and I was able to see how crooked it was. 

Then, I folded the blanket over about and inch.

Then I used the marks on my cutting mat to measure, and every inch along it, I cut two little slits. 

If I were to do it again, I'd probably just cut the slits every 2 inches instead of every inch, but it looks okay this way too.  I just did that on the two longer sides of the blanket. 

Then I used some of the scraps to cut strips about 3/8 inch side and about 4 inches long.  You can do this with the same fabric or with a coordinating color. 

I used paperclip that was unbent and then bent in half to help me pull the strips through the slits.

Then I tied them each in a square knot. 

And that's it!  I think it turned out really cute and will be going with some cars and other toys to a little two year old boy...who requested a cozy blanket and some cars.

Be sure to check out how to make a braided-look edge to a fleece blanket by scrolling down to my next post or clicking here.

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