I have a thing for vintage blankets, including nice, old wool ones. Here’s a secret of mine:

Don’t let those sorry looking wool blankets pass you by at garage sales and thrift shops. The edges may be uneven, frayed and sloppy, the color could be faded and uneven in spots–but otherwise the bulk of the blanket is intact and in great shape. By picking up these blankets for a buck or two and giving them a little TLC, you can have a chest full of great vintage blankets for pennies.

Just trim down the edges so that everything’s nice and even again and you can do a few things with them, including:

• Simply serge or hem the edges to prevent fraying (if necessary) and finish with a nice blanket stitch in a contrasting, but complementary color (say blanket is red, a black blanket stitch looks sharp!). This is a basic stitch that even the non-sewers can handle. Once everything’s cleaned up, use them as blankets in the car for road trips, picnic blankets or to cuddle up with when watching tv.
• Cover them in flannelette. This is one of my favorite things since nothing’s as cozy as a thick, soft, flannelette covered blanket.
• Use them for lap quilts. The wool blanket will probably outlast the quilt pieces.
• You can also tear up into pieces and Dye Wool Blankets to use in crafts.
• If you’d like to try something really different, here’s a pattern for an Indian Blanket Coat.

If the damaged ends have to be cleaned up, you’re not going to have standard sized blankets to use as bedding, but as you can see from above–they are nice additions and still quite useful for elsewhere around the house.

If you’re not sure how to do a blanket stitch, here are the instructions:

Bring needle up on the right side, hold thread under left thumb, insert needle about 1/4 inch to the right and bring it out through loop held by left thumb.

Source for Blanket Stitch Instructions & Picture:
Coats & Clark’s Book No. 129
Embroidery Including Transfers (1962)

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