How to join the c2c Animal Blocks together - Wildlife Graphghan CAL

Welcome to another week of the Wildlife Graphghan Crochet-along!

Now that we have crocheted all the animal blocks of the Wildlife Graphghan, let’s get started to join the pieces together!

Created out of 20 animal blocks, my blanket is pretty heavy. That’s why I have decided to use a sturdy, but not bulky join that will leave no gaps around the edges of the blocks. I have also wanted my seam to be invisible!

To achieve the criteria above, I chose to sew the c2c animal blocks using a variation of the Mattress Stitch!

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Sewing the blocks together is a bit time consuming, but I think it is worth it! I really love the way it came out!

I have not added a border around each block before sewing them all together, because the blanket it’s already huge. It also saved me some time and yarn. :)

After joining all the pieces together, I will add a border around the whole blanket.

If you have used the same background color for all of your squares, joining them this way, would give the impression of a blanket made all in one piece!

Layout and direction of joining the c2c blocks together

First of all, think about the layout of your Wildlife Graphghan! You are welcome to arrange your animals anyway you like! Lay all your animal blocks on the floor in the desired order and take a picture! This will be a great help when joining the pieces together!

I have started with the block in the left upper corner of the blanket with the Racoon, joining it horizontally to the Squirrel below him; then continued sewing it vertically to the deer at the right (see the arrows in the picture below).

(Leave the yarn end there, maybe you will need it later for other squares.)

I have joined new yarn and sewn together vertically the Owl at right of the Racoon, then horizontally the Owl and Deer Stag, as seen below.

I have continued this way until the first 2 rows of animals were all joined together, then added one by one the next rows of animals.

Note: This was the first time I have made a blanket sewing pieces together! If you know a better way to sew them together, go for it!

How to sew two C2C Wildlife Blocks together using the Mattress Stitch

1. Lay the first 2 pieces to be joined one below the other on the table/ a flat surface with the wrong side facing up, matching the stitches from one up with the stitches from the other. (You will sew the pieces on the wrong side!)

NOTE: Always match up the stitches on both sides! A great way to keep track of the stitches is to match up the 3 vertical hdc stitches of a c2c stitch from the first piece with the corresponding 3 vertical hdc sts of the c2c st on the other piece.

2. Tread a yarn needle with a long length of yarn in one of the background colors of the 2 pieces to be joined.



3. Insert needle into first st on the edge of the piece below (teal in my case). Make a knot to secure yarn. Going from front to back, insert needle into first st of the piece above (light blue here) (PICTURE 1 in the photo collage above!)

NOTE: For an invisible seam, sew the pieces together through the inside loops of the stitches of both pieces ( the furthest loop from you of the the piece below and the closest loop to you of the piece above .) Do not use both top loops of the stitches, because your seam will end up bulkier.

4. Insert needle from back to front into 2nd. St of the piece above, then into 2nd st of the piece below. (PICTURE 2 in the photo collage above!)
5. Insert needle from front to back into 3.rd st of the piece below, then into 3rd. St of the piece above. (PICTURE 3 in the photo collage above!)
6. Continue sewing in the same manner, going back and forth through the pieces until you reach the end of the squares. (PICTURE 4 in the photo collage above!)

Other Methods of Joining the Wildlife Animal Blocks

If you have made your Wildlife Graphghan using fewer animal blocks (meaning your blanket is not as heavy as mine), or if you do not want to sew your pieces together, you could also use other methods for joining the blocks.

A pretty and quite easy method of joining c2c blocks, would be to crochet them together using the Join Link, as seen in this Tutorial by the Crafty Mummy.

NOTE: Keep in mind that our blanket is made using c2c with the half double crochet, that creates shorter stitches as the dc used in her tutorial! So you will not chain 3 for each block on the edge, but alternate ch3 (for the blocks with the hdc sts standing) with ch2 (for the blocks where the hdc sts are laying as horizontal bars). This will keep the blocks at their actual width and will not distort the edges.

What method of joining would you use for your wildlife blocks? Will you add a border around your animal blocks before joining them together? Let me know in the comments below this post!

Be sure to check back next week for the last step of this CAL: making the Edging around the blanket and of course for the Final Reveal of my Wildlife blanket!

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Written Instructions and Pictures - Copyright © 2019 Kinga Erdem