Start sharpening your blanket-stitching skills with a sweet
Make way for the ultimate in stitches: the blanket stitch.
IN our Craftypedia sewing projects, we’ve always focused on using the running stitch (elliptical lines) and the backstitch (continuous lines), which work great to hold two fabric pieces together.
But if you’re looking at something a little more decorative, you may want to try the blanket stitch, a technique that gives the hand-sewn a nice, neat edging. It’s a great embellishment for felt dolls, and is simply about making loops and inserting your needle through the loops before you complete each stitch.
While the stitch may sound like it’s something best left to the pros, the method really isn’t that hard to master. Just tune in to how our guest crafter Joanne Loh does it, in the iSnap video step-by-step.
In the accompanying tutorial, Loh also shares an exclusive project on how to make a “Forest Of Owls” nursery mobile, where you’ll get to put your blanket-stitching skills to the test. Perhaps you’ll want to try pairing the moon and stars with cute baby elephants – a popular design among craft bloggers. Experiment with soothing pastel colours, but remember, less is more.
Felt owl mobile
Skill level: Intermediate
Time required: 30 minutes
Stuff you’ll need: Pink, grey, white and red felt, sewing thread/embroidery floss in pink, grey, white, red and black, two fancy buttons, cotton twine, ric rac ribbon trim, doll stuffing, needle, scissors, pins, paper and pen.
1. Download and print the owl template from www.craftpassion.com (you can also design your own). Trace the pattern onto the felt pieces and cut them out.
2. Layer the white felt eyes above one of the pink face pieces. Blanket-stitch to secure in place. Position three strips of ric rac ribbon trim onto a grey body piece and sew with a backstitch.
3. Centre the nose between the eyes and backstitch it in place. Sew on the fancy buttons for eyes.
4. Experiment with different expressions.
5. Align the front and back felt pieces of the head and body. Position the pink wings on top of the front body piece. Pin in place.
6. Sew the front and back body pieces together with a blanket stitch, starting from the bottom of the left wing. Stop right before the top-centre of the body. Sandwich a long length of cotton twine (with a knotted end) between the felt pieces. Continue blanket-stitching across the edges of the body until you reach the bottom of the right wing.
7. Fill up the body with doll stuffing and finish stitching up the piece.
8. You can also try a different design for the body – here are three, for starters.
9. Hold the head felt piece to the body and sandwich the twine in between, letting it run out at the top-centre of the head. Start blanket-stitching from the bottom of head and continue on until you reach the left ear.
10. Stuff the head and finish stitching up the piece. Make more owls, top off with a cute tree and hearts and have them dangle from a stick or an embroidery hoop.
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