Make It More Personal With Custom Blankets

Handmade Baby Blankets A handmade baby blanket gift speaks to the heart of any new mother. Knowing someone spent the time, thought and effort to make a hand made gift in this day and age means a lot. You can crochet, quilt, embroider a baby blanket to make it unique and special. In fact, you can make a baby blanket that requires no sewing at all, and will be just as special because you put yourself into the gift.

Blanket Quilt This means there are a variety of patterns, whether its a plain or single colour quilt, or printed and stitched patterns. There is no one single design or pattern that defines a quilt, but quilts are most commonly a single colour.

First up is the baby quilt or blanket. Useful most of the year, it can be a little much for your bundle of joy during the summer. But for spring and fall, and especially winter, it will keep your new child toasty and snug. Most people will have more than one blanket for their child, either from previous children or from gifts, so this may not be too necessary.

Women did then as they do now -- they got creative and sewed together the fabrics they had, including scraps. New quilt styles emerged that we recognize today and hold dear in our homes, or see exhibited in a gallery as art.

Keepsake Kit and a Blanket A unique baby blanket gift, that will stand the test of time is to add a keepsake with the baby blanket. You can use a baby footprint kit, or a handprint kit, or tins for their first lost tooth or clip of hair from their first haircut. This is made even more special if you have the baby blanket personalized with the baby's name.

For quilting beginners there are kits available that contain all of the material needed to create a quilt. These kits include step by step instructions to help you make the perfect hand crafted quilt for the new addition. Kits are also great because they help new quilters learn the basics of quilting, enabling them to create other, more personalized quilts in the future. While experienced quilters are often aware of the hard work and materials that go into creating the perfect quilt; creating the perfect baby blanket can still be difficult.

A century ago, cigar companies tied a bright colored silk ribbon around a bundle of cigars. Women stitched them together with black or colored embroidery floss stitches onto a fabric foundation block. They were not cut or curved, but placed side by side. Cigar company ribbons had fancy logos and used attractive fonts in black ink on yellow or orange ribbons. The various advertising on the ribbons added decoration to the quilt block. Green, pink and purple ribbons were occasionally used in the block designs, signifying a rare cigar.

For making perfectly straight cuts, choose a thick, clear acrylic ruler. A good size to start with is a 6x24" rectangular ruler marked in 1/4" increments.