New Little Blanket

Gotta show off this new blanket that I made. I've had the idea of doing a baby blanket with pennants and the verse "His banner over me is love" for a long time - I mean, what better verse to snuggle a baby up under?

Materials:
one yard of muslin
one yard of white minky
scraps of cotton fabric - six different patterns (for the pennants)
fabric paint and stiff paintbrush
fusible interfacing
white cotton fabric
embroidery floss in black, and four colors that match the cotton fabric scraps
temporary fabric glue or pins
thread to match the muslin
ruler

Equipment:
sewing machine
computer & printer
glass table or big window, or something that light can shine through for the light box

Here's how I did it:

1. Cut a piece of muslin 38 by 30 inches.

2. Cut out 12 pennants out of cotton fabric - two each of six different patterns. I made a template that's a triangle - 6 1/4 by 5 1/2 inches - to cut mine out.

3. Iron 1/4 inch under on all the edges of all the pennants, and arrange them in three rows on the muslin. Pin and machine-stitch them on.

4. For the letters, print out "His banner over me is" onto typing paper in a font you like, really large. Cut the words out, taping them to the back of the muslin so you can see them through the front. (Again, I'm back at that light-box magic.)

5. Using the taped-on words as a guide, paint the letters in fabric paint and a stiff brush.

6. Trace the letters in "love" onto fusible interfacing, and fuse them to white cotton fabric.

7. Cut them out, and pin or temporarily-fabric-glue them to the muslin. (I use Aleene's No-Sew Fabric Glue to hold stuff until I stitch it on - pinning it is too. . . well, dangerous.)

8. Using embroidery floss in colors that match the pennants, back-stitch an outline around all the letters.

9. Using a temporary pencil or pen, trace along where the string to hold the pennants up should go.

10. Use black embroidery floss to back-stitch the three lines.

11. Cut a piece of white minky fabric the same size as the muslin.

12. With right sides together, pin around the edge of the two fabrics, and machine-stitch together, leaving a gap along one of the sides to turn it (about six inches). Clip corners.

13. Turn blanket right-side out, pin, and stitch about 1/4 inch in from the sides, making sure to catch the open gap. (Mind the gap, as they say. You know, in England.) Yeay, you're done! That's it!

Or, even better, just head over to my Etsy shop and buy one. That's easier. :)