quilts, blankets and afghans

QUILTS, BLANKETS AND AFGHANS
Community volunteers can help craft blankets, sew quilts or knit/crochet afghans. This project is a
wonderful way to provide warmth and comfort for our patients worldwide.
All quilts, blankets and afghans need to be appropriately sized for a child: 45" x 45" or 54" x 54".
Quilts should be made from lightweight cotton and must include light batting. Blankets can be made
from lightweight fleece. Light to medium weight cotton or acrylic yarn is preferred for afghans.
NO-SEW DOUBLE FLEECE BLANKET
Materials
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1-2/3 yds. of print micro-weight fleece
1-2/3 yds. of a solid micro-weight fleece
Tape measure
Safety pins
Sharp shears or scissors
Instructions
1. Cut your fabric so that it measures 54" square. Remove the selvages (machined edge.)
2. Place the fabric squares together, matching corners, with the right side of fabric facing out.
You can safety pin the pieces together to help keep fabric from shifting.
3. To create your “no-sew” blanket, you will cut a fringe and tie the pieces together.
4. Place fabric on a solid surface (floor/table).
5. Cut a 4" square from each corner.
6. Cut fringe 1" wide and 4" deep on all sides.
7. Use an overhand knot to tie the front and back fringe together. Start at one corner and tie
every other fringe. Be careful not to stretch the fabric.
8. Flip the blanket and finish tying all remaining fringe. Gently pull the knots to create a smooth
finish. This creates a tidy, no front or back look to your blanket.
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NO-SEW LIGHT WEIGHT FLEECE BLANKET
Materials
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1-1/2 yards of bright colored or printed micro-fleece
Tape measure
Sharp shears or scissors
Seam ripper
Instructions
1. Cut your fabric so that it measures 54" square. Remove the selvages (machined edge) and
even up all uneven sides.
2. To create a light-weight single layer “no-sew” blanket, you will cut a fringe and loop the fringe
through a small slit to create a finished edge.
3. Place fabric on a solid surface (floor/table.)
4. Cut a 4" square from each corner.
5. Cut fringe 1" wide x 4" deep on all sides.
6. Use a seam ripper to make a small slit at the top of each piece of fringe.
7. Feed the end of the fringe from the back side through the slit you made and pull through
gently to create a tidy, finished fringed edge.
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MACHINE QUILTED BLANKET
Materials
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1 1/4 yards printed decorative quilt fabric
1 yard solid color quilt fabric
Quilt batting
1 1/4 yards woven flannel
Large safety pins or needle and thick thread
1” masking tape
1 yard solid cotton fabric
Sewing pins
Sewing machine
Instructions
1. Cut a square from the decorative fabric, a little bigger than you intend for the finished quilt.
You can use the width of the fabric and make a 44" x 44" square. Cut squares of flannel and
batting – make sure they are just a few inches bigger than the decorative fabric.
2. Place the square of decorative fabric (the "quilt top") and center over the layer of light-weight
quilt batting. Take the fabric and batting and put them on top of the piece of woven flannel.
3. Use the large safety pins to baste or hold the layers in place. Or you can baste the quilt by
sewing long loose running stitches by hand.
4. Place a piece of masking tape diagonally (corner to corner) across the top of the quilt. Line
up the tape with the edge of the sewing machine presser foot, and use the tape as a guide to
stitch across the quilt. Use a larger machine stitch to look more like hand-quilting. Tip: To
keep stitching secure, start sewing just off the top fabric (in the batting), and end just off the
top fabric on the other end.
5. Remove the tape, then line it up against line just stitched, and stitch another line in the same
way; repeat, moving from the center out to the corners in both directions.
6. When you have finished machine-quilting the entire blanket, trim off extra batting and flannel
around edges of top fabric.
7. Cut 3 and ¾” strips of the solid fabric for the binding. Sew together end-to-end to make one
long strip that is at least 5 yards long. Press the strip in half lengthwise.
8. Pin raw edges of strip to the raw edges of the quilt, all the way around on the back of the
quilt (flannel side). Stitch the binding using a ½” seam allowance, mitering the corners.
9. Flip the binding over the raw edge of the quilt, and sew the folded edge to the front of the
quilt with a decorative stitch.
Adapted from “Simple Baby Quilt” instructions on marthastewart.com.
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KNITTED CHILD-SIZED AFGHAN AND CROCHETED CHILD-SIZE AFGHAN
Afghans need to be appropriately sized for a child: 45" x 45" or 54" x 54" using light to medium
weight cotton or acrylic yarn. For free afghan patterns and directions, please reference the following
sources who have kindly allowed us to link to their pattern directories:
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The Daily Knitter (www.dailyknitter.com/)
Knitting Pattern Central (www.knittingpatterncentral.com/)
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GENERAL SHIPPING INSTRUCTIONS
When you are ready to ship these items, please complete and submit the Service Project Inventory
Sheet to accurately record your efforts. We recommend that you collect donations or work with a
local business to cover the cost of packaging and shipping the supplies to Operation Smile.
Operation Smile
Attn: WAREHOUSE/Service Project
3641 Faculty Boulevard
Virginia Beach, VA USA
Complete and submit multiple forms if you are shipping several boxes of items. Include completed
inventory sheets in each box. Please place the inventory form on TOP of contents in the box.
Shipments of multiple boxes should be numbered: 1 of 3, 2 of 3, 3 of 3, etc. If you would like to
receive an acknowledgement for community volunteer efforts and the donation of supplies, please
clearly fill out the inventory form with your name, club or group information.
For your records, handmade items have the following values:
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Smile Bags $2.00 USD
Smile Dolls $5.00 USD
Hospital Gowns $5.00 USD
No-No Arm Bands $2.00 USD
Quilts, Blankets and Afghans $5.00 – $10.00 USD depending on materials
Smile Bags must be empty when shipped. Additionally, completed arm bands must be shipped
without inserts.
It is important when organizing your collection that no items contain religious symbols or markings
that may offend our patients’ cultural beliefs. We do not accept toys related to war or violence, such
as guns, military action figures, etc. Please keep copies of your inventory form(s) for your records.
Need more information? Email [email protected] or call 888-677-6453, Monday –
Saturday 8:30 a.m. – 11:00 p.m. EST, Sunday 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. EST for assistance.
GENERAL SHIPPING INSTRUCTIONS 1 of 2
COMMUNITY VOLUNTEER
SUPPLY DONATION INVENTORY FORM
Please complete the following information:
Contact Person & Title
Business, Group or Club Name
Address
City, State, Zip
Home Phone
Cell/Alternate Phone
Email
An email will be sent to confirm receipt of your donation to the e‐mail address above.
Item
Quantity
Item
Quantity
Total Donation Count:
Total Estimated Dollar Value:
Please use multiple inventory forms, if necessary.
Thank you to our Community Volunteers who are making a difference! You are helping to change a
child’s life by sharing your time, talent and resources.
GENERAL SHIPPING INSTRUCTIONS 2 of 2