Stefanie from The Style Safari is back for another DIY nursery project! Whether you’re a mom or dad-to-be or are simply looking for just the right gift for an upcoming baby shower, Stefanie’s custom blanket tutorial will show you just how easy it is to personalize what’s sure to be a baby’s favorite blankie.
Stefanie: Making your own custom baby name fabric is such an easy way to personalize your nursery or make a sweet custom gift for an expecting loved one. I make custom reversible baby blankets for all my friends’ babies using Spoonflower’s Minky fabric, and everyone always loves them! Get creative with your custom name fabric and use different fonts and fabrics to make crib sheets, wallpaper, pillows and more to really personalize a space.
Materials
- Adobe® Photoshop®—You can download a free 7-day trial here
- 1 yard of Minky for the front featuring your custom name design
- 1 yard of Minky for the back featuring your favorite Spoonflower design—I’m using Roses // Black and White Florals Flower by andrea_lauren
- Satin trim
How to Make a Personalized Baby Blanket
Step 1. Setup Your Design Canvas
Download a fun cursive font of your choice and get it loaded up into Photoshop. I find lots of free fonts on DaFont such as Mamae Que Nos Faz by Rafael Pereira.
Open up a new document in Photoshop®. I always like to start bigger so that I can still scale down in Spoonflower, so I’m creating a canvas that is 16″ x 16″ at 150 dpi.
Font tip:
Step 2. Create the Blanket Design
Start by using the Line tool to create your first colored stripe. As you create your second and third lines, use the Selection tool to drag the stripes to your desired distance apart. Photoshop® will automatically measure the distance between objects and show you the measurement so it’s easy to ensure that they are equidistant apart.
Step 3. Repeat the Stripes Down the Document
Select all three colored lines in your layers menu and copy/paste them all the way down to cover the remainder of your background. Feel free to crop or edit your background using the ‘Canvas Size’ dropdown in the ‘Image’ Menu if you need to add or remove length.
Photoshop Hack:
Step 4. Add the Baby’s Name
Create a Text Box and type in the name in your desired font. Drag it to your desired location on the page. It doesn’t matter where you start or decide to place it, but I’m starting in the middle, just a little off-center so that I can strategically place the name above and below in a cascading manner.
Step 5. Remove the Lines Under the Name
Zoom in close to the name where it meets your line. Go back to your line and copy/paste a version of that same line. Using the Selection tool, shorten the length of both lines so that they just reach the end of the text. For Marina’s name, there is one line that just meets up to the M, and the other that just starts at the Y. I’m creating one more copy and also cropping it to join the A and R.
Step 6. Repeat Steps 4 and 5 on Other Lines
Repeat this process for each color line you have, which for me, was 3 more times. However, due to the staggered look that I’m trying to achieve, I’m splitting up the first and last names for the final color (grey) so that it would look more seamless when it repeats. You may have to go back and move your original 2 text boxes to make it look more evenly spaced.
Step 7. Upload Your Blanket Design
Save your document as a JPG and then upload to Spoonflower! Play around with the DPI to get the size you like, and use the ‘Basic’ repeat functionality to make it look best. Once you’ve arranged your fabric details to your liking, order 1 yard of Minky in your design and another yard in your favorite Spoonflower design.
And just like that, you’ve added a personalized touch to your DIY nursery. If you’re feeling inspired to design the fabric for the back of the blanket, you don’t want to miss this helpful seamless repeat tutorial using Photoshop®.
How to Turn Your Personalized Fabric Into A Blanket
Now that you’ve designed your personalized fabric it’s time to turn it into a baby blanket! Using your personalized fabric and Spoonflower-designed fabric, follow these steps to make a self-binding blanket. This blanket uses Satin and Minky, but you can use your 2 Minky yards and Satin trim.
ooh wow! thank you so much for this tutorial. I am looking into expanding my product line and this looks amazing. I currently embroider on 100% cotton blankets in Sydney, Australia.
https://www.thelittlehub.com/collections/knitted-blankets
Whoa this is so cool. I wonder if I can do this with an existing blanket? I bought one for my niece at http://www.baby-blanket.co with milk bottle design, but want to make it more personalized. I thought maybe embroidery or something might work? Or if I can use the Photoshop design to overlay and use it as a pattern?
Hi Kimberly,
You could certainly print a smaller piece of the custom name fabric like an 8″ swatch and stitch it on top of the existing blanket in one of the corners to create a personalized blanket!
Hello,
I absolutely love Spoonflower! Unfortunately I do not sew myself or make the projects myself. I was wondering if the fabric shown on this minky baby blanket can be customized for me?
Hi Victoria,
Great question! There are lots of designers in the Spoonflower Marketplace who offer custom name fabric. For example, designer Heather Hight can customize one of her baby blanket designs. Once logged into your Spoonflower account, you can send them a message directly from their shop to request a custom name design. I hope that helps, but if you have any more questions don’t hesitate to ask!
Thank you for the tutorial; do you have instructions on how to make the blanket itself, with the satin trim?
Hi Sarah,
You can find a tutorial for a self-binding Minky and Satin blanket here! I hope that helps, but if you have any more questions don’t hesitate to ask! – Meredith
So then Spoonflower will print it on fabric? Sorry, I’m new.
Barbara
We sure will! You can learn more about Spoonflower’s process here. If you have any specific questions about the process, please don’t hesitate to send us a message at [email protected]