Every time I go to an outdoor store, I’m desperately tempted by the insulated blankets in fetching colors. Do I need one? Absolutely not. Do I want one? Absolutely I do. So far, I’ve been able to temper my goblin hoarding instincts and not buy one. Instead, I decided to make my own.
I made my insulated blanket a little more complicated with shock cord channels at the top and bottom and a 50cm zipper on the bottom to make a closed footbox. This way, I can either use it as a blanket or cinch it completely closed at the top and bottom for full cozy caterpillar mode.
Materials:
- 2m of Climashield apex. I used 125g/sqm climashield eco
- 4m of lightweight silnylon
- 3m 3mm elastic cord
- 2x cord locks
- 50cm 1cm wide webbing
- 50cm 5C separating zipper
Design
For the dimensions of the quilt, I added 15cm to my height (168cm if I don’t slouch) and to my torso circumference including my arms (115cm, depending on how much winter speck I have). I then rounded the height down to 180cm to make it a nice round number. The tapered bottom saves weight and creates a nice cozy footbox.
*Discerning readers will notice that the colors on the finished product do not match the sketch. This is because I bought my fabric as part of a bag of remnants and none of the pieces were big enough to make the blanket outright. Instead, I measured and schemed until I figured out how to get two pieces big enough for the outside and the liner. I sewed the pieces of fabric right side to right side and then trimmed any frayed edges on the inside. Because the fabric is so thin and light colored, any loose threads will show through from the outside.
**If your fabric is big enough, then don’t worry about this step unless you want to make your quilt look more interesting with some color blocking.
Step 1: Vacuum
Unless you have a giant table, you’ll probably lay everything out on your floor to measure and cut. The silnylon is static and the climashield insulation is made of fibers. Between the two of them they’ll manage to find every stray hair and speck of dirt and trap them inside your blanket. Make sure your floor is nice and clean before you start.
Step 2: Cutting
You’ll begin by making a sandwich. Once you’ve had a snack, make a metaphorical sandwich of fabric. First, lay the Climashield on the floor. Then lay the outside of your blanket on top, right side facing up. Finish off with the liner of the blanket, right side facing down. If your fabric is calendared, the shiny side should face the Climashield. In that case your sandwich looks like: Climashield, outside panel (shiny side down), liner panel (shiny side up). If your fabric is not calendared, do whatever you like. I’m not your mom.
Pin the top edge of the sandwich together. I used sewing clips instead of pins so that I wouldn’t make extra holes in the silnylon. If you don’t have sewing clips, clothes pins or binder clips will do just fine. Place some heavy objects on top of the sandwich to keep the layers from sliding around on each other and carefully trace your measurements onto the top layer with a sharpie. Then cut out the pattern on all three layers. As you cut, pin the new edge of the climashield to the two layers of shell. It feels like a lot of pinning. That’s because it is! It will keep the three layers equal sizes.
Step 3: Assembling the Other Components
For the shock cord channels at the top and bottom of the blanket, measure and cut 2 4cm-wide strips of nylon the same width as the top and bottom of the blanket. With an iron (or if you don’t have an iron, do what I did in college and heat a saucepan on the stove and use that), press the fabric in half hotdog style, shiny side of the fabric facing in. You should now have 2 2-cm wide strips of fabric the length of the top and bottom of the quilt.
Cut four 5cm-long lengths of webbing or grosgrain ribbon. Place each flush with the short edges of the shock cord channel and attach with a straight stitch. Then fold the edges over themselves with the webbing facing in. Sew again. This finishes the raw edge and makes the channel opening stiffer and more durable. Trim the excess webbing and use a lighter to seal the ends.
For the zipper flap, use a stiffer fabric than you use for the blanket. Don’t make the mistake I made and use silnylon—it will just get caught in the zipper and drive you insane. Measure and cut a 8x56cm rectangle. Fold it in half and iron flat to make a 4x56cm rectangle. Sew the bottom edge with a 1cm seam allowance. For the top edge, take the corner on the folded edge and fold it toward the unfolded edge to make a triangle. Press, and then sew a straight seam along the fold. Turn the rectangle inside out and topstitch close to the edge to help it keep its shape. See the diagram below for a visual description
Separate the two sides of the zipper and lay one side on the gusset, the lower edge of the zipper 1cm from the bottom. Sew the zipper tape to the flap, starting at the bottom. At the top, fold the triangle of excess fabric over the top of the zipper. Leave it loose so that there is enough room for the zipper pull.
If you want to have loops on the side of your blanket to attach snap buttons or elastic, cut strips of webbing. If you’re using Kam snaps, attach them to the webbing before you sew the loops in—some of them will inevitably not attach right. For each loop, cut a 8cm strip
Step 4: Add More Ingredients to Your Sandwich
You should always work slowly and considerately. Measure twice, cut once, etc. For this step, work super deliberately. Double and triple check everything is facing the right way before you move on to the next step. Nothing is more demoralizing than turning your project inside out and realizing you sewed your shock cords inside the quilt.
Lay the shock cord channels at the head and foot of your quilt, between the two layers of shell, with the raw edge aligned with the raw edge of the rest of the quilt. To continue with the sandwich analogy, all the raw edges (Climashield, liner, outside, shock cord channels, webbing loops, zipper tape) should face the crust of the sandwich.
Put each half of the zipper in place, with the teeth of the zipper facing inwards. Double check the zippers are facing the right way up.
Clip the webbing loops in place and measure to make sure they are even. Remember that the edge of the quilt will actually be 1cm, away from the raw edge of the fabric, so stick them in farther than you think you need to. I left 1cm of strap protruding from the side so that I could see where they were when sewing. I attached one set 5cm from the top of the quilt, one set 80cm from the bottom, and a third halfway in between.
Clip everything. More clips than you think you need. I put one every 10cm or so. Normally I would baste the layers together for a project this size, but I didn’t want to poke additional holes in the fabric.
Step 5a: Sew a Practice Piece
It’s tempting to start on your quilt. I get it. I really do. You’ve spent hours plotting, and tracing, and cutting, and clipping and now you want to get to the good bit. If you haven’t worked with silnylon before though, take some of the scraps of fabric and make a little practice project. A beanie, a pet bed, or a pillow all work well. This lets you figure out the best stitch length, thread length, and see how your sewing machine reacts to climashield. I used a size 70 microtex needle and Guterman polyester thread.
Silnylon can be slippery and if you find the layers slipping, put some tissue paper or receipt paper under the presser foot of your sewing machine. When you finish the seam, you can tear it out. I made a sandwich out of climashield, shell layer (shiny side facing climashield), second shell layer (shiny side facing up) and sewed almost all the way around, leaving a 15cm gap. Then I turned the whole thing right side out and hand sewed the open edge together for a pet blanket.
Step 5b: Now Sew the Blanket
- Start sewing on one of the zipper tapes, but only sew the bottom layer of shell to the climashield. This will leave a gap to turn the quilt inside out through later. When you get to the end of the zipper, stop stitching, cut the threads, and lift the presser foot. Now start sewing all 3 layers of the sandwich together.
- When you get to the webbing loops, backstitch and then stitch forward again to reenforce the seam.
- At the corners, be careful not to sew the openings of the shock cord channels shut.
- Trim the excess webbing
Step 6: Turn the Blanket Right-Side Out (Optional: Panic)
The whole time, you’ve been sewing this blanket inside-out so that the raw edges of the blanket are hidden on the inside. Now it’s time to turn it right-side out.
Turn the quilt inside out through the gap you left in the zipper. At some point, you will have a ball of translucent nylon and stuffing that looks like a pupating caterpillar. Don’t panic. It will hatch into a beautiful butterfly.
Step 7: Final Touches
Clip the opening in the fabric shut, folding the raw edge of the fabric inside. Then topstitch slowly to attach the shell, climashield, and zipper. If you like, topstitch the other side of the zipper to make the quilt symmetrical.
Thread the elastic through the shock cord channels and tie a loop in one end. Pass over the end of the channel with the looped cord with a zig-zag stitch a couple of times to secure the elastic. Then thread a toggle onto the other end and tie an ovehand knot to keep it sliding off. To cinch the bag closed, pass the toggle through the loop and tighten.
Your mom approves.