Crocheted Blanket: No Hemstitching Needed!!

I absolutely love making large receiving blankets for friends who are having babies.

They take forever to make, but so worth it. And oh so practical (which I love)

I'm too lazy (and cheap) to go get my blankets hemstitched, but with this tutorial, you will never need to hemstitch your receiving blankets again because I came up with a cute and easy solution... 

okay okay, my MOM came up with a cute an easy solution. She's smarter than me anyways. 

Crocheted Receiving Blanket Tutorial

Materials:

1 1/2 yards of flannel (fun print)

1 1/2 yards of flannel (corresponding print)

Sewing Machine, pins, scissors etc.
# 10 cotton string
Small Crochet Hook (size 1)

Step 1: Cut and Sew

Grab both pieces of flannel, and cut two identical large squares. Mine ended up 42x42, but yours can be bigger or smaller, depending on the width of your fabric. It's easiest when you use a rotary blade, but you can get away with scissors. Line up both pieces of fabric, right sides together, and pin it in place, and sew with a 1/4 inch seam. If you want a rounded edge, line a can up with the corners of the fabric, and trace with a pencil. That'll give you a good idea on where you need to sew. Once you've finished, trim, and cut notches into the rounded corners (makes it sit nice and flat once you've turned it right side out). Then turn it!

Step 2: Blanket Stitching

Before blanket stitching it, you're gonna need to iron all the edges nice and flat. Set your blanket stitch to the largest settings, and sew around the entire perimeter of the blanket. This will also stitch up the hole you left to flip the blanket. Grab your needle and thread, and use that machine stitching as a guideline (see pictures below for example). For instructions on how to create a blanket stitch, go HERE

Step 3: Crochet Edge.

Alright. Here's where we get a little complicated. There are TWO rounds or crocheting. 

Round 1: 2 single crochets on each blanket stitch. Don't make tight stitches or your blanket will bunch up weird  Sometimes I do 3 stitches around the corners. Totally up to you.

Round 2: 4 half double crochets, skip stitch, single crochet, repeat. This is gonna create a really cute shell stitch. At the end, tie off, and hide the ends of your string by weaving them into your crocheted shells. 

Yeah..this is where most of my crocheting occurs...My husband HATES when I put my feet on the dashboard... but how else am I supposed to crochet?!

And that's it! Now you have the perfect baby shower gift, without having to get it hemstitched. 

Now you too can waste hours and hours of your life like the rest of us crazy crocheters