Looking for an easy and fun mission project to do with your women’s ministry group?
These no-sew fleece blankets are both easy and fun to make.
I am still in awe of how God used the no-sew fleece blanket project to open the hearts of our women to eventually partner with the shelter that many of these blankets were delivered to.
Project: No-Sew Fleece Blankets (lap and child-size)
Purpose: To provide homebound church members and homebound friends with lap blankets. Children’s blankets were delivered to a local shelter. We were told it would be the only new thing most of those children would have… tears…
Cost: Varies. Our team used coupons/sales to minimize the cost of the project. We spent approximately $900 and made about 48 blankets.
Needed supplies: 2 cuts of 1 1/2 yards (for throws) of fleece fabric per throw (coordinating prints and solids look especially nice); sharp fabric scissors (one for pair of women), 4 inch cardboard squares, one table per pair/team.
Directions:
1. Lay the fabric out and cut off the rough edges.
2. Place both pieces together with the wrong sides facing each other and smooth them out and line them up. Cut, as needed, so that both pieces are the same size.
3. Keeping the fabrics together cut a 4 inch-square piece out of each corner. (Use premade 4 inch cardboard squares.)
4. Working through both layers together, go down each side and make cuts for your fringe 1 ½ to 2 inches wide. Try hard not to cut in more than the 4 inches. A ruler, or the cardboard square, is very helpful as a guide! Make your cuts on all four sides before you start tying the fringe.
5. Time to Tie – “Looping” the strands instead of tying them, makes for a prettier and nicer border. To loop (rather than tie), keep the two strands together, raise them up, wrap around your finger, and pull back thru to the front. You want a nice firm, but not tight, knot. Once all of your fringe is knotted you are finished. Tie all of the knots the same way on each side of the blanket.
Distribution: Many of the women at the event signed up to take a blanket and deliver it. We had a sign-up sheet so they could list the recipient and prevent any duplicate deliveries. Extras were given to our Senior Adult Pastor along with a copy of the distribution list. Blankets for the children were taken to the shelter.
Personal touches: A team of our “scrapbook ladies” made beautiful tags for each blanket that let them know they were from our church and women’s ministry. We folded each blanket, tied with ribbon, and attached a tag.
Consider: Prepping the materials in advance. Our team of about 8 women spent over 3 hours sorting, matching, and sizing the fleece (matching patterns and solids) prior to the actual fellowship.
Results: We received an overwhelming number of thank you notes from this project and the participants just loved it! Our team would love to do this again sometime!
You may also want to read:
Bless them with Band-Aids
60 Service Project Ideas
Encouragement: Blessing Bags
Mission Project: Pillowcase Dresses
Who is God asking your women ministry to adopt?
Hello, are there any videos to watch how to make those blankets or any of the projects you do?
Terrie, that’s a great question! It’s been years since I’ve helped assemble these. I feel confident that a quick search on YouTube will yield some videos that will help. I’ll definitely keep it in mind in the future though.
This is an interesting project worth sharing with my women’s group. I just wish there was a photo of the blanket to go with the directions above. Just a suggestion. God bless you Ladies in your God -honoring project.
Great suggestion Linda! Wish I had some photos of the blankets in process to add to the post. If/when I make them again I will be sure to take pics and add them.