DIY Personalized Minky Baby Blanket with Tags!

Learn how to make an adorable personalized minky baby blanket with tags and Cricut Infusible Ink for that perfect custom baby gift!

There are finally new babies in our extended family, yay! My youngest is 10 years old so it’s been a while since we’ve gotten to love on a baby.

And then this year, two of my cousins are pregnant and one just had their sweet baby so of course I had to make her some cute DIY personalized baby gifts! Nothing is more fun than making gifts for babies, am I right?

Since my youngest loved his minky baby blanket, I knew a few baby security blankets were at the top of my list. (He loved his baby lovey so much that I made six of them because he took one everywhere and would lose them which would cause huge issues!)

This time around I wanted to see if I could use Cricut Infusible Ink to make custom minky blankets because I didn’t want iron-on vinyl to peel off from all the washings, and I am in LOVE with how they turned out!

Using Infusible Ink was so easy on the minky soft fabric and it is vibrant and permanent, woo hoo! I also wanted to add tags to the baby blanket to give the baby more color and items to play with.

I am not known for my sewing skills, so this tag blanket is a great beginner’s project. All you need to do is sew straight lines! I even have a full YouTube video (link at bottom) you can watch if you prefer to watch the DIY baby taggie blanket steps in action.

What is a Tag Blanket and a Minky Blanket?

A tag blanket/ taggie blanket/ taggy blanket/ ribbon blanket (whatever you want to call it!) is a small baby blanket (or baby lovey) that has ribbons all around the outside borders. This makes it easy for a baby to grab and hold on it and also provides for extra color and different textures.

A minky baby blanket is made out of minky fabrics that are 100% polyester and are super soft and cuddly. Minky blankets can be big or small, it’s all about the super soft minky fabric that’s used.

So we are going to mix the best of both worlds and make a cuddly and soft minky tag blanket for just a few dollars. And since minky fabric is 100% polyester, it works really well with infusible ink.

I actually made two different baby tag blankets. I have the steps of how to make the Minnie Mouse custom minky blanket on this post and a link to how I made the taggie blanket with a stacked name on my YouTube channel.

Materials Needed for Minky Blanket Baby

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• minky fabric – 2 13×13 square pieces– I am making 13 inch tag blankets so I purchased 1/3 yard of two different contrasting colored minky fabrics from my local Joanns Fabrics. One has the raised bumps on it and the other one was flat and white so the Infusible Ink would stand out (use your Joann’s coupons if they are not on sale!)
• ribbons – 20 pieces of 4 inch long ribbons. I used 4-5 different colored ribbons in different widths. I attached 5 tags to each 4 sides.
• matching thread, pins, sewing machine, lint roller
• Cricut Explore Air, Cricut Maker, or even the Cricut Joy
• Infusible Ink – I used the dark pink sheet and a black sheet
• Cricut EasyPress large and mat
• Cricut mini or iron
• butcher paper (should come in Infusible Ink box)

Designing Personalized Minky Baby Blanket in CDS

I had the Minnie Mouse ears with bow file already so my lovey blanket will look slightly different than the one I am explaining below (it has a slight edge on the bows) but the steps are the same.

I will be showing you how to design the monogram off an image you can find in Cricut Access. If you want one similar to the one I used and upload it to Cricut Design Space, you can find it on Etsy here. Or use our free baby feet SVG files to make a blanket with.

Also, if you are new to CDS, make sure to check out my series of Cricut Design Space 101 tutorials to get started.

On a new canvas, I clicked on Images on the left side and then typed in Minnie Mouse in the search bar. This is the image I will be using for this tutorial.

The first thing I did was hide (or you can delete it) the polka dots layer (unless you want them!).

Since I will be using Infusible Ink and I only want to press it once so the colors don’t fade, I needed to slice out the bow. I just selected the ears and bow and then clicked on Slice. Delete off the extra copy.

Now you’re left with just the bow and the outline where the bow will go.

Then I needed to personalize the Minnie Mouse head so I added a text box.

I selected Disney Mickey font which I had from an old cartridge (Yes, I’ve been using a Cricut for about 10 years when cartridges were a thing!). If you can’t find it, there are a couple of really good Disney fonts you can get for free personal use.

I used two different text boxes so I could make the middle name smaller. I sized them to fit inside the Minnie Mouse head like I wanted, then selected both names and clicked on Weld.

Then I made sure the name was centered usually the Align dropdown.

With both the head and name selected, I clicked on Slice. Note: Slice won’t work unless you have welded the two lines of words together. Now the name will be the same color as the minky fabric (white).

Delete off the two layers of names. Or if you want to use a different colored Infusible Ink for the name, save one of the copies and cut it out!

Then I grouped everything together (clicked on group) and sized the image to fit on my baby tag blanket.

I ended up making it about 10.5 inches wide.

Once you click Make It, make sure to toggle Mirror On on each mat since we are cutting out Infusible Ink.

Prepping Minky Fabric for DIY Tag Blanket

As I mentioned above, I purchased 12 inches of two different fabrics, but they cut about 13 inches. I cut each strip so that I had a square of each fabric that was 13×13 inches.

Then prewash all the fabric. This helps get some of the fuzziness off of it and also makes sure it won’t shrink after it’s made.

Applying Infusible Ink to Soft Cuddly Fabric

Just to make sure the Infusible Ink would work on the minky blanket baby, I tried a few different colors of transfer sheets on the white soft fabric and they all worked great!

I even tried it on the dark pink dotted minky fabric and you can see what the black infusible ink looks like. It works but is not very vibrant and doesn’t transfer under the dot edges very well.

Ok, so now it’s time to cut the Infusible Ink out with a Cricut. Place the Infusible Ink transfer sheet with the ink side UP on a mat. Cut out the image.

For the bow, I wanted more of the dark pink of the transfer sheet I had so I moved the image over on my Prepare Screen so it matched with where the color was on my mat.

I usually turn my EasyPress 2 on while the Cricut is cutting. I ended up setting mine to 385F for 60 seconds which worked great for me!

Remove the transfer sheets from the mat and trim around the image edges. Then bend the sheet a little so it cracks and then use your fingers to peel off the extra.

This is what my monogram Minnie Mouse head looks like after I weeded it. As I mentioned above, if you are using the image from Cricut Access and not the Etsy one you won’t have the outlines on the top or middle of the bow.

In order to press the entire image at once, I peeled off the bow pieces from it’s backing and placed them on the Minnie Mouse head backing where they go. They fit right in!

I put my EasyPress 2 mat on my table and then put butcher paper on top of it to protect my mat. Then lint roll the fabric you are putting the personalization on. Roll it all in one direction!

Preheat the fabric for about five seconds and then center and place the image ink side down on the minky fabric. The name will appear the correct way!

Place two pieces of butcher paper on top off the image to protect your press.

I used NO Pressure with my EasyPress 2 set at 385F for 60 seconds. I just placed it on top and left it there for 60 seconds. Try not to move it!

After 60 seconds, raise the press directly straight up and off. Then remove the butcher sheets and the transfer sheet backing once it’s cool to the touch.

So pretty! There will probably be a little edge around where the backing was. I used my fingers and rubbed it back and forth and then placed the butcher paper back over the image and glided my press all around the fabric.

How to Sew a Tag Blanket

Let’s start sewing this taggies blanket! As I mentioned above I cut 20 different 4 inch long piece of ribbons in all different colors and widths. Whatever I had on hand!

I lined the personalized side up in the middle of my mat so I knew where the middle was. Then I folded the ribbon with the wrong sides together and pinned it flush with the top of fabric in the middle. Then I pinned two more folded ribbons on each side of the center one.

I kept going around, starting with the center ribbon first, and pinning the rest of the ribbons on.

Now sew a 1/4 in seam allowance down each side of the baby blanket to hold the ribbons in place.

Remove all the pins.

Time to pin the other side of the blanket on! Place face down so the right sides are together. Minky fabric tends to move some when sewing so the more pins the better.

I aligned them in one corner and started pinning across.

You’ll need to leave a 3 inch gap on one side of the lovey blanket to turn it inside out. Use pins or clips to make sure you know where to leave it open!

If there is extra fabric down one side of one of the pieces, you can trim it off. I ended up having excess pink and had to cut about 1/2 inch off.

Now you need to sew 1/2 inch seam allowance all the way around the perimeter of the baby minky blanket making sure to back stitch to reinforce the opening on each side of the 3 inch gap.

I started on one side of the opening, stitched a couple stiches, then backstitched to reinforce, and then stitched all the way around (lifting my lever and turning on corners) until the other side of the 3 inch opening. I backstitched at that point too and then cut my thread.

I know some of you will scold me for not removing my pins while I sew, I know, I know! Sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t, but the recommendation is to remove them while you sew so your needle doesn’t break.

But if you are like me and didn’t do that, remove them now! And then trim your corners. This helps the corners lay flatter (just make sure not to cut the thread!)

Now turn the DIY taggie blanket right side out by pushing the fabric through the opening.

Now you can see all the tags sticking out! I used a ruler and gently pressed it in my corners push the points out.

Now you’ll want to press the edges and the 3 inch opening together. Then use some pins to pin it close. I used medium setting on my Mini.

Almost done with our baby blanket with tags! One more time to the sewing machine. Now you need to sew a 1/4″ seam allowance all the way around the entire edge. This will close up the 3 inch gap!

That’s it! Now the baby blanket gift is all ready to give! I paired the DIY lovey with a birth stat elephant or you could always make a birth stat aluminum sign with matching Infusible Ink or a beautiful monogram shadow box.

I made two, they both had the same pink minky side but I used different ways to add the names on the baby blankets.

You can find the full YouTube tutorial on how to sew a tag blanket and design the stacked name one on my YouTube channel.

I definitely think handmade baby blankets should be among the best baby gifts! Make sure to browse through my roundup of over 15 homemade baby gift ideas for even more inspiration.

Here are some printable directions on how to sew a taggie blanket for babies.

If you’d like to save this tutorial on how to make a baby lovey for later, simply hover over the top left of the image below and PIN It now!

Thanks for stopping by and have a creative day!