5 Ways to Upcycle Baby Blankets

Baby blankets. We love to buy them, make them, get them, and give them. And if you are anything like me, after 3 kids – you have more than your fair share piling up in a closet somewhere. We are super blessed to have tons of baby blankets. But they can be one of the absolute hardest things to give away once our baby grows out of them.  I mean…you swaddle wrapped your infant all through the night in those things!!!

Before I even get started, you know that baby quilt your Aunt or Mom hand sewed for you. I am absolutely in NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM talking about upcycling that blanket. You better get an airtight box and preserve it to give to your grand babies some day. That one is off limits. Period.

But the others? Here are some ideas.

5 Ways to Upcycle Baby Blankets.

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1. Turn your baby blanket into a pillow.

Fold that small blanket in half, sew around the edges leaving a small opening and stuff with PolyFil. Whipstitch closed, and DONE. I did that almost 5 years ago for this adorable little fleece blanket Chloe got when she was a baby, and she still uses this pillow!

 

2. Turn gauze swaddling blankets into pajamas.

 

Mingo & Grace shared this crazy adorable pajama set which she made entirely out of old gauze swaddling blankets. Talk about comfortable!!!

See how HERE.

 

3. Turn them into a basket.

 

Before I started sewing, I was making these baskets. I even opened up an Etsy shop selling them once upon a time. Turn fabric scraps, or baby blankets, into these adorable wire coiled baskets.

I shared the DIY HERE at the DIY Network a while back.

 

4. Turn them into a bed caddy.

 

I recently made these, and never did a DIY for them. And at the time I thought, ‘this would be so much easier if I just used an old baby blanket!!!’  All you would need to do is fold it nearly in half, and sew some seams up the sides for pockets. DONE.

You can see how Cinti of My Poppet made hers HERE.

 

5. Turn them into car seat covers.

 

Ok, so maybe your baby is still a baby when you are doing this. But if you have one too many blankets piling up in the closet, you should definitely consider this! Allie Shellaway used the DIY from Running with Scissors to make her adorable car seat covers. And when you look at the DIY, you see that all you really need to do is sew a few binder holes in the middle of your blanket to accommodate the seat belt straps. Easy peasy!

See Allie Shellaway’s gorgeous versions HERE, and get the DIY by Running with Scissors HERE.

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And there you have it, five fun ways to upcycle old baby blankets into new items…and make them last longer!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and until next time…

Happy Sewing!