Adventures in the Bluegrass - Braided Tie Baby Blanket

Hello Friends!

Today's post is all about this braided tie baby blanket that I made for my friend :) She is having her first child, can't believe I am at the age where my friends are having babies! Ah! Anyway, I made this tie blanket for her baby shower, it's a boy btw.

I went home for the weekend (and by home, I mean to visit my family. I live about 3 hours south of "home"). Before I left, I received a baby shower invitation and the idea of making a baby blanket popped into my head.



This is actually the first EVER tie blanket that I have made. If you haven't seen a tie blanket before it looks like the below

The above is the traditional tie blanket. I made something similar but it's braided instead of tied. Confused? I'll show you don't worry!!

So you start off with two pieces of felt, about 1 yard of each. Since I was making a baby blanket, I did a piece with super cute animals and the other side was a dotted felt. I went with neutral colors.

Okay next you place the two pieces of felt onto top of each other. The 'bad' side (or the side you don't want to be seen) of both fabrics should be butted against each other. I pin around the blanket before I move on to the next part.

Next, I cut out a 2 x 2 inch square from each of the four corners. Make sure you are cutting BOTH fabrics at the same time. If not, they will not be even and it will make your life so much harder. Next I start cutting my 'tabs' which are going to be what I braid to keep the blanket together. I pick one side and start cutting a (* x 2) inch 'tab'. To keep everything the same, I cut a piece of cardboard of the size I want and use that as template.

I do this down one side, then I go back and cut the middle of the tab which will be how I braid the tabs together. To do this, I fold the tab in half and cut. The cut that I make is maybe 1/2 in - 1 in long. Basically I just snip the felt in the middle. It is important to note here, that how I braid the felt is by threading one tab through the next, so the cut in the tab needs to be big enough to thread the other felt piece through but not too big or else it won't hold. (You can fold the tab of felt to get through the hole of the second tab of felt)

Once you have done this on all four sides, it is time to start braiding! You can start anywhere. I choose to start in the middle of one side. Now it is time to braid.

You are going to start with the bottom and feed it through the slit in the top tab. Once you have pulled it through, you are going to take the former bottom tab (this tab should now be on top) and you are going to feed it through the top tab next. If you are right handed, you are going to go right. If you are left handed, you are going to go left. It is easier to do this if you have two different colors of fabric, that way you can keep it separate.

You will continue to do this all around the blanket, feeding bottom through top and on and on. When you get to the end, all you have to do is tie the two ends together. You can leave them out or tuck the ends into the blanket. You won't be able to see where the blanket ends/begins.

Below is my finished blanket. I had the blanket embroidered with the baby's name, but I chose not to show it since it's my friends kid and I'm not sure she wants his name everywhere. Below is what it would look like (this is one of mine). I have his name on the gray part of the blanket in the fox orange. Obviously it doesn't say 'sugar and spice and everything nice'. Mine was made by my mom and the backside is of eeyore, my favorite Winnie the Pooh character.

 

What do you think? How do you make your tie blanket? Let me know in the comments below :)

xoxo Allison