This week, we’re talking beginner blanket borders. How to finish off your blanket when you’re at the size you want, or almost there.
Adding a border can be the perfect option to hide a slightly wonky edge, or when bringing your yarn up the side changing colours, and even just giving it a pretty edge.
Over the years, I’ve made dozens of blankets, starting with an infinity granny square, and a scrap busting granny square, both of which became blankets for my dog. He loved yarn blankets so much! Eventually, as I learned more skills, I expanded into different types, but always loved my granny clusters!
Several years ago, I used up a terrible yarn that my mom gave me, that had no structure, or drape, so I put 2 strands together and it worked perfectly! Luckily, I had enough yarn left afterward to make a cute little beanie for a neighbour who was having a baby. I finished it with several rows of single crochet and then some scallops on the edge. I think it turned out nicely!
Border Styles
What about ruffles? I love the way this blanket turned out, right down to the ruffled border and I know my sister did too. It went right along with the buffalo check theme she did for my nephew’s nursery.
Scallops are so pretty on almost any blanket, like this one below. I do find they’re more feminine so I like to use them strategically, like for baby girl blankets, or lapghans with more feminine stitch choice, like this one below. Click the photo to go to the blog post.
I will also show you a fan style border, in part 3 of this series. Stay Tuned!
But, even with all of the options out there, I still love bordering in granny stripes! Even a simple blanket, like double or half double crochet can be so pretty when you add some simple rows of granny stripe to the outside. The blue one below was half double crochet, worked in the third loop, called camel stitch. See this post, to learn it.
Setting up your Border
To begin our border, continue using your same crochet hook recommended by your blanket pattern. I like to start my border with a full row of single crochet around the outside of the blanket, for a couple of reasons:
- It helps establish a complete row to help when adding a pattern over top, to know where to place your stitches.
- It adds a clean row of stitches that provide definition to your item.
At the corners, make 3 sc into the corner stitch on this first row.
When working along the sides (into the ends of the rows), I have learned that working 3 stitches over the end of 2 rows keeps my work flat. This works best when you’re crocheting rows of double crochet, but you may have to adjust if your double crochets are taller or shorter than mine. A blanket with a different stitch height will also need to be adjusted. Unfortunately, the blanket also may not reveal a wonky border until several rows later.
Granny Stripe Border
Row 2: begin with 2 chains, and then skip 2 stitches, then create a granny cluster, 3dc into that next stitch. continue skipping 2 stitches and granny cluster into the third.
When you get to the corner, I like to make 6 dc into the center of the 3 sc from the first row.
Keep working your way around the outside, and slip stitch to the top of the chains at the beginning of the row. Because I am generally working close to a corner when beginning and ending my row, I will often use the ch 2 as the last dc in the corner.
Row 3: chain 2, skip to the space between the clusters, work a cluster, repeat until you get to the corner, and work 6dc into the corner. Continue around.
Repeat row 3, until you’re satisfied with your border. You can play with the colours from your body, or switch to white, if your blanket is all one colour. The sky is the limit! I have done a 2 row border, or a 6 row border before depending on the effect I wanted. The cool part is if your blanket is a little bit small, you can bulk it up with a wider border!
Blanket borders are so much fun and you can use a simple blanket-style with a fancy border that can really take your blanket from pretty, to amazing.
This is border number 1 in a series of borders. Check out part 2, and part 3. I included some simple blanket patterns as well. Try them all out for yourself.
If you make anything from our tutorials, I’d love to see what your making, so tag us on Instagram, and I’ll share them to my stories!
Thanks so much for hanging out with me!
Much Love,
