Recieving Blankets
 

I might have asked this question before, but what is the average size of a recieving blanket? And how many single layer recieving blankets can you get from 1.5 yards of fabric? The reason I'm asking is because my local Wal-Mart finially began carrying bolts of fabric and I purchased this today:
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My husband swears that his sister is a Pebbles fanatic, I certainly hope so!!

I saw that fabric today at Walmart too. It is very cute. I'm not sure what size receiving blankets are (my baby turned 40 this year so it's been a while). I would guess that they would be around 30" square so you have room to wrap the baby up in it.

The average size is 34X37 inches or 35 inches square..Love the fabric

I would make two blankets measuring 27x36 before the hemming of the edges. It's been a while but I do remember that even commercially made receiving blankets were not a uniform size. It drove me a little nutty to have to have separate piles in the drawers for various sized blankets so that's why I remember this fun fact. LOL!!

I make my receiving blankets square (they are easier to wrap up the baby). I wash the fabric and make it square with the WOF -- so I would say only one from 1.5 yard.

I make mine 1 yd. by width of fabric. Grandkids used them for years this size. Cute fabric.

I like the fabric, but can't honestly say that it's a personal favorite. I was a baby looney tunes fan when I was expecting my oldest. And I would love to do baby Tweety for this baby. For my youngest I wanted Winnie the Pooh, Paddington, and Cordorory. Instead, he ended up with left over baby looney tunes stuff from his brother :( My SIL that is currently expecting did Pooh Bear with her oldest daughter, so she doesn't want Pooh for this one. Of the fabric that I purchased today, my favorite is the one I bought to become the back of the baby quilt (crib/toddler bed sized), which is this one:
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And I've decided that when I get ready to throw the baby shower next month, the recieving blanket(s) will be from my DH, because he's the one who swore that his sister LOVED Pebbles. The quilt will be from me, the clothes (bought my niece 2 outfits today) will be from me and DH, binky's (still gotta get) will be from our oldest son because when the older sister of this baby was born my oldest son called her "my baby" and was always giving her a binky, and the bottles will be from our youngest son because he was always stealing his female cousin's (the older sister) bottles since they are only 9 months apart in age.

It has been 9 (almost 10) years since our family has had a new baby and I think that just about everyone has gotten baby fever over this little girl.

I usually buy 1.2 meters of flannelette. That equals about 48 inches or 1 1/3 yard. I always always always wash and droy the flannelette in a hot dryer. It ususally ends up crooked. I square it off and hem all sides. This results in a receiving blanket of about 42"x42". As my DD says--"You CAN swaddle a 12 pound baby in Mum's blankets!"

wash it twice..that stuff shrunk on me...

then go to missourristar.com and watch their 10 minute receiving blanket video...dang that is cute and fast!

I make mine 45 x 45 . Because the ones I received for my son were too small. Also you can use them longer. They out grow the small ones so fast.

We have four nieces that are having babies this fall! My sisters and I were talking about making receiving blankets. The ones that were made for our babies were square WOF, which was closer to 45" 30 years ago. The ones that I've seen in the store look so small.

Since flannel and quilting cottons seem to be ever narrower, I'm thinking about some other options. Dharma Trading Company has some heavy cotton gauze that is 50" wide after washing that I may order. It looks like the same gauze used in a popular brand of swaddling/receiving blanket. Since it only comes in white, I could bind or serge the edges in a color.

I make mine sq. also 45x45 0r 42x42, what ever the WOF is.
If i only have a yard i will still sq. it up, then use the piece i trim off as trim for a burp pad(made using a diaper). makes a nice set.

I found a gr8t tute for you. This is so cute...super fast and easy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqwdN...eature=related

What a nifty way to do it!

(I would wash the fabrics first - they don't all shrink at an equal rate)

If one wraps a baby burrito (or papoose) style, the square ones work better than the rectangle ones.

If one uses them just as a cover in bassinet or crib, rectangle would probably be better.

Cute fabric.

When my children were small 50 years ago, the flannel continued to shrink. Glad the quality of flannel is better now.
The 100% cotton was better quality back in the day, at least in my opinion, but the dyes seem better now

I do mine 42 x 42 for two reasons. If they want to swaddle, it is much easier if the blanket is larger and also, later on, they can lay it on the floor while the baby is doing tummy time and such. I love to put decorative stitching around the hems (all sides) and I use variegated thread. My daughter was very impressed, I didn't tell her that the machine did all the work...lol

I use to pieces of flannel square WOF. I round the corners and then envelope them together and top stitch around them. I use my edge foot to top stitch close to edge and this closes up the gap left to turn so no hand whip stitching it to close. My daughter loved this size.

That's exactly how I've always made mine, too. I personally liked square receiving blankets better so i just went with whatever size the WOF was. I also liked mine plenty big... nothing is worse than fighting a too-small blanket!

I did the same as Pandamommy and got rave reviews from the recipients. Take two pieces of flannel WOF and RST sew around and then flip. You can topstitch if you choose but not necessary. I also put lace inside the seam and ric rac on some. Fun to make...
Sandy

Is it normal for most flannels to measure 40"(or less) after washing and removing the selvedge? I bought some flannel at Jo-Ann's to see what happened when it was washed. The solid looked better than the print after washing. I forgot to measure the solid, but the print was 40". I don't want to buy a more expensive quilting flannel and have it shrink so much.

I make mine 36 x 36 and are double sided and use the fancy stitches on my machine to do the edges. With the left over material I make washclothes and burp towels. Good luck!

Same here.

My girls told me when I made them flannel receiving blankets for their babies, that they were a life saver. The ones they got as gifts were cutier, but mine were more practical. If a bed got soiled during the night, they used mine as a replace ment, till morning. And the babies didn`t out grow them in a month, When buying flannel, I would make the blanket the
width of the material, so the blanket would be square. 44" or 54". By the way you would not believe how many of their
friends asked me to make them some, and some were handed down to the next person with a baby. Now I make them for donations to those that need them.

Cute fabric!

How does everyone make their burp cloths? I just use 2 pieces of flannel cut in an hour glass shape. I don't put anything between the layers. I have also heard of using cloth diapers on one side.

One square yard or smaller seems to be the consensus, but I really preferred the larger ones. The one I loved the most when my son was little was 42"x42". The giver had then crocheted a single row around the edge. Having a tall kid, it was sure nice to have it large enough to work for him.

Does anyone have any pictures they could post of their receiving blankets....Thank You....I have 3 grandchildren on the way.....

I like the Pebbles fabric too.

I make mine 38" if I have enough material. A lot of babies are bigger today. My DIL's always liked the bigger blankets. Otherwise I make mine 36". No less.

Elizajo, flannel always shrinks quite a bit. That is one fabric that I always wash in hot water at least once.