Christmas gifts on a Budget: No Sew Blanket

FIRST UP:  Something soft warm and cuddly.  Can be used as a tent, cape, eggshell, slide for the stairs, reading cave, fort, an island in the middle of boiling lava, but otherwise known as a blanket ;)

WHAT YOU NEED:

2 yards of fleece print fabric

1 pair of fabric scissors
1 good movie

COST: (depends on the deal you get on the fabric)  But for me $8 ($4 for fabric $4 for shipping)


Okay so i know the idea of a no sew fleece blanket is nothing new.  And i am also aware that fleece used to be found only in prints that you would find on grandma's old holiday sweaters.  I once didn't want to touch fleece with a ten foot pole.  But seeing my two older kids LOVING their fleece blankets has made me readdress this fluffy, character printed fabrick once again.  And i have found that there are actually some super cute prints out there, and it really is so easy.  My older two kids recieved these good sized blankets when they were born, and i put them up for later use because they seemed so big.  I pulled them down a while ago, and they haven't been able to part with them.  It is so fun to see all there many uses for them.  So, now my youngest, who is a year and a half, is jealous.  She pulls out here baby fleece blankeys and tries to get someone to tie it like a cape , but it's just doesn't work as well as these wonderfully knobby, large, easy to cuddle in blankets. So this is one thing on her christmas list. 

I had a friend tip me off to cheap fabric cuts at etsy.com.  So i checked there before heading to JoAnns.  Just type Fleece into the search box, only make sure to change the area you are searching in to supplies, up popped tons of cute fleece patterns and some of them were so cheap.  I got mine for only $2 a yard!  Of course then you have to pay for shipping, but i thought it all evened out and i could do it without trekking into the New England cold.

HERE'S HOW I DID IT:

Put in your movie.  Find a comfortable seat.  Take your fabric and trim off any salvages that are unsightly. Cut slits all around the edges that are 2 - 2 1/2 inches deep, and a 1/4 inch apart.  {When you get to the corners you will end up loosing a little square of fabric to keep it from looking funny}  Then start tying each fringe in a knot on itself, like you are tying the end of a balloon.  Enjoy the rest of your movie--That's it!  Mine took me less than an hour.