Sunday Morning Recycling: Block Blanket Cut Outs

In the spirit of putting words into action I used some spare time yesterday morning to get a simple Block Blanket cut out of leftover scraps of Polar Fleece fabric that have been sitting around forever, just waiting for the moment to be seized!

I had previously used this fabric for fittings and could not bring myself to waste these larger sections and just throw them in the garbage but I'm fed up staring at it so early yesterday morning, with glorious sunlight streaming in the windows, I made the time to do something about these leftovers.

It's not like there was a lot of yardage of any one particular fabric  to work with but I sorted my way through the colours (there's a few more not shown) and decided to start with the Purple. I laid this out on my cutting mats to get an idea of what I had to work with, trimming off unusable little bits of fabric as I sorted. I used my Olfa Cutting Mat and Rotary Cutter to do this task. 

If you are new to the world of textiles and sewing, a Rotary Cutter makes light work of cutting out all kinds of fabrics as the ultra-sharp circular cutting blade glides effortlessly over most fabrics, either in single, double and quadruple layers, depending on your fabric of course. Just like a pizza cutter. They make evening out or "truing" long fabric lengths very easy and are very capable at cutting out intricate shapes as well. 


Caution! Rotary Cutters are extremely sharp and should not be left out around young children or pets to grab hold of. Adults must also be very careful of the position of your fingers and hands when cutting. Rotary Cutters have a lock on them to recess the cutting blade when not in use and they should always be locked in this position when you are not using them.

Cutting Mats for sewing are made of self healing, extremely durable plastics which prevent the penetration of the extremely sharp cutting blades used in Rotary Cutters. Cutting Mats should be stored flat when not in use and are perfect for protecting all kinds of surfaces from being damaged by cutting blades, pins and other marks like pens and are great for placing under a table-top sewing machine when not in use. 

Based on the shape of the remaining yardage and a few other scraps of the purple Polar Fleece fabric I had, I randomly decided to try using a 6" and 3" Block, each with 1/4" Seam Allowance, which brought their actual size to 6.5" and 3.5" respectively, and see how it would go. So off to find some scarp cardboard and make the blocks up on the fly.

The method to the madness was to just begin to build my Blanket and possibly add other colours if I didn't have enough Purple to achieve a Blanket of decent proportions. So away I cut and as it turned out the 6.5" and 3.5" size worked perfectly for this small amount of fabric. I "could" have folded the larger areas of my fabric together to speed up the process and make multiple cuts but I was in no rush and besides, I wanted to maximize the number of larger 6" Blocks I could cut out and then cut the smaller 3" Blocks from the remaining sections. Cookie cutter time as the saying goes!

The Omni-Grid ruler I was using is only 6" in width and my larger  Block is 6.5" with Seam Allowance so I just started at the bottom left corner of my largest piece of fabric, trued up the bottom edge and started cutting the sides of the larger Block and just eyeballed it for how square I had everything.

I then moved the 6-1/2" Block up, cut again, and repeated to get as many 6-1/2" Blocks cut as I could.  

I intend to join this Blanket using my Serger and Flatlock Stitch, and since my Serger also has a built-in trimming blade, I wasn't sweating it if my cuts weren't 100% perfect but they turned out just fine.

Polar Fleece is a plush, stretch knit fabric that is so commonplace in most people's wardrobes, is machine washable and often made from recycled plastic water bottles.

• Polar Fleece has a smooth, glossy side formed from the structure of knit stitches:

• The opposite side has the fleece, creating a fluffy matte side to the fabric.

When I began to stack the 6" squares together this contrast in light effects really stood out in the sun light coming in the window, so I decided I would make this Blanket monochromatic and just play off the contrasts between high and low sheen.

It turned out I had just enough fabric to cut a Blanket 9 Blocks x 5 Blocks using a combination of 6" squares with a row at each end made up of 3" Blocks in a checkerboard pattern. 

Next up, I'll serge this together using a Flatlock Stitch on my Serger for a nice, reversible finish, and see if I have enough of the red or black Polar Fleece pieces to sew a binding.

Having completed the cuts, I had two patient dogs waiting for their morning walk and I needed my exercise as well.

So everyone got their winter boots on and off to the park for a vigorous walk and to capture some Vitamin D from the glorious sunshine! It was cold but beautiful out!

Have a good day! I hope it's a productive one - and remember!

"Industry Is The Enemy Of Melancholy!"