How to Choose a Knit Throw Blanket

A good throw blanket is one of those things you don't think much about until you own a great one, and then afterwards, you’ll notice all the fine details that contribute to immediately noticeable differences in quality.

Most people buy on price and pattern alone; however, a handful of things decide whether a blanket actually feels good and lasts for years, and most of them never make it onto a product page.

In this guide

• TLDR: five factors
• The quick decision guide
• 1. Fiber: what the blanket is made of
• 2. Size: who and what the blanket is for
• 3. Design: what it looks like, and where it came from
• 4. Construction and feel: how the yarn becomes a blanket
• 5. Finishing: what happens after the knitting

TLDR: Five factors

Everything about choosing a blanket comes down to these, with more details below this section:

1. Fiber

Natural fibers like cotton and wool breathe, last, and soften with washing. On the other hand, synthetics like polyester or nylon are much more common and feel plush in store but will deteriorate in quality after taking them home. Within natural fibers, grade matters more than the label: "100% cotton" covers everything from short, coarse fiber to Egyptian and Pima, whose extra-long fibers spin into a smoother, stronger yarn that resists pilling for years. Same with wool, where finer merino is what makes it wearable on bare skin. 

Look for both the fiber type and the grade - we recommend premium natural fibers like Egyptian cotton and extra fine merino. 

2. Size

The wrong size is a common reason a blanket goes unused. 30 by 40 inches for a newborn which is enough to swaddle or tuck into a stroller. 36 by 48 for young kids or a travel friendly blanket for your lap. 50 by 60 for adults which is the standard size for throw blankets that covers couches, reading chairs, and other cozy areas.

3. Design

It’s the first thing you would notice about a blanket so first impressions matter! Most blankets carry generic or licensed prints made at scale while designs curated with intent subtly elevate the quality. 

Pick designs that match its use, whether it’s a piece meant to anchor a living room, complement your existing knits and textures, or act as a gift to a specific person or occasion. 

4. Construction and feel

A blanket with some heft usually feels well made the moment you pick it up, and a thin one usually doesn't. Most of that comes from construction, which is rarely mentioned on product pages, and contributes to some blankets leaving a luxurious feel while others feel just average.

Knit and woven are the two main ways a blanket is constructed and are noticeably different. A knit is looped yarn, giving stretch to drape over things like armrests, while a woven is crossed yarn on a loom, making a flatter and stiffer product. That's why knits are much more comfortable for lounging. 

Within a knit, the feel comes down to how thick the yarn is, how tightly it's twisted and spun, and how fine the machine's gauge is. Construction can seem complex, but we’ll explain further why two blankets made from the same fibers can feel nothing alike.

5. Finishing

Blankets manufactured in high volume without attention to detail come off the machine, get a quick overlocked edge, and ship. It feels acceptable when it’s brand new but then curls, shrinks, and pills within months. A well-finished blanket is washed so it settles to its true size, steamed flat and square, bound at the edges to hold up over years, and checked by hand for snags and loose ends before it leaves. Those steps only happen in small batches, which is also why the designs in a small run tend to be chosen more carefully. You feel the difference instantly when you hold both, even if you couldn't say why. 

Keep those five in mind and the decision gets a lot easier.

The quick decision guide:

1. Fiber: what the blanket is made of

Fiber is where quality starts, and it's the one thing every product page will tell you. The problem is that the label rarely tells you enough. 

Natural vs synthetic: Broadly, you should first choose between natural fibers and synthetics because they behave in opposite ways over time.

Synthetics like polyester, acrylic, and microfiber are engineered to feel plush in the store. That softness is real, but it's the best that blanket will ever feel. Synthetics trap heat without breathing, build up static, and pill and mat as the short fibers work loose. Natural fibers like cotton and wool do the reverse: they breathe, regulate temperature, and the good ones soften with washing instead of degrading.

Though, note that that's not a reason to never own a synthetic. A fleece for the car or something simple is fine, but they should be bought with the expectation that they won’t last for the long-term.

Not all cotton is the same: Within natural fibers, grade matters more than the label. "100% cotton" covers everything from the short, coarse fiber in a bargain towel to Pima and Egyptian cotton, whose fibers are two to three times longer. These longer fibers spin into a smoother, stronger yarn with fewer loose ends, so it’ll feel finer against skin, hold its shape through hundreds of washes, and pill far less.

Wool and merino: Wool works the same way, and most people's bad experience with wool comes from coarse fiber, not wool itself.

Itchy wool is a function of fiber diameter, measured in microns. Ordinary wool sits around 25 to 30 microns and most people feel it prickle. Merino is a breed known for fine fleece, but "merino" alone spans a wide range. Extra-fine merino is under about 19 microns, and at that fineness the fiber bends against your skin instead of poking it.

Beyond softness, wool holds air in its crimp, which is why a merino blanket weighs less than cotton at the same size and keeps you warmer. It also resists odor and stays warm when damp. Additionally, fabric care differ: wool wants a gentle wash and a flat dry, though a well-made merino knit is more machine-friendly than its reputation suggests.

So what should you look for?

For an everyday blanket that gets washed constantly, a receiving blanket, or anything a toddler will drag through the yard, ordinary cotton is fine and you shouldn't overpay for it. 

For a blanket you want to keep, look for the fiber grade, not just the fiber: long or extra-long staple cotton if you want something cool and substantial you can wash freely, or extra-fine merino if you want warmth without weight.

Biquette exclusively knits in Egyptian cotton, organic cotton, and extra-fine merino wool, made to order in our Long Island factory, and the fiber section of each product page names which.

2. Size: who and what the blanket is for

Size is the least glamorous but often overlooked decision. A blanket that's too small for the person using it is left unused. One that's too big for a baby is a nuisance in a stroller and a hazard in a crib. There's no universal right size, only the right size for the use.

Our three sizes

We knit in three sizes with each of them distinct for use cases and recipients.

• Mini, 30 in by 40 in. Meant for newborns and babies, our Mini Blanket is big enough to swaddle, lay down for tummy time, or tuck around a baby in a stroller or car seat without yards of fabric dragging on the ground. This is also the size most people mean when they say "baby blanket." We cover more use cases and phrasing from "newborn blanket size" to "crib size blanket" in our baby blanket size guide.

• Midi, 36 in by 48 in. Our Midi Blanket covers a crawling baby with room to spare, fits a crib mattress once a child is old enough to sleep with a blanket, works as a daycare nap blanket, and is still the right size for a five-year-old on the couch. If you're buying one blanket for a kid, this is it. It also makes a great lap blanket for an adult in a desk chair or the passenger seat as a travel blanket.

• Throw, 50 in by 60 in. Our Throw Blankets are full-sized for adults and covers one person from lap to shoulders on a couch or in a reading chair. The full size allows it to fold well over an armrest or the end of a bed when it's not in use.

If you're between sizes, we’d recommend to size up as the extra fabric can oftentimes elevate the look and comfortability.

3. Design: what it looks like, and where it came from

Design is the first thing anyone notices about a blanket and the last thing most buying guides talk about, probably because it feels like pure taste; however, there’s a practical way to look at it.

A design should have a purpose

Before pattern or color, ask what the blanket is for. A throw that lives on the couch year round has to sit with the rest of the room every day, so it should either anchor the space or agree with it, not fight it. A blanket for a nursery tends to be photographed, draped over a rocker, and eventually dragged around by a toddler, so it needs to look well both spread out and bunched up. On the other hand, a blanket that’s a gift should say something about the person receiving it and the occasion.

Once you’ve identified the design’s purpose, two things to check:

• How it looks folded. Most of the time a throw is folded over an armrest or the foot of a bed, showing a strip about a foot wide. A design that only works when the whole thing is visible and laid out isn’t a great, practical aesthetic.

• The back. A well-designed knit has a reverse or back side that's often a negative of the front or a clean two-tone version of it. In comparison, prints on synthetic or fleece blankets usually have a blank back.

Where most blanket designs come from

• Licensed prints: characters, sports teams, film properties. These sell on the license, not the design, and the blanket underneath is usually lower quality which doesn't last overtime.

• Catalog patterns: the plaids, chevrons, and Southwestern motifs that appear across a dozen brands at once. These are bought from pattern libraries or copied from prior seasons, but these can risk portraying a mass produced or inauthentic aesthetic. These are also increasingly designed by software, so you should carefully select designs with taste.

• Artist-drawn work: a person made a specific piece, usually with a point of view, and it was translated into a textile. This is rare in blankets because it's expensive and slow but it’ll leave you with the most curated and intentional designs.

Why a knit is hard to design for, and why that matters

A printed blanket can carry any image. A knit can't as every color is a separate yarn, so a design with twelve colors needs twelve yarns and a machine that can carry them, and each color adds weight and thickness to the blanket. Resolution is limited by stitch size, so fine lines and gradients have to be rebuilt as stitches. A design that works as a painting often doesn't work as a knit until someone redraws it for the medium.

Though, designs that survive translation into a knit tend to be bold, intentional, and built on a small number of colors that were chosen to work together. This is usually why a well designed knit blanket looks cohesive while a printed one looks like a picture on fabric.

How we choose designs

Biquette works with independent artists, and every blanket in the collection started as a piece of artwork by a person, translated stitch by stitch into the knit in our Long Island factory. We keep the collection small on purpose. Adding a design means an artist made it, we worked out how to knit it in a limited palette, and we decided it earned a place beside our collection. Nothing is generated and nothing is a catalog pattern with our name on it.

4. Construction and feel: how the yarn becomes a blanket

Two blankets in the same fiber can feel nothing alike, and the reason is the construction: how the yarn is spun, and how it's turned into fabric.

Knit or woven is the first split. A knit is one continuous yarn looped through itself, so it stretches, drapes over an armrest, and settles around whoever is under it. A woven is yarn crossed on a loom, which makes a flatter, stiffer fabric that lies neatly but doesn't give. So, knits are the more comfortable blanket for lounging, and all of our products are knit.

Within a knit, three things contribute to the feel and weight.

• Yarn thickness. A thicker yarn puts more material into every stitch, so two blankets with the same pattern and fiber can weigh very different amounts because of the yarn alone. Ply matters too; a two- or four-ply yarn is rounder and more even than a single thick strand.

• Twist and spinning. Tightly twisted yarn is compact, with little air inside, so it drapes and feels substantial. Loosely twisted yarn is softer and lighter but pills sooner because the fibers are held less firmly. The spinning method adds to this: combed ring-spun cotton is smoother and tighter than lower quality carded yarns. Worsted-spun wool is dense and smooth where woolen-spun is fuzzy and airy.

• Gauge. This is how many needles per inch the knitting machine has, and it sets how many stitches fit in a square inch. A finer gauge with the right yarn, knit with short, even loops, gives a tight fabric. Longer loops on the same machine make a looser, stretchier, lighter one.

Note that heavier isn't automatically better. Cotton is the denser fiber and gives you a blanket that settles over you; fine merino weighs less and keeps you warmer because wool traps air. Decide what elements you’re prioritizing, then look at how it's built.

5. Finishing: what happens after the knitting

A blanket isn't done when it comes off the machine, and the difference between quality is influenced by what happens next.

A blanket built to the lowest price gets a quick overlocked edge and ships. It feels acceptable new but later curls at the edges, shrinks in the first wash because the knit was never allowed to settle, and pills within months because nobody checked it. A well-finished blanket goes through several more steps before it leaves.

• Washing. A knit comes off the machine under tension. Washing it lets the loops relax to their real size, so the blanket that ships is the blanket you'll have after your own first wash. It also comes out softer and denser than an unwashed knit.

• Steaming and blocking. After washing, the blanket is steamed and laid to its finished dimensions so it's flat, square, and the edges don't curl. This is why a well-made throw lies straight on a couch and a cheap one twists.

• Edges. A machine overlock is fast and it's the first place a lower quality blanket gives way. A linked, bound, or crocheted edge takes longer and holds up to years of washing.

• Inspection. Someone looks over the blanket for dropped stitches, snags, and loose ends on the back, and fixes them by hand. This only happens at small volume because nobody hand-checks ten thousand of anything.

That last point is why batch size matters beyond the finishing itself. A small run means each blanket gets these steps, and it usually means the designs were chosen one at a time rather than filling a catalog. 

Biquette knits to order in Mineola, New York, and every blanket is washed and hand steamed, finished, and checked before it ships. In fact, the edges of our blankets are hand finished with a crochet hook.

That's the whole decision.

Fiber grade, the right size for the person, a design you'll still like in five years, and thoughtful construction and finishing you can feel. Most of it you can check in a store in under a minute once you know where to look or ask the brand.

If you want to see what those choices look like when they're all made well, the full collection is knit to order in Long Island from Egyptian cotton, organic cotton, and extra-fine merino, with artwork from independent artists.