diy anthropologie throw

For years, whenever I go into Anthropologie (after browsing the sale room, since that's really the only part of the store I can afford), I have been lusting after their blankets and bedding. This particular blanket, the Quirky Heirloom Throw, has always been my favorite.

My general rule of thumb is that if I can make it, I won't buy it. This usually applies to scarves, hats, and super simple blankets. When it came to the heirloom throw, I was pretty convinced that I did not have the skill to make it myself. And, at almost 200 bucks, I was also pretty sure I couldn't afford it.

Out of curiosity one day, I started poking around google to see if anyone had attempted to make one. Anthropologie DIYs are pretty common, and I had made some curtains based on these, so I figured I would look to see what was out there.

And lo and behold. I found this page on Gwen's Nest! And this blanket for sale on Etsy! And this version from Diana Elizabeth! 

At that point, I knew it was possible. 

I started by crocheting flowers. Tons and tons of flowers, most based on patterns I collected here on Pinterest.

But once I had those, I was faced with the question of how, exactly, those flowers would become a blanket. 

So, naturally, I spent days crocheting a whole blanket in a fisherman's net stitch. However, after laying out my flowers, I was less-than-happy with the results.

I had hoped the blanket would look more like one coherent piece, rather than a bunch of flowers tacked on to a blanket that was totally not related.

I turned again to google, trying to figure out exactly how the original Anthro blanket was made. After some searching, I discovered a thing called "freeform crochet," which I think is somehow related to Irish Crochet which is somehow related to crochet lace. All things I was (am) totally unfamiliar with. But I knew it was a style I wanted to emulate. I loved how the flowers in the original were flush with the background, how they looked as if they were crochet in as the blanket itself was made. 

After watching 30 seconds of this ten-minute video, I decided I was an expert and got started.

And look at the difference! Here on the left is a corner as I originally had it: flowers waiting to be sewn on to a blanket. But on the right, you can see my first-ever attempt at freeform crochet, which actually incorporates the flowers into the creation of the blanket.

Basically, freeform crochet--or my weird, amateur version of freeform crochet--is created by pinning the flowers in place, decided where you want your corners/borders to be, and using a series of chains and single, double, and triple crochet, filling in the spaces in between. For many of the spaces, I still used the traditional fisherman's net stitch, which made round, scalloped shapes. For others, I used a combination of chains and double or triple crochet, which made the more square netting. As I got better, I started to "outline" a section in a single crochet chain and then fill it in.

For this, crochet chains ended up being the most important. I would make a chain long enough to reach to the next closest point, on an outline, or on a previous row of stitches. I filled in each section by just criscrossing chains from point to point, or sometimes back in on itself. 

Ideally, I would have had a large project board the size of my finished blanket, about 60x50, where I could pin the entire project and move around to each of the sections to crochet them. Of course, no one has anything like that. So, in my parents' dining room, on top of two tables (which were slightly different heights, so that was fun), I taped off my corners and taped my flowers, so I had at least some idea of measurements. As you can see, it was a pretty professional setup.

I worked section by section in a vaguely horizontal way, removing each set of flowers, pinning them onto an old rug, and then removing and repinning the rug as needed to move around the blanket. I was pretty careful to measure distances between flowers, sides, and corners, but ended up with slightly not-straight sides. Using *ch 3 1 sc in ch sp*, I filled in the sides until it was roughly rectangular. 

I finished with two rows of single crochet border around the outside, to kind of square it off. I planned to add tassels, as in the original, but felt that we were better off without.

And here we are, three weeks and two seasons of Buffy later.