How to Sew a Baby Blanket By Recycling a Muslin Swaddle

It's February now, and our new daughter has arrived - welcome to the family, Talia!

With baby on the way, I used my winter break to make a baby blanket for her.

Picking the fabric

I had planned to use up some green and blue minky that I had left over from the stuffed dragon I made for Rami, so I knew I wanted to use that for one side.

For the other side, I considered what I could use, and looked through my scraps and leftovers to see if there were any interesting fabrics I could use. I started to think I would just run over to Joann Fabrics and pick something up, when I remembered I have probably 10+ swaddles that I've gotten as gifts after three births.

I picked out a very cute white muslin swaddle with trees on it, and small blue hearts. I thought the hearts would perfectly match the blue minky. I wasn't sure whether the muslin would really "work" as a baby blanket material, but I was willing to try! I had nothing to lose, really, because I was using scraps for the backing, and I was ready to see what would happen.

Don't have muslin fabric lying around? Here are some ideas:

Cutting the the back of the blanket

I started by cutting out the minky into diagonal stripes. I wanted to alternate the green and blue fabric, and I also knew that I had just enough to make the back of the blanket, so I had to be somewhat careful about my measurements and design. I even had to sew together a couple of the "stripes" from two pieces of fabric, as I got down to smaller and smaller pieces of fabric. I figured a baby will love a blanket regardless of any imperfections.

I used my serger to connect the pieces. Pretty easy so far!

Mitering the blanket corners

Next, I had to do some research. I knew I wanted the blanket edges to be folded over, in a style I learned was called a mitered corner. I had never attempted a mitered corner, so I wanted to have at least some idea of how to do it. I found a few examples of how to do these corners:

The instructions were easy enough, and it didn't take me long to get the technique down.

I had used my serger to straighten the sides out, as all the diagonal pieces had ended up being very uneven, so unfortunately I ended up with a serger line that still shows. But I figured it could be a decorative touch. The corners were much easier than I imagined they would. With sewing (and really, with lots of things in life), I often assume certain techniques will be too hard for me, or will cause too much stress or work, so I just don't try them in the first place. I was glad I pushed myself to learn something new this time though!

Fitting and measuring the muslin

Next, I measured my muslin swaddle so that it would fit just snuggly inside the minky corners. (I actually used two swaddles, to make it slightly thicker and more comfortable). I cut the swaddle to size and used my regular Singer machine to sew it into the minky. I sewed two straight lines, one around the inner edge and one around the outer edge. That was it!

This was such an easy and fun project. I actually might use some of the other swaddles to make baby blankets for friends who are having babies as well. I know Talia has enjoyed her blanket so far, and we've gotten compliments from others as well!