Two weeks after Miles was born, I tucked, wrapped, and buckled my new newborn into his carseat and drove 20 minutes back to the hospital where I'd delivered him. It was the first time we'd ever driven anywhere together, just the two of us. In my memory, it was snowing a little. We arrived early to the support group for new mothers. I was so tired, anxious, and distracted by the baby (who stayed sweetly asleep in his carseat the whole time) that I could barely pay attention during the meeting. I left not sure if I would go back for the next one.
To make a long, challenging, and beautiful story shorter, I did go back, again and again. The other mothers I met there helped usher me into new parenthood with grace, humor, and friendship – and I grew to treasure our weekly visits in the hospital's conference room.
I had to forfeit my attendance once February began and my maternity leave ended. But my mom friends and I text each other, message, leave comments on Facebook. And when daycare is closed and I know I'll be home with Miles on a weekday, I reach out and see who's going to be around. We usually meet up at parks – we have our favorites – and everyone unfurls her own blanket onto grass or wood chips. The blankets overlap a little so our babies can crawl or lean into or be passed from lap to lap, and as more of our friends arrive (tardiness always understood and immediately forgiven) our space grows, a flotilla of connected blankets brimming with sunscreen and stuffed animals and snacks. I'm so grateful for the afternoon hours I can still spend with them and their children.
SO! Last time Miles and I visited with them, one of our stroller blankets (which has a sort of sherpa fleece-y side) was dragged home clogged with wood chips. It was a pain to clean and wash, and I decided to sew a picnic blanket to use for the next visit. It's already proven perfect for use in our dewy backyard because...one side is waterproof!
And get this – it's because the other side of the picnic blanket is a shower curtain liner.
This is how I made it!
You will need:
- A big piece of fabric, a big piece of batting, and a new shower curtain liner (These three should all be cut to the same size. Our blanket turned out to be roughly 3'x5'.)
- Contrasting thread
- Straight pins
- Sewing machine & basic sewing skills
A few notes before we begin: When you're cutting the shower curtain liner to match the size of the fabric and batting, I recommend discarding the edges that have holes for the curtain rod and/or weights to help the curtain hang. You won't need these.
Also, if you'd like your picnic blanket to be machine washable, choose a machine washable shower curtain liner, and wash and dry it, the fabric, and the batting before you start. (Our blanket has survived so far with just wiping to clean.)
Let's begin!
Lay out the three big pieces like this: fabric right side up; shower curtain; then batting.
Pin and stitch around the blanket, leaving one section (at least a foot) unsewn. See below.
Turn the blanket inside out through the opening you left.
Do what you can to make the corners as pointy as possible. I don't mean to scare you, but my wife Kristie (who was watching) did liken this part to putting a duvet cover onto a comforter!
Turn your attention to the open portion. Fold the raw edges in and pin in place. Add more straight pins as needed to the edge of the blanket, and top-stitch all the way around.
At this point, I used more straight pins and plotted out rough lines along which to sew and quilt the blanket a bit.
Can you tell in these pictures that the thread is turquoise? I thought about using neon green, but decided to choose from what I had on hand instead of driving back to the store.
Kristie helped me take these pictures on Mother's Day morning. It had been raining the day before, and I was grateful we could still be outside even though the grass was wet.
Lately, after I get home most afternoons, we head outside. I spread out this blanket and deposit Miles with a few toys while I water the garden (which, by the way, is really floundering, I'm sorry to say). I can't wait to see my mom friends and their babies again, for so many reasons – least of which is to use this blanket, but at least next time we won't bring half the playground home with us!
