plastic net 130 may be attached to the bottom side of the blanket to extend generally parallel to the top net member 128 netting 128 and 130 serve to flexibly reinforce conventional mats 118 and facilitate their handling during installation of the erosion control blankets 114 from a structural standpoint the prior art erosion control blankets 114 are effective for erosion control one embodiment of the blanket 114 shown in fig2 has been manufactured and sold by the american excelsior company arlington tex under the trade name u201c curlex u201d however in accordance with an important aspect of one embodiment of the present invention the nettings 128 and 130 which may create ecological problems have been removed and replaced with a thread binding as described below referring now to fig3 there is shown an enlarged top plan view of an erosion control blanket 14 illustrating one aspect of the fabrication thereof in accordance with one embodiment of the principles of the present invention the top surface 26 of erosion control blanket 14 is bound in place by thread 30 in one embodiment the thread 30 may be generally biodegradable and made of rayon cotton jute or the like the thread 30 is held in place by stitches 32 that perforate through the top surface 26 of the blanket 14 to the bottom surface 34 of the blanket 14 in the preferred embodiment the threads are similarly spaced horizontal threads 30 bound in place by stitches 32 at regular intervals along the blanket 14 however other orientations of threads 30 and stitches 32 may be utilized in accordance with aspects of the present invention for example vertical or diagonal threads 30 may be implemented and held in place by randomly positioned stitches 32 referring still to fig3 the fibers.