How to add a fabric backing to a crochet blanket

It took me ages to develop my own way of backing blankets. The first blanket I put a backing on was my harry potter blanket, because I found an awesome duvet cover with a stag head on and it was just perfect to symbolise Harry's patronus!

It took a long while of this duvet cover sitting and staring at me to work out how I could attach it - most crochet blankets get backed with fleece and I had read blog posts about people destroying their work by trying to use sewing machines! So, in the end, I decided I would add the backing before I did the border of the blanket, that way the fabric could be incorporated sturdily! I made this blanket 4 years ago and the backing is still firmly attached even though it has been through the wash many many times. It's still my favourite blanket for snuggling under on chilly days.

I thought I would share the process with you as I back my happy hounds blanket, because once again, I have found the perfect duvet cover to be the backing!

The patterns for the happy hounds blanket can be found here!

The first step is to join all the squares together and complete a border of single crochet around the entire blanket. You can find out what join I used in my joining blog post here.

The next thing I did was cut my fabric to size, I laid out my fabric, put the blanket on top and trimmed until the fabric was just a smidge larger than the blanket as I wanted to hem the fabric to stop it from fraying. (image 1)

The next step is to fold all the raw edges of the fabric in and iron them so they say folded. you can also pin or clip them to be sure they will stay put!

This bit feels like it takes forever on a big blanket but it's worth it, I promise! Stitch around the edge of the fabric using a blanket stitch in the yarn you are using for your border. (image 2)

Next, lay your neatly edged fabric down with your blanket on top. Now we are going to use a method known in quilting as "tying". You are essentially going to do a giant running stitch up your blanket! With a piece of yarn that is at least the 1.5 times the length of your blanket threaded on your needle, start in the middle a little way in from the bottom. Insert your needle into the crochet side, through the fabric and back up through to the crochet side, you want the length on the fabric side to be as small as possible. Move up a large section of the blanket and repeat. (image 3)

The next step is to pull the thread so that he running stitch is very loose (image 4) then cut all of those long, loose stitches in the middle and tie into knots (image 5)! I like to weave the ends of these knots into the crochet, this gives the blanket a nice strong bond.

The final step is to go back to that blanket stitch border. Run a round of single crochet (double crochet in UK terms!) all around the blanket, picking up the edge of the crochet and also the blanket stitch loops! This will join those edges together and then you can continue on to your crochet border! I decided to join the tow layers with silver grey, the same colour I used for my joins then I did a candy cane border with my two background colours and the grey!

Ta da! one blanket backed with fabric for extra super duper warmth and snugglyness! It is a bit of a process, but it is so very worth it! If you decide to back your project using my method do tag me on Instagram or Facebook, I love to see what you are all making!