Giant baby blanket...

No silly, not a blanket for a giant baby (let's hope not anyway, for my friend's sake!), but that the blanket has turned out to be huge for the anticipated size of my friend's unborn baby boy... How can I get the message across...I think I can wrap it around me with no problem! Perhaps it's a good thing, as at least in theory, the baby would be able to keep using this for the years to come. 

Anyway, I was inspired by Jane's tutorial last week, and rushed straight to Fabricland to buy fabric for my own version of a baby blanket, for my friend's baby who is due next month. 

The main change I made was the material used. I bought the animal-print cotton of 180cm x 110cm, and also 180cm of some cotton flannel/brushed cotton (rather than fleece). I wanted the blanket to be 100% natural (I even used cotton thread), mainly because I still remember having a horrible allergic reaction to fleece when I was little. You never know how sensitive a newborn baby's skin might be, so I tried to keep it as natural as possible. 

The flannel is of course generally thinner than fleece, but I was really happy with how soft and fluffy it was. It did require a little bit of care and attention when handling it, as flannel tends to shrink a lot, and is rather stretchy when sewing. I did the following to make sure that it didn't misbehave too much:

• I prewashed it (to remove any chemicals), along with the printed cotton, on a 30 degree cycle, and then dried them on a very hot cycle. This is because flannel shrinks more when washed hot and dried cold (what a weird fabric!). 

• I pressed it after washing and drying with a hot iron, by simply placing the iron on portions of the fabric, without dragging along it.

• When sewing, I pinned the fabrics together with the flannel at the bottom, to prevent it stretching and the blanket losing shape. 

It was such a simple project (I whipped it up in one evening after work), and I was really happy with how cute and soft the result was!