My Own weighted blankets.....

So my thought for making them is really for the 2 year old who has trouble falling asleep. He has not been diagnosed as SPD, but has some seeking tendencies, and has been a HORRIBLE sleeper since birth!  I saw a website for really nice ones that cost about $60, plus $11 shipping.  They are very lovely and well worth the price, but NOT in my budget.  It got me thinking though....I am capable of running a sewing machine...how hard can it be?

So off to JoAnn's I go...found poly-beads $7 for 2 pounds (they would have cost me $9 through Amazon.com) and I was able to find some remnant fabric for $3-4 a yard.  If I had children that truly didn't care I would have looked for cheaper, as it was we compromised on the $9 a yard John Deere fabric.

So my simple plan goes this way.  Fold said fabric (about 80 inches (give or take) in half so that the selvedge(s) are together.  Sew both sides of this leaving the bottom open.  Turn fabric right side out.  The measure 14 inches in and sew another line straight down the fabric.  Measure another 14 inches from the first line and sew another line straight down.  You should now have 3 pockets and an open bottom.

Now for the weight.  You should use about 10% of a person's body weight for a weighted blanket.  My son is about 40 pounds so I used 4.5 pounds (or 72 oz) as my total weight-giving him room to "grow". So I took 72 oz. and divided that by 3, which is 24 oz. That would be the total for each of the three pockets.  I decided that each of the 3 pockets would have 4 sections.  More math again-24 oz divided by 4 is 6 oz.  So each section needed 6 oz.  We have a kitchen scale that measures oz so I used that.

I measured out 6 oz of beads into each of the 3 pockets.  Then about 10 inches from the top I sewed a line across.  I will tell you it is not easy to keep all of those little beads in the right spot, but it was a pretty straight line.  I repeated this for each of the other lines.  For the bottom line I rolled the fabric twice before sewing it.  I have never "finished off" a blanket and therefore do not know how to "edge" it.

I am not not planning for these to serve as the only blanket for the child to use for warmth, therefore there is no batting in it.  The material is thin, like a sheet, so that it could be used in the summer-time.  I plan to use them in the winter on top of another warmer blanket.  It would be possible to put batting in the blanket in each square, but I would assume difficult to "quilt" due to the beads.

NOTE: After the first 2 sides are sewn together all of the remaining work is done on the finished side of the blanket!

I will post pics next week when I am back home and have charged the camera battery ;) It's not the prettiest thing, but fairly simple and all straight stitching ;)