Last week while talking with the boys pt (physical therapist) about a few of David's random behaviors and lack of sleeping at night she mentioned perhaps he might need a weighted blanket. Which seemed like a brilliant idea and totally easy to try. I headed to Google to see about ordering one and about gagged when I saw the prices. Which lead me (after a couple people mentioned it) to make it myself. After doing some research it didn't look to hard to make, so I decide to give it a try.
A quick trip to the fabric store and Michael's on Friday, and by Sunday evening we had a weighted blanket for probably 1/3 the price, or less. And the fabric is yummy lovie soft minkyness. Umm yes please.
Of course, if you decide you want a weighted blanket I photo documented the whole process for you . . . your welcome.
The first step was to determine the size. Since my guys are little, their blanket is pretty small.
I cut my two fabrics (front and back) in a 35 inch square, which after seam allowances the weighted area ended up to be a 30 inch square.
Then I sewed it together inside out on three sides, like a pillow case.
Turn it right side out
After turning it right side out, I sewed an inch border around the three sides sewn together just to give it a little something. (you can see the border in the picture above in the lower left hand corner).
Next, I sewed vertical tubes using a special foot on my machine that helps sew straight accurately spaced lines or you can draw the lines on to follow. My tubes were 2 inch but you could go all the way to 5 inch tubes. (the vertical tubes are on right hand side of the picture)
For weights you can use anything: popcorn, rice, beans, etc. I heard mold can grow in blankets made with "organic" weighting material and I wanted the ability to machine wash the blanket so I decided to use plastic "polly-pellets" for weight (see picture below)
Using a food scale I measured out the amount of polly-pellets for the weight I needed for each square; it happened to be exactly 3 teaspoons per 2 inch square. Using a funnel we poured 3 teaspoons into each channel. To determine weight: the total weight should be 10% of the persons body + 1 lb. Divide the weight of the blanket by the number of squares to get the weight for each square.
After pouring enough polly-pellets for one row of squares in each vertical tube I would then sew horizontally to seal it. For my blanket I did this process 15 times.
After filling and sewing all 15 of the horizontal rows I top stitched the open end and boom......
We have a 4.5 lb weighted blanket.
As I neared the 2 lb mark of the blanket it did get rather cumbersome for the machine to sew but we made it through. When looking into making it, I read a couple places to prepare myself to break a lot of needles. I am proud to say we didn't break one needle and we didn't end up with polly-pellets all over the floor!
And of course what blog post is complete with out a picture of this kid!! Oh my goodness the cuteness.
It was a first reading alright. It was the first rehearsal for The Sound of Music, and the goal was a first reading. This was Serafina's first first-reading. Tracy picked up all the tools she needed on the way (3-ring binder, notebook, pencils, highlighters, and pencil pouch). What a trooper Serafina was. She was at the table with the entire cast, and was focused to the max for the better part of 2 hours trying to follow along with her script (105 pages, single spaced!). I cringed a bit when they handed that unbound, un-punched, 1/4-ream of paper script to Serafina; I could just see it spewing all over the floor. It was crowded enough at the table that space was at a premium. But no problem. Once Tracy showed her a way to "turn over" to the next page, she kept things fairly tidy. At one point Tracy and I could tell she was entirely lost script-wise, but she heard Maria read a line that was a cue for her and she just looked up at Maria and said her line from memory (she's watched the movie many times!). The director was beaming! And oh my, that pink highlighter was going a mile a minute. It has a special gel tip; oh my. At one point the director called out info as to who was going to be called and at what times for the rest of the week, and also gave out the manager's cell phone number. When we talked with Serafina about that on our way to the car, she showed us where she had correctly jotted that all down in her notebook. Where did she learn all this!?
