August 26, 2008

The "Open Baby" Blanket

Here is the solution I came up with to remedy the damage our special "Open Baby" fabric sustained in The Great Dryer Fire of Aught Eight. I briefly debated cutting out squares and pairing the fabric with another to make a simple patchwork top, but eventually decided to just applique a rather giant, sleepy-faced nesting doll (complete with embroidered apron) over the two patches of burn holes.


I used a combination of machine and hand applique, cutting the body from a pretty yellow calico covered with pink apples, and the face from a scrap of flesh toned fleece I had. A length of pink rick rack serves as her apron tie and her "crack", if you will. No, not that kind of crack. The one around her middle where she opens to reveal more and more Matryoshka inside. The whole thing is backed with a soft, fuzzy piece of dark pink fleece, and hand-tied at intervals with yellow embroidery floss. Here is the big girl on the first day of school posing with her special blanket.


It must be a hit, because the teacher tells me she naps for an hour and a half each day, snuggled underneath her Open Babies.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

CUUUUUUUUUTE! (The blanket AND the girl ... love those pink Converse!)

Heather said...

Yay!!! I'm so glad you were able to salvage it. You're so freaking clever.

And I want you to know I now have Jay pointing out Open Babies. :)

Prairie Gothic said...

That blanket is so cute, and lil' sweetheart is doll herself. She's adorable!