OT recieving blanket help needed

I would... But serge the ends together first to stop it unravelling in the wash.

JO,

Kate's right or course. I've been making lots of baby things the last year or so and receiving blankets are one of my favorite to make. They are always so well "received". (One family member calls them "Judie blankets".) I make mine bigger than the tiny ones they're selling in stores lately. I use the full width of the flannel and make them to whatever the length of a yard is after washing and trimming to make it square. Or I get 1 1/4 yards to have enough yardage. Of course your measurements are different but I'm assuming your flannel is about the same width. Ours varies by about 4 or 5 inches here depending on the flannel. And I round the corners on these too.

Jo, another thing to think about is burp cloths from flannel. I make some that are two layers serged together and make them wide enough to cover my whole shoulder.

And even more is serging little washcloths. I think it's great to have plenty of little washcloths for babies, especially when they start eating solid food and feeding themselves. I serge together two layers of micro terry for these. The thinner terry works great for these. My youngest grand-daughter's first birthday was this past Saturday and a couple of the little guests needed a washcloth so they were each given one that I had made. The mothers asked my daughter where she got them and when she said I had made them they were very interested. So I made about 20 washcloths from some fabric I just happened to have on hand.

I also make all of our crib sheets if you're interested let me know and I will send more information.

Have fun,

Judie

All flannel is not created equal and you might as well see what it's going to do before you serge it. Better to remove spare fuzz and let it just go ahead and shrink some. So. Yes. Wash it. As to receiving blanket serging notes - You can get cute and run around the serged edge with the ---^--- stitch with the SM and make the edge pretty. You can press the serged edge under and topstitch with the SM making the edge quite sturdy. If you need/want to go really fast, you can round off the corners of the blanket and eliminate the need to deal with thread tails. A saucer is a good template for the curve. Save some flannel to make burp pads. They are good for self defense as well as providing baby with a nice clean place to rest those soft cheeks . . . or whatever. Polly

"Kate XXXXXX" <

I agree with Polly and Judie. I usually buy 1 1/4 yards, so I can make the blankets 42' square (or as large as possible). I always prewash, and I always round the corners....much easier. New moms tell me that the larger size is much better for "swaddling" the babies. I don't usually use the rolled hem either; just the 4 thread overlock stitch.

You don't need a serger at all. All you do is press under a hem of about ¼" and stitch it. Turn that one under and do it again. Totally mindless stitching and they last just forever. When you get pretty good at it, you can snip out a tiny V at the corners so they're not bulky before you do the 2nd round. When you get really good, you can set that SM on a fancy stitch for the

2nd trip. Pivoting the corners with a fancy stitch is a little tricky because the bulk will want to bog you down. That's when you tell the SM that 'you' are in charge and turn the handwheel stitch by stitch if necessary. Doesn't matter if your first few aren't perfect. Baby won't care; they just need heaps of clean and soft. Polly

Three step zigzag.

If the flannel is a bit lightweight or napped on only one side, you can make them double. Stitch a line diagonally between the corners to hold the two layers together.

Julia > Ok new to this serger thing. Do you wash the flannel before serging? >

Agreed! I didn't even know what a receiving blanket was for ages, it's just not a term used in the UK. We seem to have managed quite well without them, I've never found myself thinking wouldn't it be useful to have something bigger than a burp cloth, but not as big as other blankets and sheets we are using.

We were given a flannel blanket in the NICU, I presume it must have been donated, it's about 42" the edges have been serged and then someone has used the loops that creates to crochet an edging, it's gorgeous.

Anne

When I used my sewing machine I wouldn't fold anything under. I would just zig zag twice around. The first time I would use a big zig zag and the second time around I would use a small zig zag. It doesn't look as nice as a serged edge but no one ever complained. Actually not sure anyone even said anything. In fact I have some here that have went through 3 babies, and two puppies and they are still in great shape. My babies were pukers so they got bleached and washed A LOT! In fact I didn't want to use them for the puppies because they were so nice. But then I figured it was better then spending money on new for puppies.

Thanx to everyone for the advice. Take Care Joanna

Hi Joanna,

Yes, I was it as flannel can shrink. I made bibs, blankets, and burp cloths almost entirely on my serger a few months back for a baby shower. For the blanket, I used YLI thread in the loopers and matching color serger thread in the needles and set the machine to a

4-thread overlock. I adjusted with settings on some test pieces until I got the stitch I liked. Here's a pic of the blanket:

One thing I would recommend is to cut as close as you can to the edge of the project so your serger knives don't have to trim as much. Flannel makes a lot of fuzz!

-Irene

Oh wow, Irene. You just dusted me in the dirt. Mine aren't anything but utility compared to that. Hot dog and wow. Atta girl. Way to go. Polly

That is beautiful, Irene.

I totally agree about the fuzz flannel produces. I clean my knives and blow the lint out of my serger every 15 or 20 minutes when I serge flannel (or any other really fuzzy stuff). I'm hoping my serger knives will start lasting longer now that I know they need to be kept as clean as possible.

I did just get some new knives from a place called

There was a problem with part of my order (I ordered a manual and didn't like receiving a poorly stapled copy) and they cheerfully refunded my money. I didn't even have to ask and they didn't make me return the manual. Some of the best customer service I've had in a long time and they do have very reasonable prices and reasonable shipping charges. I'm not connected to them other than being a new and happy customer. I can't remember the initials for that. NAYY? anyway, I plan to order some needles and other odds and ends from them soon.

Judie

Well. I'll declare. Never crossed my little mind that corduroy would make a fine receiving blanket but of course it would. Now might be a really good time to find a bargain buy on corduroy. Thank you Michelle. Polly

Not a term I'd heard before either, in fact I googled it to see what they were. Found they were just what I used a flannel cot sheet for.

When my daughter was born 40 years ago, we 'swaddled' in the uk! She was in a smaller cradle sort of cot at the beginning, so the sheets were smaller than cot size. I see from Google that you can now buy all sorts of swaddling cloths, so they are still used here, but just not called receiving blankets. Then they were just a rather utilitarian item.

Sally at the Seaside ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~uk

Anne Rogers wrote:

When DD was born ( well when she finally got out of ICU) we used 'bunny rugs' to swaddle. I first heard of recieving blankets here on RCTQ.

Dee in Oz

I bought a blanket made of 2 layers of cotton thermal knit attached by a crocheted edging from a local Amish shop. It's very soft & lightweight.

Jane in frozen NE Ohio