Easy baby blanket binding

     I'm not sure if I should call this a cheater's way of piping or a cheater's way of binding. At any rate, I'm sure it is not the proper way of doing things. It works great though! I wanted to make a couple knit baby blankets. I like the stretch in them when trying to swaddle a wiggly baby, it seems to hold much better than cotton.  They are also warm without being hot.

     I picked up two prints I liked and then used a solid color from my stash as the back layer. I cut two 36 inch by 36 inch squares.

      I highly recommend that if you use two layers like this, you use knits with the same amount of stretch. For this first blanket I did not do that, and regretted it. That lighter pink was way more stretchy than the flowered top, and caused me all sorts of grief sewing it together.

      Next I cut long strips of one inch wide ribbing. I sewed them together to make one long strip, long enough to go around the entire blanket.

      I turned the blanket pieces right sides together, and sandwiched the ribbing folded in half in the middle. Make sure all the raw edges are together, four edges total.

      I zigzagged stitched all the way around leaving a four inch opening to turn the blanket right side out. My serger would have been easier to use, but it is still in the shop. The zigzag stitch worked fine.
     After I flipped the blanket right sides out, I stuffed my tails of ribbing in the opening and topstitched all the way around.

      I used a regular straight stitch to topstitch, just adjusted the length a little longer than usual.

      This is simpler than the traditional way of sewing on ribbing in my opinion.

      Another baby project down! Only about fifty million more to do! =)

Linking to:
Iron Violet Designs
Simple Home Life
Sun Scholars
Freckled Laundry