How to Make a Weighted Blanket

This is something I have been wanting to make for a long time! I hate the thought of spending over $80 for something that MIGHT or MIGHT NOT work!! So, I decided to make my own for around $30 or less! 

What you need to create your own weighted blanket is:

1) Fabric: You will need a front and a back. I got a yard of each for a small blanket and had extra! My blanket measured 30" X 40"

2) Stuffing

3) Poly-Fill beads 

4) Sewing machine

5) Scissors 

6) Ruler or some sort of measuring tool

7) A disappearing fabric marker

The fun part of this process is picking the fabric! I went to JoAnn's because you can always get fabric on sale or use your 40% off coupon! I also used my coupon to purchase the Poly Fill Beads as they were a little more expensive than I thought they would be, $9.99, for a 2-pound bag, without a coupon.   I went with a Minky fabric for both sides, as it is soft and similar to all of her current blankets she sleeps with. I read online that it would be hard to sew with but I had NO problem!  My blanket measures 30"X 40", which is the size of the nice baby blankets you find!

These next few steps seem very crazy and intimidating but I promise I if I can do it SO CAN YOU!

One tip I read online was WAIT UNTIL YOUR CHILD IS ASLEEP OR AT SCHOOL to do this project! I thought I can do this while my daughter plays in the playroom and I draw some lines on fabric. We'll I was WRONG!! I turn around and saw this!!

 

1.  The first thing you need to decide is what size you want your squares to be

I choose 5-inch squares as I knew my hand could easily fit down a 5-inch area and it also measured out equally!

2. You need to decide how much weight you plan on using in the blanket

Through lots of Pinterest research, I found the weight of a blanket should be anywhere from 10-15% of your child's body weight.  I spoke to a physical therapist friend about how much weight I should put in and she suggested 10% of my daughter’s weight and because she is small she said to add an extra pound. So, this made the weight that needed was 3.3 pounds.

3. Sew both sides of your blanket

Make sure you sew your blanket with fabric prints together. You will be turning this inside out after you sew these two sides.

4. Turn your fabric right side out and sew down your blanket every 5" or whatever size you have decided your squares will be

I suggest not sewing all the way to the end of each row as you will be folding over the fabric once completed to finalize your blanket.  Use your disappearing fabric marker or pencil to draw the lines down your blanket.  You can find the pen I used by clicking above on the tools you need section!

 5. Find the middle of your blanket and sew down the middle

I choose to sew down the middle so that I could easily reach my hand inside so I could push the beads and stuffing into place.

 

6. Figure out how much weight you will be putting into each square. You now need to divide it by the total number of square

I converted mine to oz as my scale didn't go as low for pounds as I needed it. I used a food scale to do my measuring and converted using Google!!

I per-measured at least five square totals out and placed them into plastic baggies so the process would go quicker once I got started!

7. Now onto stuffing each square with stuffing and Poly-Fill beads

Once you have done the following steps it is time to start stuffing! For each of your five (or more) rows, place the Poly Fill Beads in and then a small amount of stuffing, making sure to push everything all the way down to the bottom of that row. (Which is why I sewed mine in half) I did this for all five of my rows and sewed across all at the same time!  TIP: Use your marker and go ahead and mark out all the lines where you are going to sew! This speeds things up greatly! My pen had two sides, one which disappears by air and one with water. USE THE ONE THAT DISAPPEARS WITH WATER SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO RUSH as my air side disappeared rather quickly! If you use the water side you are able to draw lines for your whole quilt now, which is helpful instead of measuring it out while it was stuffed!

Measuring lines for the whole quilt

I used about this much stuffing for each square.

Once you have stuffed your rows go to your sewing machine and sew all the way across.

8. Continue step 6 till your whole blanket is stuffed! 

  9. Fold the ends of your blanket and sew together 

10. ENJOY!