Pretty much since my birth, I’ve had an acrylic blanket on my bed. You know, the kind with the 4-inch satin binding at the top and bottom that everyone seemed to have in the 70s and 80s. Since my earliest memory, I’ve had one of these blankets on my bed and I sleep clutching the binding in my hand - even now (yes, I know how weird that is). After about three nights of sleeping in a bed sans blanket, I start to sleep poorly. I know this is purely psychological, but there it is. My first blanket took me from ages 2 to 22, following me to college and my first apartment. It went on vacation with me, and on a stay at the hospital. I’ve even driven halfway across North Carolina to retrieve it after I carelessly left it in a hotel. Threadbare, worn through and fraying, it eventually fell to pieces in the late 90s. Luckily, I was able to just stroll into a store and find an almost identical replacement that has been on my bed ever since. Sadly, the replacement has now reached the end of its life and it’s time to find blanket number three.
To my surprise, this type of blanket does not appear to be made anymore! What the heck? I guess I just don’t buy bedding often enough to have noticed that all the new blankets are that horrid vellux or microfleece nonsense, which I find uncomfortable. I’m having major surgery in less than a month, and I’m getting a little desperate. I’ve scoured thrift stores and eBay and have not found anything. I even tried Craigslist, which was an exercise in futility, except for that nice man doing missionary work in Cameroon who was willing to send me an entire case of blankets. :dubious:
My requirements are pretty simple: queen size, 100% acrylic, nylon satin binding. Don’t care about color. If it helps, the manufacturer of the original blanket was Chatham, which was later purchased by WestPoint Stevens. (I have already contacted them, and they have been absolutely no help. They don’t make a similar product, have no plans to do so and there are no leftovers hanging out in a dim corner of the warehouse.) So what say you Dopers - have any other ideas on how to find it? Have one of these you’d be willing to part with?
Please help a sister out… in April I’m having a hysterectomy (at 35!) and reconstructive surgery that is expected to put me in the hospital for a week and on bed rest for a few more weeks. It’s going to be a long recovery without my blanket.
Okay, these aren’t necessarily acrylic, but they have that soft feel and the satin binding that you’re looking for. Just go to the Vermont Country Store web site and search for blankets. There are a few different options.
That would be awesome. If you locate it, name a price and I’ll PayPal you the money.
I have thought about sewing blanket binding onto a regular blanket, but I’m pretty set on acrylic. I don’t like the feel of microfiber, and I find fleece, polyester and wool to be too warm (and itchy!). If I could find a plain acrylic blanket somewhere, sewing on binding would be a viable option, but I can’t even find that so far.
That’s the thing - it needs to be acrylic. I’ve tried similar blankets in wool and other materials, and I just don’t like them. I know that beggars can’t be choosers, but we’re talking 35 years of habit at this point.
That was actually my first avenue when starting my search, but thank you for the suggestion. The majority of those search results do not link to sites that actually have any blankets in stock, or they are for baby/crib blankets. The only somewhat similar option is listed on the Blair website, and it’s also not close enough to what I’m replacing… the Blair blanket itself is the correct material, but the binding is a slick, shiny satin as opposed to the matte nylon satin I’m looking for. It may seem like a small difference, but it feels entirely different.
And yes, I absolutely know how nutty I sound. My poor husband has been searching for replacement blankets too, and is ready to throttle me. This is really just a last ditch attempt.
You’re right - I’ve found 2 that are exactly what I’m looking for. One has Care Bears and the other has kittens on it, but I don’t really mind that. The problem is that they’re both for twin beds and I’ve got a queen bed. I suppose I could buy both and sew them together if all else fails!
They’re close, but the satin is slick and shiny and the blanket itself is quilted. The blankets shown on that site as wool and polyester actually look almost spot on, they’re just the wrong material. I did email them though, just to see about pricing - they cater to the hospitality industry (hospitals, hotels, etc.), so I would need to but a case of any blanket I would order. Actually, if the blankets were what I was looking for, that wouldn’t be a horrible idea… I’d have a surplus of replacements!
I’ve seen the first blanket before and the banding on 2 ends only is perfect, but it’s 50% polyester which makes me all hot and itchy. That same seller is the one who has the Care Bear and kitten blankets listed though, and those are perfect other than size. I’ve emailed her to ask if she may have anything else in a queen size that she hasn’t listed yet. She seems to have a lot of those types of blankets available!
The second blanket would probably work. Unfortunately, I got to checkout only to discover that the seller won’t ship to the US. You’ve given me a good idea though - my husband is from the UK and still has family there, so I will try putting them on the case! I could also ship the blanket to one of them and ask them to then ship it to me. Explaining this to his 85 year old grandmother will be a hoot.
That same company has the identical blanket in a queen size.
It’s a shame they only sell ten at a time. 11 bucks each isn’t bad at all. I’d take two if you wanted to split an order together. Maybe some other posters want one or two also?
