How to Make a Tie Blanket

So ever since I realized how easy it was to make one of these cozy blankets, I was dying to try it. Then, the perfect occasion arose: my boyfriend's birthday. Conveniently enough, he was born during the time of year when using an extra blanket at night or watching TV on the couch is at an all-time high, so I took advantage of the coincidence and make him a tie-blanket.

If you've never made one before, they are SUPER easy. Time-consuming? A little. Repetitive? Very. But hard? Absolutely knot ;)


So the first thing you want to do is buy what you'll need. Your shopping list should include fabric scissors* (if you don't already have some) and two different kinds of fleece material, about two yards of each. I'll admit I cheated a little on this step and bought a pre-packaged "kit" that already had two matching fabrics that match perfectly and were already cut to be the right length.

* Regular scissors would probably work for this project, but I would highly recommend fabric scissors because they are much sharper and you will be cutting through two layers of thick fabric.

Once you have everything you need, lay your two fleece fabrics with their wrong sides facing each other and their right sides facing out. If they don't line up perfectly, don't sweat it. When the blanket is all tied, you will be the only one who knows they weren't perfectly even to begin with. 

After your fabric is laid out, cut a square out of each corner, cutting both layers of fabric at the same time. The length of the edges of this square will serve as a guideline for the length of the strips you will be cutting next, so keep this in mind. A pretty standard square would be 5" by 5" but feel free to get creative with it.

After you have all four squares cut, the next step is to cut slits into all sides of the fabric, about one inch apart. Again, you should cut both the top and bottom fabrics at the same time. The length of your slits will depend on how big your corner square cuts are, so if they are 5" by 5" your slits will also be 5" long.

You're almost done! Now all that's left is tying the top strip to the corresponding bottom strip. I would recommend doing each of your corners first, just in case you have to stop in the middle of it. If your corners are tied, it will easier to keep the individual strips lined up.

About 275094620974 knots later, you will have a cozy, hand-crafted tie blanket!