Make Your Own Blanket With Sleeves

When Snuggies first came out, I honestly scoffed thinking it was another ridiculous fad and dismissed the idea of ever owning one. It wasn’t until a friend shared this tutorial that I had even thought of making my own, but after deciding to make blankets with sleeves for the above mentioned friend and his wife, and tinkering with various measurements, I am quite content to throw on my blanket with sleeves every morning while I type at the computer or eat my cereal.

These are perfect for reading, typing, anything that would require your arms to come out of a normal blanket. And what’s even better? I added a pocket on the front, like a hoodie where you can keep the remote control or a pen, or whatever you want!

To make this endeavor truly worthwhile, wait until fleece is on sale and buy 3 yards of it. This time of year, fleece throws will probably be pretty cheap wherever you are, and if so, buy 2 and sew them together. Trim that down to 3 yards. You can use whatever colors/patterns/style you want and totally personalize your blanket :)

Do you really want to make your own now? Here goes…

1. Cut off the bottom 24 inches of your fleece. Go all the way around your blanket and make sure the edges are straight and even. You can lay your blanket on a table and use the straight edges of your table as a guide (thank you Instructables!).
2. Now cut off 24 inches from those 24 inches to make a square. Do it again and you will have your future sleeves. Look at the diagram below if that was confusing.
3. Fold your sleeves-to-be in half with right sides facing each other. You can tell the right side of fleece by pulling the fleece tightly. Whichever direction the fleece curls towards is the wrong side (thanks Jennifer!). Sew along the edge to form your sleeve. Do the same with your other sleeve.
4. Turn your sleeves right side out and press along the seam to flatten it out a bit.
5. On a sheet of paper, draw an oval about 8 inches long by 6 inches wide. This will be the arm holes on your blanket.
6. Fold your blanket in half lengthwise and pin your armhole template 8 inches from the bottom and 9-10 inches (depending on how wide your chest is) from the middle.
7. Cut out your armholes (cut through both layers of fabric).
8. Insert a sleeve into one armhole and pin it to your blanket. On the wrong side of the blanket, sew your sleeve to your blanket. If there is extra fabric either in the sleeve or in the armhole, stretch the other part, or fold it over to make a pleat of sorts. Do the same with the other sleeve.
9. Measure how long you want your sleeves to be by putting the blanket on. Trim them to just longer than that measurement and fold over once about an inch. Sew along the cuff of your sleeve all the way around.  
10. With the remaining fleece, cut out a rectangle that measures 16 inches by 10 inches. This is going to be your pocket. Fold it in half widthwise and cut off the top corners so your pocket looks like the picture below.
11. Fold over the sides  you just cut off to the wrong side of the fleece and sew along it to finish the edge.
12. Put your blanket with sleeves on and figure out where you would like your pocket to sit. I like mine where the lower part of my belly is, like a hoodie. Make sure the pocket is centered and pin it to your blanket. Make sure all of the raw edges are folded in, and sew close to the edge to give the pocket a nice, finished look. (Sorry it looks so wrinkly)
13. Fleece doesn’t fray, so you could be done now, yipee! If you want, neaten up the edges by folding over the the wrong side and sewing along the edges of the entire blanket, or add a blanket stitch.

These are perfect for gifts or to keep yourself warm this winter! I’ve probably fallen asleep more times than I should have wrapped up in my nice, warm blanket with sleeves and have truly enjoyed having it. I hope you do too!

These tutorials were very helpful as I tinkered around with what worked best for me: Sisson Family and Instructables.

It's also worth noting that a project like this can take a while to complete, and that’s OK just be sure to pack it away carefully so you don’t have to begin a new session by finding all the pieces and equipment you need, first. 

Alternatively, if the blanket is a gift and you are working to a specific deadline, you might want to try and get it all done in one go. To help you stay focused, even when exhausted because you’ve been looking after the kids all day you might want to indulge in a bog tall cup of coffee or two, or even an energy drink or a product like Delta 9o. The latter is designed to encourage calm focus, ideal for when you have things to do, but only a limited amount of time to do them in.

I’m linking up to DIY Project Parade @ The DIY Showoff, Make it 4 Monday @ Cottage Instincts, Motivate Me Monday @ Keeping it Simple, Market Yourself Monday @ Sumos Sweet Stuff, Mad Skills Link Party @ Support Blog for Moms of Boys, Anything Related @ All Thingz Related, Homemaker Monday @ 11th Heaven’s Homemaking Haven, and Making Monday Marvelous @ CRAFT.