Swaddling

I know how much babies like to be swaddled and it seems like there are a ton of specialty blankets to make it easier.  They do make it easier, but they are kind of pricey and they fall into the category of not being used long enough to justify the price, for me anyway.  I also know that I can use a regular blanket, gasp, I know!  But now I don’t have to use a plain old receiving blanket, I can use my custom made swaddling blankets.  I found this wonderful tutorial on PrudentBaby for making a stylish and inexpensive swaddling blankets.  I was also excited to find out that Joann Fabrics has flannel on sale right now for $1.49 a yard!  I made up four, two for me to try out and two to put away for gifts, it seems like I always need a last minute baby gift.  They went together really fast, I did all of them in a day, the first one took the longest and since they are all very different I felt like I spent a lot of time winding bobbins with different colors of thread and rethreading my machine, I did use up the ends of three odd colors I had laying around, bonus.  I don’t have a serger (I don’t have the space to keep one) and I didn’t want to turn and stitch down the edges of the large triangle piece, so I used my over-lock stitch, it makes three straight stitches and then a zigzag, it’s probably the stitch I use the most next to the straight stitch.  It finished the edges nicely and gives them a scalloped look.

I really like how they came out and I love that I don’t have to have pastel blankets, now I need some matching hats!  I definitely need some orange yarn, I guess I need to make a craft store run, again.