The idea for the blanket is that instead of going out to buy expensive quilting fabric, you simply use old jumpers and give them a new lease of life. I love to upcycle things if I can. The other thing that appealed was that it doesn't necessarily matter how perfectly neat you cut everything out. I have always been scared of trying out quilting so this seemed like the perfect first step.
I also called it the Ice Cream blanket because I think the colours together look like pastel ice cream colours and it will be perfect to use in the garden, on the beach or for a picnic. But will also be cosy and warm in winter and make me think of sunshine days. You can choose whatever colours you fancy!
My quilt is made up of 30 10in squares. I used 4 jumpers - 2 I found in charity shops and 2 I found on e-bay. You ideally need mens large or extra large wool jumpers, however as charity shops and e-bay are frequently getting more expensive I opted for a cheaper wool mix. It's not going to be a best fancy blanket but it will still be warm.
First of all you want to cut out a template for yourself out of cardboard. I used an old cereal box. Out of each jumper you want to cut out 8 squares. Three on the front, three on the back and two out of the arms (cut down the hem of the arm and open out. Then press each.
You then want to lay the squares out in a design that you like. I went for a simple diagonal layout.
You can see on this above picture that I have sewn together the bottom two rows.
It's so simple. You want to sew the squares together in strips, for example the bottom row yellow to green, and do the same for each strip above. Then sew the strips long edges together, right side facing.
In the above picture I am pinning together two long strips. It might help to press before you sew as the edges curled up on some of my jumper fabric.
Try to ensure when pinning and sewing that you join the seams as best as you can and flatten them out. This will create a neater finish.
Here is the front side of my ice cream blanket all sewn together. Unfortunately my squares aren't perfectly neat, but then again I think it adds to the character. That's what I am telling myself anyway!
So far this blanket has cost me under £10. All I need to do now is buy and attach a fleece backing and it will be finished. I'll show you that in part two of the tutorial!
Have you upcycled anything recently?
TTFN
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