Good memories. I'm french canadian and I am almost as young as you (63) we use to sleep under those "Catalogne" as they were called. Mom did them. She made my brother and I each our own. As they were so heavy, as adults we did not want them as blankets any more, with all the new blanket material (fabrics) that came on the market. "sniff" I don't remember what I did with mine but it's gone.... A good use is carpets as they wash so well. A binding around them would definitely preverse it
Here some history for those interested:
http://www.allfiberarts.com/library/bl/blcatalogne.htm