Ribbon Blanket

Making a Ribbon Blanket, otherwise know as a "Tag Blanket," is a great, quick gift for a newborn baby. I usually do one layer of flannel and another of fleece but you could do any kind of fabric you like. I have found that I make so many of these that it is economical to buy rolls of different colours of ribbon, to keep on hand, rather than buying individual by-the-yard ribbon.

For this blanket I cut a square of flannel 18 x 18" and a square of cream fleece 18 x 18". I cut 16 pieces of ribbons, each 5" long. You could make the blanket whatever size you want, this is a great place to use up scraps.

Hint: Make sure to pre-wash your flannel, it shrinks a ton.
Lay out the fleece square, right side up, and pin on the ribbons by folding them in half, with wrong sides together, and pinning the raw edges in line with the fleece raw edge.
Lay the flannel square, right side down, onto the fleece and pin around. Sew all the way around with a straight stitch and a 1/4" seam allowance. Leave a hole to turn the blanket right side out.
After sewing, trim all the corners, turn the blanket right side out and remove all the pins. Fold under the fabric from the opening and pin it. Top-stitch all the way around, close to the edge, thereby closing the hole. Top-stitching also acts to reinforce the ribbons.
I like to top-stitch again 3/4" in just to add a nice finish and to prevent the blanket from trying to turn itself inside out in the wash.