Patchwork Blanket

Get comfy guys, this is going to be a long one...

I spent the second week of my Easter holiday making a patchwork blanket! I'm pretty surprised that it all worked and hasn't fallen apart as this is a pretty big project and I didn't do too much research beforehand.

The first step is, of course, to cut out all the squares. I decided on 7cm squares and cut a few pieces of paper to that size to use as templates. I wanted there to be a colour theme and used a great piece of fabric featuring parrots as a starting point. It's the bottom left one there and has green, blue, turquoise and purple in it, so I found other fabrics in my stash that matched those colours.

Once I'd started cutting out squares I decided to draw out a plan so I'd know exactly how many of each colour I'd need. I needed the plan as I wanted the squares to make a pattern. I don't have it in me to just do it randomly, everything has to be symmetrical, though this did mean extra work for me.

I laid out the squares in the pattern and then grouped them into strips.

I sewed the squares into strips and ironed down the seams. Then I sewed the strips together and my blanket started taking shape. There are a few parts where the squares don't quite align but they're not obvious unless you look closely so I'm happy.

Once the patchwork was complete I had to work on the back. I bought a roll of wadding which I laid on the back of the patchwork and cut to size.

I'd bought a cheap fleece in duck egg blue to go on the back, on top of the wadding. As you can see the project got a bit trickier as the blanket got bigger as it only just fit in the space between our sofa and our tv.

I joined the three layers together by sewing edge pieces all the way round. Luckily I had enough purple fabric to make the edges. Things got a little bit wonky here but for a first attempt I think I did pretty well.

Because of the wadding and the fleece this blanket is super warm and cosy, and I love the colours.

I've still got some wadding left so maybe I'll make another patchwork blanket. I'll have to wait for the next school holidays as it is pretty time consuming. Maybe I'll even attempt English paper piecing for the next one!