Tag Blanket!

When Aiden was little and sometimes to this day he still asks for his "Ravick" (his blanket).  It was a soft blanket with a silk edge and a tag that was silky and folded in two.  He would rub the tag together and play with it until he fell asleep.  I even sewed the tag back onto the blanket when it fell off.  When we started looking at blankets for Lillian, Aiden checked to make sure they had the right tag.  It was the cutest thing.  The single layer tags were a no go, but the silky tags that were folded in two were acceptable :) This brought me to this project.  The creation of the tag blanket.

For this project you will need:

Material
Ribbon
Scissors
Pins
Sewing Machine
Measuring Tape

The amount of material and ribbons you will need depends on how large you want the blanket to be.  My blanket is 15X15 and I have ten ribbons on each side.  Try and get ribbons that are various colors, sizes and textures.

First: Cut your material to the size you would like.  I have a cotton front with a fleece backing.  At first I was going to pin the ribbons directly in between the two pieces, sew it inside out and turn it right side out like a pillow BUT I decided to make a ribbon border.  You could do it either way. The above picture is what it would look like with the ribbon border.


Next: Cut your ribbon into pieces.  I cut my ribbon into four inch strips and separated them by color.  This just made things easier when pinning them to the fabric.  If you are going to use the pillow method for your blanket you need to put both pieces of fabric facing each other.  If you are going to use a ribbon you can pin the ribbons in between two pieces of ribbon.  The ribbon I used for the edge is two inches wide.

The photo below shows how I pinned the ribbon in between the two fabrics.  I tried to evenly space the ribbons apart, I did not measure.  I folded the ribbon in half so that the loop would stick out and simply pinned them.  I do not have pictures of the pinning of the ribbon border but it's the same process.


The photo on the below shows how the ribbons should look once sewn into the fabric.  You can see the loops which should keep baby entertained.  I sewed over each ribbon three times (forward, back, and forward again) to insure that the ribbons do not come loose.  Loose ribbons could be a choking hazard which is not good!

Once you pin the ribbons on all sides sew around the edges leaving a tiny opening, carefully turn the blanket right side out through the hole.  Once turned, sew the hole together.

If using ribbon strategically slide the ribbon border over the edge of the blanket material and sew into place.

My opinion 15X15 is slightly bigger than I expected.  I think a 10X10 blanky would be plenty big.  Overall I think this was a success and would make a cute baby shower gift for friends or a fun piece to keep baby occupied.  I hope Lillian enjoys her tags as much as her brother did.

Update: This evening 9/27 I made two tag blankets 8X8 that are perfect size for little hands!!

 The top I used an elephant print corduroy type of material, one with fleece backing and the other I used a piece of black satin.

I did not use a ribbon edge on these and they turned out really nice.  I used the pillow method, turned them right side out, and then stitched along the entire border.  This gives the edge a finished look and reinforces the ribbons even more.