Color your own blanket: how it works, step by step

What is a color your own blanket?

A color your own blanket is a soft throw printed with line art and sold uncolored, with fabric markers to fill it in. You choose every color, shape by shape, like a coloring page you can sit under. Ours is about 59 x 50 inches and comes with 24 washable markers in the box.

The drawing is already printed, so you color it rather than draw it. If you would rather sketch your own picture on plain fabric, our DIY coloring blanket page explains the difference. If you like the printed version, see the blanket and its designs.

Step 1: choose a design

Start with the design, because it decides how much coloring you take on. We sell seven, all printed on the same soft polyester blanket:

• All on a black background: every design is white line art on black. The dark ground is already there, and your colors sit on the white shapes.
• Seven subjects: Garden Blooms, Bakery, Fruit Market, Country Market, Cat and Mouse, Little Monsters and Retro Tech.
• Most detailed: Garden Blooms, with flowers and leaves from edge to edge.

Which design should you pick?

A dense design like Garden Blooms suits someone who enjoys small, careful work over many evenings. Bigger objects, like the pies and mice of Cat and Mouse or the cakes of Bakery, are quicker to fill and easier to share around a table. You can see every design side by side on our designs page.

Step 2: color with fabric markers

Use the 24 washable fabric markers that come in the box. They are fabric markers, made to be used on the blanket, so you have everything you need from the first evening.

Lay the blanket flat on a table rather than on your lap, so the fabric does not move under the tip. Work one area at a time and put the cap back on each marker when you switch colors. There is no rule about filling every shape: leaving parts white is a look of its own.

We have not tested other brands on this blanket, so we cannot tell you how they behave in the wash. Our guide on which markers to use covers the included set and the options.

Step 3: wash and start again

According to the manufacturer, the ink of the included washable markers comes out in a regular machine wash, so you can color the same design again with a new palette. The manufacturer gives no temperature, dryer or ironing setting, and we have not tested it ourselves.

Read our guide on how to wash a coloring blanket before the first wash. If you finish a version you want to keep, the permanent fabric markers option, $9.99 extra per blanket, is made for colors that stay. It is the opposite of the washable set, not a refill.

Where can you buy a blanket you can color?

You can buy one here: one blanket with 24 washable markers for $39.99, with free shipping anywhere in the US. It is delivered in 2-3 weeks and ships from the manufacturer's warehouse. For Christmas, order by December 1.

Other shops sell coloring blankets too. Before you buy one anywhere, check four things: the size, whether markers are included, how many there are, and what the seller says about washing. We compare those points on our best coloring blanket page.

If it is not what you expected, you can return it within 30 days of delivery. Return shipping is paid by the customer; details are on our shipping and returns page.

Doodle blanket, color me blanket: same idea

Doodle blanket and color me blanket are other names for the same thing: a blanket printed with line art that you fill in with fabric markers. Shops use different words, but the product works the same way.

Some people also say doodle blanket for plain fabric they draw on freehand. Ours is not that: the design is printed and you color inside the lines. For the freehand route, see our DIY coloring blanket page.