How to Make a Picnic Blanket
Details
Details
Why not picnic in style this year with a custom, quilted picnic blanket? Picnic blankets are great to store in your car for kids sporting events, concerts, and, of course, picnics. Stow a picnic blanket on your boat for a nice place to sit on trips to shore! We’re going to show you how to make your own quilted picnic blanket and also include a tip for making sure it won’t blow away on a windy day.
There are many different styles of picnic blankets, and we’re going to outline one way to make one today, but you can customize your design to be exactly how you want it. To make our plush picnic blanket, we chose two outdoor fabrics, which will make the blanket durable and reversible. As added protection against the wind, we added grommets to the corner of the blanket that can be staked into the ground with golf tees or other stakes, so wind won’t disrupt your meal.
1. Decide which of your fabrics you want to wrap around the other. That will be your top fabric and the other will be the bottom during construction. Also determine the finished size you’d like your blanket to be. Ours is 47” x 64”.
2. Cut the bottom fabric and the batting to the desired finished size of the blanket. Measure and cut the top fabric to the finished size plus 2-3/4” on each side. This extra fabric will make the border.
3. Stack all the pieces so the top fabric is on the bottom, then the batting, and then the bottom fabric.
4. Run a row of basting tape along the edge of the larger piece of fabric.
5. Fold the fabric over the tape to create a small hem.
6. Baste along the hem and fold over the batting and smaller piece of fabric.
7. To create a mitered corner, pinch the fabric at the corner and fold the extra fabric to create a triangle. Fold the triangle of fabric under one side of the border so the border creates a 90-degree angle at the corner. Pin the corners in place.
8. Sew a row of stitches around the perimeter of the border about 1/8 inch away from the inside edge of the border.
9. Find the center location of each side of the blanket and mark it with a fabric marker.
10. Using a ruler, connect the center locations to form a large diamond. Run a row of stitches along the lines you traced to quilt a diamond in the blanket.
11. Measure out from each sewn line 6 inches on either side and draw a line. On the inside of the diamond, measure in 6 inches and create another diamond. Continue to measure and create lines and diamonds until you have your desired quilted design.
12. If desired, add a grommet to each of the four corners of your blanket to accommodate for stakes to windproof your blanket.
13. Have a picnic and enjoy your new blanket!
Where is your favorite picnic spot? Have you ever made a picnic blanket? Share your experiences and stories in the comments!