Baby Blanket with Double-Needle Stitching

Told you I've been in full baby-prep mode lately. We don't know if we're having a boy or a girl. We didn't know with our first baby either, but I made a bunch of girl things I never used. Unfortunately, they're in storage with most of our other household things, so I just had to make a girly blanket on the chance that the baby is a girl!

My mom picked out the fabric and I love it! I love elephants and I love pink and green together. I used a new-to-me technique to finish the edges and emphasize the pink and green colors--double needle stitching.

I used the tutorial found here. Here are some highlights from my own struggle with double-needle stitching.

First, take both colors of thread and put them on top of your machine. You'll probably need to wind one onto a bobbin to make them fit on the thread post. (Note: you only need ONE BOBBIN--just like normal--to use a double needle.) Also note, you need a double needle. I don't think I mentioned that. They're super cheap; mine came with the last set of needles I purchased for my machine.

Next, I just threaded the machine like normal, even though I had two threads. I separated them at the end to thread through either needle at the double needle point (does that make sense??)

It worked really well. For a while. This is the result toward the beginning:

Then I started to struggle. The threads became tangled and would often just get stuck. Each color broke at least once. I'd have to stop, cut the thread, unthread the whole thing, and then re-thread. I probably had to cut and rethread about 6 times. But I got through it!

This is what the double-needle looks like from the back:

I added a little ribbon tag to the edge of the blanket. I thought it would be cute.

My conclusion on the double-needle: I think I'm missing something when I thread the machine. I don't know what causes all the tangling, but it was frustrating. I will probably only use this technique on short seams until I can find some guidance.

I do love how the blanket turned out and am super excited to find out if I will be using it for a little girl! I will say that not knowing the baby's gender prior to birth saves me money but not time. I think I do twice as many sewing projects to prepare for either option.