Meet My Woogie! Tag Blankie Show & Tell (Plus Links To Tutorials)

Babies are so cute, aren’t they?  Those little cheeks!  The tiny little clothes! The delightful way they spit up all over your good black top five minutes before you have to walk out the door!

Alas, it’s been many a moon since I had a wee thing about the house.  Miss Moo turned 7 right before Christmas, the last scraps of childhood disintegrating before my eyes.  Sigh.  And nobody around me is currently pregnant or has a newborn anymore, meaning when I get the urge to do a little baby sewing, I have to remind myself I can’t use whatever it is I’m getting the urge to make.  Take cloth nappies.  Every few months I’ll get the bug to sew some all-in-ones, just for the heck of it.  And we’ve been nappy free for four years!

It was the same when I stumbled across this super simple baby blanket idea about two months before Christmas.  I ummed and ahhed about buying the materials with nobody in mind to give the finished product to.  And then two things happened.

I met the gorgeous (and very pregnant! woot! 4-8 weeks to go!) fellow Aussie blogger Sarah from Thoughts From My Head.  Well, when I say ‘met’, I mean cyber-stalk, LOL.  We found we had lots in common and exchanged several emails.  A plan was forming in my head (bwaa-haaa-haaa!)

The second thing that happened was that I became intrigued by a challenge set up by a blogging friend of mine, Lynn, from Spiritually Unequal Marriage.  At first, she wouldn’t tell us what would happen when we signed up for a Kingdom Assignment.  The next thing I knew, I had received a crisp (American!) dollar bill in the mail and instructions to ’spend it wisely’.  Isn’t that cool?  Lynn actually posted the dollar all the way down here to Australia!  You may have heard about similar challenges done through local churches, but I had never participated in anything like it and was sitting here working my brain into a frenzy wondering what to do with the money that was both poignant and appropriate - and then I had an epiphany (I love it when that happens, LOL).  Combining the assignment with my newfound friendship with Sarah and my insatiable (and largely sporadic!) need to sew things for mythical babies, I decided the project - which I affectionately called “Woogie”, after my own kids’ name for security blankets - would be my contribution to the Kingdom Assignment.

At the time, US$1 translated into around AUD$1.50 (sigh…gone are the days of 90+ cents on the Greenback!) and I worked it out to be about a quarter of the cost of the ribbon, or roughly one side of the below picture.  Lynn, I think that edge on the right is the one you sponsored, LOL (and by the way, that American dollar bill? My kids have started a foreign money collection!) I happily paid for the rest of the materials - and later, the postage - beaming the whole time.

Bright, isn’t it?!!  I hope Sarah’s poor defenceless baby - not sure whether its a boy or a girl yet - isn’t rendered blind from All The Crazy Colours but I just couldn’t resist.  This one has a flannel ’shell’ and a polar fleece ‘core’ for general toastiness, and I figure it will be about perfect for a stroller-bound kidlet come late autumn/winter here in Australia, when ‘Spaceghost’ is a few months old.  The final size (a bit hard to tell in the picture) is roughly 20″ x 20″ and each ribbon loop around 2cm (a little under an inch) long.  I love the idea of the loops because they are so multi-functional.  You could create a couple of simple fabric ties with buttons to thread through some loops and attach it to your stroller so it doesn’t drag in the dirt (remove and keep the ties on the stroller if Junior wants to snuggle on the sofa - safety first with the buttons).  Or you can whip up some softies complete with their own ribbon loops and use plastic (non-toxic) linking rings to attach them to the blankie (Homemade By Jill - link at the bottom - has a great example of this).  And of course, Bubs can twiddle the loops between his/her fingers till the cows come home.  Try it with textured ribbons for an even bigger kick!

It came together so nicely and I had so much leftover flannel (I couldn’t decide on the colour scheme!) I decided to experiment with a second Woogie in a ‘pocket’ size.  It’s similar to the Stroller Woogie but it omits the core (leaving just the two outside layers of flannel) and is around 9″ x 9″ - just big enough to tote around.  Both versions are machine-washable.

The concept isn’t a new one, and if you scroll to the end of this post you’ll see I’ve included a little ‘link love’ to showcase the other awesome examples I found as I went about collecting ideas for my own.  I would have loved to make the ‘backside’ (the plain coloured side) of each Woogie with some sort of texture - the tutorials mentioned Minky fabric - but my local fabric store didn’t have the best range.  Mail order next time baby!

You might be worried about those ribbon loops.  While due supervision should always be given when giving a baby anything handmade (and anything factory-made, for that matter), I was extra-careful about sewing the ribbon down - each loop was sewn through a minimum of six times, and with four of those passes my ancient Janome was set at ‘triple stitch’.  Additionally, I kept the loops purposely short to minimize the choking risk if by some miracle (disaster) one happens to get loose.  If you decide to make one of these gorgeous blankies yourself, please be extra-vigilant with the ribbons :)

I had a serious blast making this and keeping it a surprise.  As is my custom, I completely ignored my deadline until the last possible second and was up until the wee hours the night before leaving for our Christmas vacation, putting together the final touches, such as the quick card you can see in the above photo.  It was designed using Scrapblog in about five minutes flat - the lazy gal’s way to scrapbook, LOL - and printed on photographic paper and then glued to card.  I also printed a larger version (A4 size) in case Sarah and her hubby produce a little sister for big brother Critter and want to frame it (it’s a tad girlie for a boy baby).  The quote reads: A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for. (Anonymous)

Here are the two Woogies packaged and ready for the mail.  I white-knuckled it a bit, but ultimately got it in the post in time for express overnight shipping, and it arrived Tuesday 23rd December.

I made Sarah wait until Christmas Day to open it, LOL.  Sarah, you did wait didn’t you? SARAH?

I feel very blessed to have been a part of this, and there’s a really big reason why.  Sarah (who has graciously given permission for me to share this information) has suffered from post-natal depression in the past and Spaceghost’s impending birth has worried her a little.  I must admit, even before the Kingdom Assignment and the idea for the tag blankie came along, I was planning to send her some treats when the birth drew nearer, even going so far as to come up with some cleverly creative fairytale about wanting to send her some of Talented Hubby’s leftover photographic greeting cards in order to get her home address :) - cards which she is still welcome to! LOL.  But the timing played out perfectly, which I think is just the coolest thing ever :)

And honestly, how can you be sad when a blankie like this one pretty much screams “BE HAPPY DARN IT!” with its bright colours? LOL.  Big cyber-hugs Sarah and I’m thrilled to have been involved in brightening your Christmas!

Tutorials:

Mama’s Doodles - Twiddler Tag Blankie Tutorial - Love the non-traditional colours.
Craftblog.com.au - Appliqued Ribbon Blanket Tutorial - Ideal as a personalised baby shower gift!

Check These Ideas Out:

Homemade By Jill - Tag Blanket and Toys - I am seeing lots of possibilities with these.
Bry, Bre and NYC - What Do You Do When Your Husband Is Studying? - I really like the slight quilting with these ones.
Quiltcetera Blog - TagAlong Baby Blankie - More quilted versions.
Thornberry - Baby Tag Blanket - A good example of using different types and textures of ribbon.
Thornberry - Sensory Tag Blanket - I love the idea behind this blankie, designed for a blind child :)