In the past, I’ve shared a few of these Satin & Minky, Self-Binding Baby blankets. I shared this red and polka dot one, and this pink, gray, and white one. I’ve always had people ask me how I make them, and I have great news! I’m FINALLY sharing the tutorial today. They are pretty simple to make, they just aren’t extremely quick. This is my go-to baby gift for close family and friends. If you plan on making some of these, and see a sale on Minky, buy some! The price of these blankets can add up in a hurry if you by the minky at regular price.
The supplies you need are:
Minky (I buy enough that I can make the blanket square and as large as possible. The fabric is usually 60″ wide, so I get almost 2 yards.)
Flannel Backed Satin (The only place I’ve been able to find this is at JoAnn’s. Always take a swatch of the minky with you to match it. Make sure you get Flannel Backed or it will be a lot more difficult. Buy the same amount as the minky.)
Matching Thread
Sewing Machine
Pins
Cutting Mat & Ruler
Keep in mind as you are reading this, I am not a seamstress, but I love to sew. The way I sew these blankets may be different than how you would do it. If you have questions about this tutorial, or don’t understand something, please feel free to ask! Thanks!
Start by squaring up your Flannel Backed Satin. I like to fold mine into 4ths, so all the raw corners are together. Once square, I cut my corners. I cut 7 inches in from both sides, and cut at a diagonal. Once cut, you need to take each of those corners, and line them up with them selves and pin it. Sew each corner with a 1/4″ seam allowance, leaving the last 1/4″ unsewn.
Press your seams. Turn your satin, right side out and carefully iron each side and the corners. I like to try and get each side ironed straight to help when laying the minky on. I have a hard time getting them just right though. Once you have it all ironed, lay your satin out on a big flat surface. The only place I have big enough is my floor. Measure your square and see how big of a minky square you need to cut. I like to cut enough that it goes almost to the edges of the satin binding. Once the minky is cut, lay it on top of the satin. When you have the minky all straight, you can start to tuck it under the satin edges.
Carefully roll the satin under (creating the finished binding/edge) and pin it in place. The corners can be tricky to get just right. Sometimes I have a hard time with the satin wanting to move because it is slippery.
Once it is all pinned, you can start sewing the edges. I sew right on the edge of the satin. I haven’t found any great tricks yet to prevent getting some puckering in the satin. The satin like to stretch more than the minky, so I do end up with some puckers/tucks in the satin, but they aren’t too noticeable.
When you are finished the back should look like this.
And now you are all ready to tie you blanket up and give it to the new baby. Although, I’m not going to lie, I think one of these days, I may just have to make myself one of these! It would be so soft! 🙂
The finished size of these blankets, they way that I make them, is about 50″ square. They are nice because they are big enough that a baby doesn’t grow out of them for a few years. I have a 4 1/2 year old niece that I made one for when she was born, and she still loves it and uses it all the time. There are so many varieties of Minky fabric out there, you are sure to find a fun one to use. Happy Sewing, let me know if you have any questions.
I love self binding blankets! I’ve made blankets like this several times, but I have used minky on both sides. Love minky and all the cute prints they make now.
I would only like to add that you might want to say, to get a 60″ square, you must buy 1 2/3 yards of the 60″ fabric, instead of saying “almost 2 yards” since fabric can’t be bought that way. You can’t buy “almost”; it has to be measured in fractions of yards. Unless fabric stores are different where you live. Someone not experienced in sewing might want to try this as a simple project with straight seams and get confused about how much fabric they are buying. Although they could just buy 2 yards and who doesn’t like to have scraps leftover?
Also you might want to read here about the puckering on satin: http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/sewingclasses/board.pl?t=25886 Other sewists suggest cutting the fabric on the bias, using a finer needle, and using cotton thread vs. polyester which will stretch. Another site recommends using a throat plate on your machine with a small hole and pulling the fabric taut, but not stretching it, as you guide it through the machine.
These blankets are SO beautiful! THank you so much for sharing. I am quite the novice seamstress but I like to take a swing at things from time to time!
That blanket is gorgeous. I’m not much of a seamstress but I have tried my hand at sewing projects now and then. I’ll have to try making one for a grandchild in the future. Pinning!
I need to do this! It turned out beautiful!
What a pretty minky! I love the pattern and it turned out so great! Thanks for the tutorial!
That is a fabulous tutorial! I love to self-bind quilts and I really love your method, which I will be using next time! Thank you for sharing!
My sister in law just had a baby. This is looks like something I could totally pull off making!
I love to make minky/satin blankets as my babies have all clung to the blankets they have that are like this. I’ve worked with the flannel backed satin from Joanns a lot, and it can be tricky. Even different colors of it differ in how it slides/stays put. (ie. I love the red and yellow colors, but the aruba blue and brown colors slip all over the place for me.) I am going to use some of my scraps to try this method out and see how it goes. It seems like it would be hard to keep everything perfectly in place, but I think it would be worth a try it if it works as well as you say! Thanks for posting!
This blanket is SO pretty!! Would you mind telling me where you buy this minky fabric? Other places you find good minky deals? Thank you so much for this tutorial!
I think I got this minky from fabric.com. I don’t usually buy online, I have a store near me that has a great selection of minky, they just didn’t have exactly what I wanted when I made this one. 🙂
what is a minky?
is there a video of your method anywhere , if not, can you make one, please?
I want to make this for my new-born baby cousin. I am not too skilled in sewing, do you think I could pull it off?
It is all straight stitching, so it just depends on how comfortable you feel with doing that. 🙂 Good luck!
Can you go into more detail with the corners of the silk. I get the whole cutting at an angle, because most people are cutting it off after, However I don’t they the sewing the corners to each other.
Also is there a video somewhere maybe?i want to make a 30×40 size blanket how much fabric do I need to get you think, it’s not exactly square :/
Thanks for your help.
I love the simplicity of this self binding blanket. I have made many blankets with another method, however your way seems so much easier and accurate. I will definitely try it. I am a novice as well and afraid to work with minky fabrics, so I stick with flannels for now. Thanks for the great technique! Your work is beautiful.
It really is a fun pattern to use! I hope it works out well for you. Thanks for stopping by!
Has anyone made a little bigger throw? It was be longer though instead of square right? I’m a beginner but want a bigger throw.