Your blanket sounds lovely! To answer your questions...

1. Yes, one layer is fine. It will be lightweight, yet do it's job to keep the person cozy.
2. The size sounds perfect for sitting or covering mostly the lower-half of the body.
3. If you have a serger/overlock machine, I'd make a rolled hem with wooly nylon thread. If you have only a sewing machine, the simplest & quickest method would be to fold over the edges & use a decorative stitch to secure. (You'd have to notch out the corners to keep it square). It would look something like this when finished...

Let us know what you decide and Happy Sewing!

(my note back just went poof, so starting over)

Thanks for your helpful suggestions, Larri. I like the example you showed — looks like the pattern is a Greek key design.

I do have a second hand 4 thread serger that I tested out a few years ago on some toweling. I figured out how to thread it, but if that wooly nylon thread is bulky, I’m not sure how I’d tease it through the needle or know which threading paths to follow. No manual. would I buy four cones of the stuff? (I don’t yet know what wooly nylon thread is — maybe I could find it at the only sewing place in town, JoAnn).

I have a bunch of sewing machines, some will give decorative stitches, and I’ve got some different hemmers. Maybe I can use the Wooly Nylon with one of those and the right type and size needle.

I’ll look on YouTube to see if there is a demonstration of how to “notch the corners” — or maybe it’s just cutting out a square on each corner, instead of folding it over (that would be pretty thick!).

Above is a snapshot of the fleece, showing the wide yellow satin binding I was going to use. But on one of the threads (somewhere), people were saying that the satin binding would was differently or fray, so I’ve abandoned that idea.

Thanks again for your help. I will show you how it worked out when I get it done.

I meant to add that the serger is an older Juki. Garnet? MO- - - - but I think it just does that serge edge stitch. I guess it’s COVER stitch machines that can create patterned stitches. Those must be great.

Sorry I'm just now seeing your post. For some reason, I'm not getting notifications. Sigh.

You'd only need to use 1 cone of wooly nylon. It goes in the upper looper of your serger. I've never tried using it with my sewing machine, so cannot tell you how that would work. I'd probably do a youtube search on how to thread your Juki, although, a pretty decorative stitch would be just fine in this instance.

You don't necessarily need to notch the corners of the blanket. You could miter them instead, if you prefer, though it would be a bit bulkier. The colors of your blanket are so pretty! Good luck with whichever method you decide. Happy Sewing!

Thanks again, Larri. You’ve given me a lot of good ideas and fuel for thought. Just the idea of turning a simple rolled hem, has given me room to think more broadly on this binding task. I haven’t yet purchased any wooly nylon, but I think it will/can work in a sewing machine.

I looked into decorative stitches with just a sewing maching — my serger only does a (forgot name again) ~ overcast likestitch, overlock stitch. But I remembered that Aside from machines with fancy “embroidery” stitches, I also have a Distinctive(r) Braiding Foot. And as I thought more about the hem/binding, I appreciated that since there is a lot going on with the colorful floral pattern, anything fancy on the hem might just get lost. So I may just make a 3/4th inch hem (or 1/2 inch) then just stitch something like a machined feather or Greek key, duck or tulip stitch atop it. I saw a video of an Indian sewist using a very inexpensive plastic Sm (sewing machine) to create a simple binding design of two opposing scallop pattern that made an oval.

like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qeQft7ZBiA (Near end of video)

Thanks to you, I am more confident that I can come up with something nice. At least I can just do something reasonable and get it finished. Quilters have a saying, something like “finished is better than unfinished ‘perfect’.”

I will try to post a photo of the end result. Thanks again for helping me get unstuck.