My son's Occupational Therapist recommended that we get him a Weighted Blanket to help with some of his sensory issues. He's one of those kids that doesn't like clothes and has only a couple of shirts that feel good to him. He also has a sensitivity to sounds and has ADHD. His weighted blanket helps to calm him when he's hyper and helps to soothe him when he's on Sensory Overload.
After seeing the prices of the blankets I decided to tackle making one myself. I have basic sewing skills and enough confidence in them to attempt this project. I did a lot of research on Pinterest and finally found instructions on a blog that I felt comfortable with.
http://agirlandhertube.blogspot.com/2011/04/sensory-processing-disorder-how-to-make.html
It took me about 6 hours to complete. It was more tedious than anything. There was a lot of math and measuring involved! I also broke two of my sewing machine's needles when some of the plastic pellets got stuck in my seam. I can't sew a straight line to save my life, but luckily it really doesn't matter for this project.
Supplies:
1 Yard of Flannel Fabric
1 Yard of Cotton Fabric
White Poly Plastic Pellets (the kind used for Corn Hole Bags, Stuffed Animals, etc.)
Most websites recommend making the blanket 10% of your child's body weight. My son weighs around 45 pounds so I made my blanket 4.5 pounds. I bought a 5 pound bag of the plastic pellets from Amazon, making sure that they were machine washable. I would not recommend drying these even if the directions say it's safe to. I just wouldn't want to take the chance of ruining the blanket.
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| Put 1 yard of flannel fabric and 1 yard of cotton fabric right sides together. Sew around 3 of the four sides, making sure to complete all 4 corners. Stop 1 inch into the fourth side after each corner. You need to leave almost this whole side open. |
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| Clip the corners and turn the fabric inside out so that the wrong sides are now together. |
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| Sew around all three sides again to make sure they are secure. |
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| Calculate the number of pellets you will need. Most recommend 10% of your child's body weight. For me that's 4.5 pounds. I measured 4.5 pounds and then scooped them out in groups of ten (because I wanted 10 rows). I had 8 groups of ten, which meant I needed to make 8 columns in my blanket |
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| Since I wanted 8 columns, they ended up measuring a little over 4 inches each.. |
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| I did my best to measure and pin each line the entire length of my
blanket. Sew each column, stopping about an inch from the top of the
open side |
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| Fill each column with one scoop of your pellets. Using a funnel if needed. After you have one scoop in each column, sew across the blanket so that you close the pellets in that pocket. Continue the entire length of the blanket |
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| Close the top of the blanket by turning the top seams in and sewing it shut. |
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| This is what the completed blanket looks like. You can see the pockets on the green side of the blanket best. |
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| He's slept with it every night since I made it! |
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