Badge blankets - what are they and how do you make them?

I go by many names - but one that many young people know me by is Akela.
I've been involved in Scouts since I joined age 15 and have had all sorts of different volunteer roles.  For the last two years or so I've been a Cub Leader in Hereford.  Cub Leaders are known as Akela - like the chief wolf in the Jungle Book.

One thing that I've had that is a bit of a record of my Scouting journey is my badge blanket, sometimes called a camp or campfire blanket.  Since 1995 I have kept this blanket and gradually added to it.  I recently made a video explaining all about badge blankets.  In the video I didn't recount a funny story about how I started my blanket though:

We (the 5th Exmouth Venture Scouts) were going on a white water kayaking trip to the French Alps.  I had already cut my poncho shape and started my blanket stitching around the edge before heading off on the minibus.  By the time we got to the ferry at Portsmouth I had started stitching my lettering and walked up to the passenger area proudly sporting a blanket that said "Mel's Big"... hmmm.....  I continued sewing on the ferry but the result as I walked back down to the bus wasn't much improvement... "Mel's Big Blank"  I absolutely didn't care - I guess I have always been somewhat... individual.