Throw Blankets

Throw blankets in cotton, bamboo and linen: woven, knit and tufted cotton finished with fringe or tassels, printed bamboo muslin, lightweight striped cotton cut long and narrow, and stonewashed linen big enough for a bed. A standard throw runs about 50 by 60 inches, the classic sofa size, and longer or wider throws drape further over a lap or across the foot of a bed. Match the size to where it will live: over the arm of a sofa, across the foot of a bed or around your shoulders on the porch.

Throw Blanket Sizes for the Sofa, the Bed and Your Shoulders

A throw is smaller than a bed blanket and is made around one person on a sofa. A 50 by 60 inch throw is the size most people mean when they say throw, big enough to pull up to the chin and small enough to fold over the arm of a couch. A 50 by 70 inch throw adds 10 inches of length, enough to tuck under cold feet while you read or watch a whole movie. For a bed, measure across the mattress: an 84 inch throw laid across a 60 inch wide queen hangs 12 inches down each side. A long, narrow throw wraps around the shoulders like a shawl and folds small for a car or a plane. If the sofa is shared, a 50 by 70 throw reaches across a couple's laps with room to spare.

Cotton, Bamboo or Linen: Which Throw Feels Right?

Cotton is the everyday choice, and the construction changes its character. A woven throw lies flat with a textured face and a fringed edge, tufted cotton adds raised dots and stripes, and a knit cotton throw drapes and gives over a lap. Choose bamboo muslin if you run warm, since it breathes and feels cool on bare skin, and choose stonewashed linen if you want a throw that looks relaxed and lived in the day it arrives. Lightweight cotton grows softer with every wash and dry, and a blend with a little acrylic or nylon adds strength and helps the color hold.

Styling a Throw on a Couch

Relaxed beats perfectly folded. Fold the throw in thirds lengthwise and hang it over one arm of the sofa, or drop it from one back corner so it falls diagonally across the seat, and let the fringe show. On a bed, fold it to a third of its width and rest it across the end of the mattress. Take one color from the throw and repeat it in a pillow, and the colors read as a pair, while a plain throw beside printed pillows calms the pattern down. Keep a second throw in a basket by the sofa and the room is ready for guests before anyone asks for a blanket. When summer comes, swap a heavier woven cotton for bamboo muslin or linen on the same arm, and the room changes weight without changing its look.

Printed pillows to pair with a throw are in Decorative Pillows, and the rest of the soft side of the house is in Home & Decor.

Guides for Throw Blankets

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