When I was 13, my best friend and I googled “fun things to do at a sleepover.” The number one suggestion was to make a tie blanket. My mom took us to the craft store just before closing to buy yards of patterned fleece: mine a dark blue paisley, my friend’s a cartoon succulent pattern.
Learning how to make a tie blanket has served me well. In high school, I spent an evening cutting, tying, and stretching fleece into blankets to donate to a nearby nursing home. When I worked at a summer camp, my cabin of fifth grade girls chose a pattern with yellow labradors on it for a small tie blanket to be donated to a local animal rescue. (I didn’t tell the girls that our dog-patterned blanket was actually going to a turtle in rehab.)
No matter how many times I’ve made a tie blanket—which seems abnormally frequent—the fleece was purchased at JOANN Fabric and Craft Store. It has always seemed the most convenient, economically reasonable choice for craft supplies…