How I make a Kimono Blanket

This is my no-batting, super-easy and fast blanket. It takes me about 2 hours (if I already have kimono fabric ready!), and the backing is about a yard by a yard.

I get old Kimonos and unpick them.  They unpick into lovely long strips of fabric.  It is wonderful!  I throw them in the washing machine and let them oak in hot water before I run the regular cycle.  Sometimes the old kimonos smell musty.  And, if it destroys the fabric, then it is one I didn't want to use anyway.  In all the kimonos I've done, I think there was only one fabric that was really not useable.  Some turn out to be a different kind of fabric than I was expecting, so some of those get put aside for other things.   I run them through the dryer as well.  No one wants a blanket that needs special care!

Once my kimono fabrics are all clean and ready, I pick out colors I think will match and trim the strips to appropriate lengths.  I like to rip them rather than cut with scissors because I stink at cutting straight lines, and I'm impatient.  So I get about 7 strips together and then choose my backing.  I think flannel is the best for this sort of quilt because it gives it a bit of weight and makes it snuggly.

Sometimes I can't decide.  Do I want the dark green for the back?

Or the more yellow green?

(I went with the darker green. )

I am a cheater.  I will own that.  I use this stuff because it is marvelous. 

But no one will ship it here.  I can get this kind at the Daiso.  It really smells bad though.

Anyway, let's get started.....

I lay my flannel on my ironing board and place my first fabric strip on top of it, with an inch of backing/border around the three sides.  It should be face UP.   (Sometimes it is tricky to tell which side if front and back with the kimonos.)

Then I use my magical adhesive spray to keep it in place. 

I take my second strip of fabric and place it face DOWN on top of the first strip.  

Then I pin it so the right edges are lined up.  Kimono fabric is a bit.... stretchy and slippery, so sometimes the pinning ends up being more of a suggestion.  Fortunately, it is a forgiving medium.

Then I sew down the right side.  (The left side stays unsewn till the end- hence the beauty of the adhesive spray.)

Back to the ironing board.  I unfold the freshly sewn strip.... 

And iron it open. 

Then I spray adhesive to hold it in place. 

I get my third strip of fabric and place it face down on top of the opened and sprayed-in-place second piece.  And pin it so the right sides are lined up.

Sew that line. 

And iron it open.   

Spray adhesive it to the flannel and continue till you use all your strips or run our of fabric.  You COULD be all scientific and measure it all out, but I like to live dangerously.  

Once all the strips are sewn to the flannel, I fold the backing edges over twice, and iron it.

I confess to being lazy, but I have learned that it is worth the time and effort to iron and pin the border! 

I pin the corners. 

Once all 4 sides are done, it is ready to sew. 

Stitch around the border. 

And here we are, all done! So pretty! 

And the back.  I could have used green thread, but I don't actually have any, and white matches everything, right?!