Here's how I made my weighted blanket. I made mine weigh about 15% of my body weight, which is what I read is recommended. You might want yours heavier or lighter, though.
What You Need:
Poly-Fil Plastic Pellets (I used 20 lbs, which I got on Ebay for about $40, the best price I could find)
Two yards of flannel
Two yards of fleece
An old sheet (I got one for $1.99 at the thrift store)
Needle and thread
Dried lavender (optional)
What You Do:
Cut the sheet into rectangles six inches by 12 inches. Fold those in half and sew two sides shut so you have six inch square pockets. How many you'll need will depend on the size of your blanket. I ended up using 54 of the six inch square pockets and then making seven more pockets that were a bit more narrow, maybe six inches by four inches.
Divide the plastic pellets evenly among all the pockets. How much to put in each pocket will depend on how many pounds of pellets you need to get the weight you want. I put just over one cup of pellets in each of the six inch square pockets and about half that much in the six inch by four inch pockets. I added a generous pinch of lavender to each pocket.
Sew the pockets shut. Notice I did not say to turn the pockets inside-out before filling them with the plastic pellets. You want the seams on the outside because you will use that little bit of excess fabric to sew the pockets to your piece of flannel.
You need your flannel and your fleece to be the same width. When I was shopping for fabric, I found that flannel usually came in more narrow measurements than fleece. I think my flannel was only 42 inches wide while the fleece was something like 50 inches wide. Cut the wider fabric so it is the same width as the more narrow fabric. I did that by spreading out both pieces of fabric on the floor and then cutting along the edge to make them both the same width.
Spread out the flannel and figure out how you are going to space out all your bean bags. You need to space them out evenly. I did it like this:
Row one: six full-size bean bags
Row two: six full-size bean bags, one half-size bean bag
Row three: one half-size bean bag, six full-size bean bags
Row four: six full-size bean bags, one half-size bean bag
Row five: one half-size bean bag, six full-size bean bags
Row six: six full-size bean bags, one half-size bean bag
Row seven: one half-size bean bag, six full-size bean bags
Row eight: six full-size bean bags, one half-size bean bag
Row nine: six full-size bean bags
I used a yellow marking pen to put dots where the corners of the bean bags would go.
Then, one at a time, I used straight pins to pin a bean bag to the back side of the flannel and then sewed the bean bag onto the flannel. I don't have a sewing machine, so I sew by hand. Even if you have a sewing machine, I'm thinking it might be difficult to do this by machine, especially once you get a few rows of bean bags sewn on. The bean bags you've already sewn on would kind of be in the way, I think.
Spread the fleece out on the floor, then spread the flannel on top of it, with the bean bag side up. Use straight pins to pin three sides of the fleece and flannel together and sew them. You'll have something that resembles a sleeping bag.
Then turn the sleeping bag inside out, so the bean bags are now on the inside. Sew the fourth side shut.
No comments:
Post a Comment