Weighted Blanket

My aunt was telling me how she made me cousin a weighted blanket (I think he's 6) and how it has helped him sleep better and help calm him down. They often use weighted blankets to help calm autistic kids down because it helps their sensory overload and kind of shuts it down. Well Owen isn't a good sleeper and is a busy body so I thought I'd try to make one and that it could help him calm down before bed.

I got 3/4 of a yard of a cotton fabric and a fleece. I even let Owen pick out his fleece. I also got 2 lbs of rice. My aunt said to use 10% to 15% of their body weight. Owen almost weights 20 pounds so that was easy enough math. This only took me about a hour but as you know, sewing isn't my strong suit. I'm sure my mom could do it in half the time it took me.

This is the fleece Owen picked out

I measured out 16 different rectangles so the weight would be evenly distributed.

Then I sewed down length wise. I filled each column with a little more than 1/4 cup of rice. 

My aunt used poly beads but 1. walmart didn't have them and 2. they were more expensive.

Then I sewed the row shut. I did that 3 more times. 

This is the finished insert. 

Then I cut the fleece just a little bit bigger than the insert and made a folded over top so that way I can take it off and wash it. 

Tada! 

It really wasn't too bad. Maybe I kind of like sewing... 

or this was easy enough I couldn't mess it up