Blanket With Built-In Hood

Two years ago I made a giant flag to show my support for the Wests Tigers using polar fleece material (Check out the flag in use in picture 2). My girlfriend absolutely loves the flag, not because of her love for the mighty Tigers but because it's massive (2m x 2.5m, about 6.5'x7') and warm - she often uses it during winter while lying on the couch, or out and about (picture 3).

I thought that I would make her a simmilar blanket, designed for use on the couch. The twist it has compared to any other blanket is that it has a hood built in, kind of making it a huge hooded poncho. After starting the project I came across this couch dress, which is similar in function, but mine just has a hood to keep you as covered up as possible (and it's a bit cheaper too).

The only tools required are a sewing machine and pins, the consumables are cotton thread (colour of your choice, will be hidden) and the polar fleece material (step 3).

Step 1 Design

The design of the blanket itself is of course non-critical - feel free to make it whatever size works for you.

The original flag I made was 2m x 2.5m (roughly 6.5' x 7'), because this was about the size I thought I would be able to wave around reasonably easily. "Testing" of this prototype of the hoodie blanket by my girlfriend showed that it was an excellent size for convering two people up close on a couch, and convieniently fits a queen sized bed perfectly for use as a spring/autumn (fall) blanket. Therefore I'll stick with a 2m x 2.5m size.

The flag used an alternating squares pattern of orange, black and white. The squares were 500mm per side. This seemed to make a faily pleasing design, so I went for the squares again, but I'll choose some different and a wider range of colours. Allowing for a 1cm wide hem around each edge, the squares end up being 520mm each side.

At this point I didn't have a set-in-stone design for the hood, just a general idea that it should go on the centre line roughly one square in from the end. This way when you've got it on and lying down it will still cover you from head to toe.

The hood will be cut with the squares adjacent to it.

Comments

[mattyew]

Just buy a SNUGGIE. just kidding.

[sgsidekick]

Or, if you're like me and tend to lose arguments with your sewing machine when you try to use it, you just buy enough of one pattern and sew it down the middle, adding the extra hood material towards one end of the seam. In the meantime, nice 'ible! Thanks!

[X_D_3_M_1]

where m i to get THAT MUCH FREAKIN FABRIC

[Ezza]

Dude You Rule! Go the Tigers! I live in the inner western suburbs of Sydney, really close to leichhardt oval.

[trialex]

Hey dude! Feel free to come up say hello at a Tigers game, I'd love to speak to a fellow Instructable user in the real world.

[theRIAA]

this gives me an idea! just get a huge pile of fleece fabric and put it in a corner! its a bean bag, spread it out and its a bed. fold it over and its a sleeping bag

[PetervG]

That's a lot of fabric!