faux quilt trick

I am not a quilter. I do not quilt. let's just make that clear right now.

However, I love quilts!!! I love how homemade they look and interesting they can be. Someday I want to learn how to quilt. I have taught myself most of what I know about sewing, but it would be nice to learn from someone else how to quilt since it seems a LOT more complicated. Whoever that person is...well, I just don't know yet.

I decided to make blankets as Christmas presents for the kids. So I got the fabric, laid it out, and realized that they didn't match up to the size I wanted. I was in a dilemma...but I came up with a solution! Buy more fabric and cut it out to use as a border! The problem was that I hate measuring. That's probably the whole reason I don't quilt- it requires a LOT of measuring. But for this project it was worth it.

For Charlotte's blanket, the minkee (that's the other softer side of the blanket) was much bigger than the printed fabric, so I went back to the craft store to get the turquoise houndstooth. I live 1 mile away from the most awesome craft store ever, and last week they had their big SALE DAY. It was like Black Friday for crafters. The line of people wrapped around the outside of the store, but I went and endured it to get my fabric at a discount. it was awesome. not really.

To make the border, I cut out strips that met the ends of the minkee, then just folded one side over and sewed it the the other border piece. It LOOKS quilt-y, but it's my cheater way of getting what I wanted the blanket to look like. 

If you fold it over just right, the diagonal line points perfectly at the corner.

I love the contrast of the pink and blue. Very bright colors!

It looks so good over the crib! (though it needs some ironing...)

 Sort of unintentionally, it matches the crib bumpers to a tee. I guess I'm just drawn to the pink minkee fabric. It looks good, feels good, and gives the blanket a heavy comforting weight. It's expensive but there are always sales and coupons coming around.

For Talmage's blanket, I was really stumped. I wanted to make it cute but also something he would like. Truth is he doesn't care about cute. He likes robots and cars. I tried to find a cute robot or cars fabric, but nothing met my picky standards. Then I saw this very unique world map fabric at Joanns. Normally I wouldn't think twice about it because it's not cute whatsoever. But it's educational! and that is much more important :)

I love the green gingham pattern around the ocean. It really makes the colors pop.

 I used the same method to make the border. It's as easy as folding and sewing the fold!

Now I can teach Talmage all the countries in Africa! whoooooooooo... I am such a smart mommy.

 I put a lot of fluffy batting in this one, so I used some embroidery floss to hold it all together. Believe it or not tying all those little knots took the most time.

 When I picked up the world map fabric, right beside it was a bolt with a map of the United States! How perfect! So I used that for the back with a bright yellow border. I wanted this blanket to be as colorful as possible. Colors= Fun...right?

As you can see, the lines don't match up nicely on this side. I somehow miscalculated and cut the strips too short, plus the short sides are wider than the long sides, so it doesn't make a perfect square.

 

 One thing I love about the US side are all the little pictures on the states. A great way to help remember the different attributes across the country!

I hope this little stinker likes it!