Make your own weighted blanket

by Jean
(Chicago)

Hi,

I'm an adult with SPD (not diagnosed yet, but I'm sure I have it) and I recently made my own weighted blanket. What a difference some weight can make, I sleep like a baby now!!! I have absolutely NO sewing abilities and I'm currently unemployed and short on cash. So I made my own weighted blanket out of a regular down alternative blanket I found on clearance. Here's what you do:

1. Buy a blanket that is a "down alternative," use regular down and you'll have feathers everywhere. Make sure it is sewn with squares, not the long channels. For example: http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=108745
2. Count the number of squares. I left a 2 square border all the way around the blanket. For a twin sized blanket it was 48 squares.
3. Buy heavy duty ziploc bags.
4. Buy velcro and extra strength fabric glue.
5. Divide the weight you want the blanket to be by the number of squares. For example: a 15 pound blanket, divided by 48 squares= .3 lbs per square.
6. Put the appropriate amount (I used a food scale) of material in each ziploc bag. There are a lot of different materials you can use-poly pellets, beans, rice, popcorn or sand. I used sand because it was the cheapest. 25 pound bag for $1.50 at the hardware store.
7. Cut one side of the seam for each square on the blanket you will put a bag in. In my case 48.
8. Measure the opening and cut that length of velcro for each square. Again for me 48.
9. Glue the velcro strips to the top and bottom of the opening.
10. Put in a ziploc bag full of material and secure the square with the velcro.

Once I had all the stuff it took me about 3 hours to make it. When I need to wash the blanket I'll just loosen the velco, take all the bags out and toss it in the washing machine.

Materials:
Blanket sewn in a square pattern
Sand, poly pellets, beans, rice or popcorn
Heavy duty Ziploc bags
Velcro
Extra strength fabric glue


I hope this helps :)