$3 Fleece Kids' Pancho

 i meant to post this earlier... if i had i would have titled it "rainy day craft"... or icy day craft since we actually had a full days worth of icy rain. technically this was made a month or so ago and at that time i would've titled it "WALMART hack"... but i've been busy with a few things and never blog what i intend to, when i intend to. so call it what you want. ;)


STEP 1. purchase (or dig out of your closet) a $2.88 fleece blanket from wally world.

STEP 2. (optional) cut off the outer stitching. you can leave it on, or you could use a seam ripper if you aren't in a hurry.
STEP 2.5... get your 11 year old daughter to help since she's the one who wanted a pancho like her sister has that i made the same way ;)

STEP 3. fold the blanket lengthwise. 

STEP 4. Cut off a foot from the end.

STEP 5. Measure kiddo's head. (22")

STEP 6. Take the foot of blanket you just cut off and fold it in half. (it's already folded in half from when you cut it, so now it should be four layers thick and will form a square--see step 7 picture)

STEP 7. measure from the fold, half of the head measurement (11") and pin.

STEP 8. have your kiddo hand-stich the seam. {hand-stiching is good for the soul} 

STEP 9. trim off excess.

STEP 10. fold in half so that you form a ring with the stitched seam inside. this will be the comfy, soft and warm collar.

STEP 11. back to the big piece of blanket/fabric... find and pin the center of the fold.

STEP 12. measure and pin a few inches from the center (red)pin on both sides. (i picked 8"-- that's 4" on either side of the center pin-- but basically you want about 1/3 of the head measurement.)

STEP 13. roughly measure a half circle from the pins (so about 14"... that's what was left of the 22" after marking off the 8") and mark with a few pins or mark with chalk.

STEP 14.  cut out the half circle shape ON ONE LAYER ONLY...

 ...then cut along the fold...

 ...when you open it up you should now have a gumdrop shape in the middle of a big square.

STEP 15. now, line up the seam of the collar with the flat part of the gumdrop opening. (this will be the back)

STEP 16. start pining the edges of the collar and opening together... start at the seam in the back and work your way around to the front. if the opening stretches bigger than the collar, don't worry, simply fold/pleat the extra fabric in the center front and pin in place. hand-stitch away!

STEP 17. turn right side out, fold the collar down halfway and you're done. slip it on and take a picture! :)

If you want to blanket stitch around the pancho edge you can, but the beauty of this blanket/fabric/pancho is that you dont have to. no unraveling. super comfy and cheap and it only takes about an hour to make (depending on how fast you and your kiddo sew). :)

Enjoy!

*for sizing reference, my daughter is 11 and wears sz 10/12 on top. this also worked for my other daughter who is 9 and wears sz 7/8.*