DIY Christmas Tartan Afghan Throw
A Soft and Snuggly Fleece Blanket is a Necessity of Canadian Winters
During the winter months I have afghans all over the house; in the family room, the living room, the craft room, and every bedroom. This fleece blanket is for the girl’s guest room but I am sure it will find its way to the living room when they are here.
I wanted this throw to be extra warm, soft and cozy so I gave it double layers. The polar fleece matches the tartan fabric I purchased for my Christmas linens and pillow. It was pretty expensive, so I used a less expensive plain red polar fleece for the lining.
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Fleece Blanket Tutorial
Decide what size you would like your fleece blanket to be. Mine is 50″ by 60″.
Cut your material 1″ larger on both sides to allow for seam allowances. (51″ by 61″)
Lay the tartan polar fleece good side UP on your working surface.
Cover it with the coordinating fleece good side DOWN.
Hint: Polar fleece is a stretchy material. I spent half an hour making sure the fleece was totally flat, not stretched in any way, and pinned it throughout in order to reduce the stretch. By being very careful at this stage I was able to avoid the puckering seams or twists that you sometimes see in polar fleece afghans. In the following picture, I outlined some of the pins with black circles so you can see how thoroughly I pinned it.
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Sew the fleece blanket together, do the long seams first and check them to make sure the throw is perfectly sewn without stretches, then continue with the short seams. Leave a 12″ gap on the last seam.
Using the gap turn the throw right side out, make sure to push out all the corners. Pin the gap together and sew to close.
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Crochet Edge and Pom Poms
Using wool, blanket stitch along the two short sides of the afghan.
Do 1 dc in each blanket stitch all the way across, ch 1 turn.
Do 1 sc in each dc across, tie off.
I am hoping Santa will provide me a lighting system, but until he does this girl makes do with what she has (Herman’s mechanical flood lights) The video here is a bit dark, but it illustrates how I made my pom poms.
Spread your finger to make the pom pom as large and fluffy as possible.
Hold the end of the wool between your thumb and palm. Wrap the wool around your hand about 200 times.
Carefully pull the loop of wool off your hand. Clasp it in the middle and hold in place. With your other hand grab a piece of wool about 18 inches long and tie it tightly around the middle of the wool loop securing it in place.
Cut the loops and fluff your pom pom.
Give it a little haircut to tidy up any obviously over long pom pom threads.
I used up the extra fleece and made some matching pillowcases and cradle bed cover to match. The rest of tidbits of leftovers I used to make these Tartan Hand Warmers.
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A Matching Doll Quilt
As this is for the girl’s guest room I followed the same process and using the leftovers made them this little matching blanket for their doll cradle.
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Stay Warm and Snuggly
This wonderful post is a HOME feature as part of “You’re the STAR” blog hop! : http://eclecticredbarn.blogspot.com/2017/01/youre-star-week.html
Thank you & please link up your most recent posts to the January Linky Party.
Angie
This is so pretty!
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Beautiful Afghan! Very festive, and looks so soft and warm. Believe it or not but I use afghans here in Texas as well. May not get to use them as often, but needed one last couple days. Was in the low 20’s with the chilling winds, then today suppose to be in the 70’s. Crazy.
Love the added touch of the pom pom . Bet the girls will love cuddling up in it.
I love that tartan plaid, it’s beautiful, and those pompoms set it off beautifully. I lived up near Canada and Vermont for one winter so I know how important it is to have afghans and throws handy
Thanks for the tips about pinning it all over, that will save some frustrations for sure.
Very Merry Throw, its purely holiday stuff. Lovely bedroom.
Maria
It surely is a Christmas thing Marie. Last year I did the house up in winterscapes, I will need to remove alot more stuff after the holidays then I did last year.
This year for whatever reason I chose red.
I really like your penguin throw, it was my feature on the I am Pinnable link party with Amber. So nice.
Thank you for commenting. Leanna
I really love the look up your tartan fleece. I bet it is an extremely warm blanket. The pom poms make it extra special. I bet the girls will bring it out into the living room, nothing like snuggling in a throw that grandma made for you. Is there?
We will snuggle under that blanket and read together. It makes my heart sing. They have another one I purchased them last year with a big santa and reindeer on it. This year they each get one.
Thanks for commenting Nikki. Love your blog Leanna
Leanna, who wouldn’t want a beautiful and warm throw like that???!!! Even here in temperate Alabama!
Thank you Florence. I bet when it rains you need warmth as well.
I really appreciate you taking the time to comment.
Leanna
Your afghan throw sure looks super fluffy and cuddly Leanna. I bet the girls love snuggling up with it. Adding all those pins is a great idea. Every time I’ve made a throw I end up with scrunchy bits and mismatched corners, probably because I’m too lazy to do it properly, but looking at how beautifully yours turned out I need to make a plan.
Hi Michelle: I have that problem with stretchy material. I loathe doing something twice or threes time lol.
The pinning and more pinning helped tremendously. Let me know how your next big sewing project turns out.
Thank you for commenting.
This is amazing! Definitely want to try to make one for next year! I love the little pom poms on the end!
Sarah Bell
Trendy & Tidy
Hi Sarah: I think the afghan looks way more fun than functional with the Pom Poms. The poms make it livelier somehow.
Thank you for the thumbs up. I appreciate the comment. Leanna
What a beautiful throw – love the extra fluffy pompoms. Your granddaughters must love their warm and cozy room at Grandma’s. So pretty!
Oh Marie, I don’t know who is more excited they come to sleep over them or Grama. Last year my son took a video of them dancing with me, hilarious I was just doing my thing lovin it lmao.
Thank you for commenting. Your opinion means alot. Leanna
Hello Leanna, Your tartan throw is lovely. The bed looks very festive especially the bear in the bed. Big smile here. It was worth all the work of making the throw.
Happy Blue Monday.
Jeanne
Hi Jeanne: That little bear is very special to me. It was a Christmas gift to my eldest son on his first Christmas from Santa. We call him Grampa bear, he has earned his living comforting children for 37 years now.
My grand daughters know his story that he is old and tired and they must play nice with him. It’s a special treat to play with Grampa.
so pretty! I love red plaid. Especially during the holiday season 🙂 Have a wonderful week.
Hello Joy: This is my first Christmas as a blogger. There is so much to do all the time, but it is exciting and truly makes for very fast awesome weeks. You have a wonderful week as well. Thank you for commenting.
Leanna
This is just beautiful! I think these would be a hit on Etsy. I cannot crochet, can’t sit still long enough .lol
just love it.
Crochet is a great way to force yourself to just sit for awhile. I don’t have the non stop energy I use to have. I wish , because my mind is always planning something.
This afghan is really soft and warm, I am sure the girls are going to love it.
Thank you for commenting. Leanna
I love this! I may see if I can do this during the winter. Nice to chat with you on Instagram too. Sheila
Hello Sheila: I am a huge fan of your work. I absolutely love your blog. I am so glad you popped by to comment. Over the Christmas season everytime I went on Pinterest a pin would dry my eye. So many times it was your blog.
We shall keep in touch. Merry Christmas Leanna
This is so pretty. And believe it or not even living in Florida I love my afghan’s. Yours is so festive and cozy looking. I love it.
Hi Debra; I envision you guys drinking ice tea year around on the deck actually. We have not yet travelled to Florida but its definitely on the list.
Do the evenings get cool?
Well, that is true but in the winter I do wear sweaters and boots. It really is funny because the minute the temps hit 70 you will see us all bundled up. So many of us that live in Florida are from up north and although I don’t miss the snow I do enjoy the occasional cold day. 🙂
I can believe that actually. Canada has a couple of very warm regions. I lived in Kamloops where the summer days can easily be over 100F, I wore a toque in September the first year I moved here. I was so cold. I am more accustomed to it now. I bet you get accustomed to it being warmer.
Sigh someday I will retire south!!!
WARM and super cute! Must try this after the holidays!
Hi Melissa: Winter finally decided to show up and remind us who the boss is today. I made several throws for the winter time and I got a basket of them from previous years as well. They are each well used. You can never have too many throws.
I am glad you liked my version. Thanks for the comment. Leanna
I would love this and I love cozying up on the sofa with a big fluffy warm throw and watching tv in cold weather but we live in San Diego Ca. And it is very unusual for me to need more than a light blanket even in winter. I miss the definite seasons of N Calif but at 70 yrs old I don’t think I want snow either. Have fun with these throws ladies.