Thursday, January 15, 2009

No-Sew Polar Fleece Throw


This Christmas, I decided to make each of my sons a polar fleece throw. They have always liked polar fleece, and I think it reminds them of their baby blankets.

A few years ago, I had watched one of my students at Mesa College building a no-sew throw so I called her to get the basics. She gave me info and directed me to do a google search of the web (using the keywords "no sew fleece blanket). Sure enough, I found lots of information.

This project is very simple, requires no sewing skills, and can be completed in just a few hours.


Materials:
  • Polar Fleece (two colors). Each piece should be at least 60 inches long.
  • Scissors or Rotary Cutter and Mat
  • A almost-gone bar of soap, or other marking tool
  • Quilting Ruler or other type of ruler





Steps
  1. Cut two identical pieces of polar fleece, measuring the width of the fabric by your desired length. Mine measured approximately 54 inches wide by 72 inches long. You may want to consider the desired length of your fringe prior to cutting these pieces, as proportions should be considered.
  2. Lay the fabrics, wrong sides together. Pin in a few places to hold the layers in place.
  3. If you have not already, determine the length and width of your fringe, and with this knowledge, cut a square of this determined dimension out of each corner of the throw. I used a five-inch deep fringe, cut every inch.
  4. Using soap (or other marking device), draw a guideline in from each side of the throw, measuring the depth of the fringe.


The following few steps are most easily done, one side at a time.
  1. Using a ruler as a guide, cut your one-inch fringe (from the edge to your marking line) up the side of the throw. You can either use scissors or a rotary blade as your cutting device. I used a quilting mat because it served two purposes; one to measure the width of each fringe, and second, to protect my table.
  2. Knot the two layers of a fringe strip together. Experiment with knotting techniques on scrap pieces of polar fleece to decide how you want to knot the layers together. I used a form of square knot.
  3. As you complete one side, ensure that the two layers still lay flat. Re-pin and adjust as necessary and proceed to the next side.

That’s it!


2 comments:

Cindy said...

Cautionary note on these! If you have a cat, the ties come undone! We couldn't figure out what was happening to ours until we found one of the cats pulling on the ties & undoing it!

Squishy Kuma said...

These are awesome. I had a holiday gift several years ago of a no-sew scarf made of fleece. It was very warm and soft to the touch.