Recycled Gorgeous Cozy Fall Blanket

by Claire at Pillarboxblue

3 Materials

4 Hours

Medium

There is a definite chill in the air, summer has truly gone. I love nothing more than spending the fall evening snuggled under a blanket whilst watching all the new seasons of my favorite TV shows.

So I decided to make myself a new TV blanket out of my old sweaters and jeans. As the blanket/throw was for the living room I wanted to make it look extra special so I decided to make it in a trendy geometric hexagon pattern.

The first thing I did was gather up my old wool sweaters and felt them. Like I did with my gorgeous mountain cushions. Felting wool sweaters are really easy you just put them on a hot wash cycle. Like me, you've probably done it by accident before, where you have shrunk your favorite sweater.

To make a geometric pattern for the throw I used a hexagon template (like this one) to cut out felt hexagons from my felted sweaters.

You can use what size hexagon you want, the smaller the hexagon the more felt shapes you will get out of your blanket, however the larger the hexagon the less sewing. I used a 3-inch template.

Carry on cutting out shapes in a variety of colors until you have enough.

The beauty about felt is that it doesn't fray so no need for a seam. I lay the hexagons in rows the length of my throw and stitched them together. Stitch as close to the edge as you can This can be done by hand or on a machine. Make sure you stitch all the shapes the same way, your blanket will have a definite front and back.

Next, you will need to sew all the rows together.

To even up the throw make some half hexagon felt shapes and stitch these in to fill the gaps. Now comes the denim bit.

To make a nice edge to my blanket. I cut off the denim waistband from my old jeans and opened them up by unpicking the stitching with a seam ripper.

The edge of the blanket was then sandwich into the waistband, pinned in place and then stitched together.

I carried on with the stitching the denim edge until the whole blanket was edged.

I'm really pleased with how the upcycled sweater blanket turned out. I used mainly old cashmere and lambswool sweaters to make it so it is super soft and cozy. The trouble is the family now fight over who gets to sit under it when watching TV in the evening.

Don't throw away your wool scraps. I have a fabulous really easy no-sew Christmas decoration that you can make with them here.