has anyone made their own? If so, was it straightforward or tricky? (I have zero sewing skills/experience and don't relish the idea of making one but if it's something I might be able to do myself at the fraction of the cost, it's something I can think about) Are there any particular instructions or online videos that you followed, which were very straightforward and clear that you'd be willing to share?
I made a weighted blanket for a friend's daughter. I wasnt sure if she would like it, so I didnt spend a ton of money on it. I did not have instructions except that I looked up possible fillers.
This was for a smallish 9 year old girl. I bought a king size (I think) sheet on clearance and laid it out flat on the floor. Then I decided how big I wanted the squares to be. I drew a gridline on it with some disappearing ink and a quilting ruler. The first line is the trickiest to get straight. After that, you can measure off of your first line. Mark squares (or rectangles...whichever you want) in a grid pattern on the sheet.
Then sew two sheets together up the sides and across the bottom (i folded my sheet in half since it was a kid's blanket). Turn it where the seams are on the inside. Then stich the verticle lines along your guides (top to bottom). The top will be open and the bottom stitched shut (like a pillowcase).
Now you are ready to fill. I chose to use rice (because it was cheap), but you cannot wash the blanket with a rice filler. You can buy the more expensive poly beads on ebay cheaper than other places. The weight depends upon the weight of the person using the blanket. Look online. For a kid, I think they recommended 10% of their body weight.
Now take your filler and decide how much you need per square. I did this based on weight and used a kitchen scale. Divide the weight by the number of squares on your blanket to decide how much per square.
Now you are ready to fill. You should have what looks like tubes sewn from top to bottom down your blanket. Dump your determined weight of filler into each tube across the blanket. Then sew a straight line across the horizontal gridline that you drew. Now you have a bunch of squares filled with weighted whatever (in my case it was rice). Then repeat for the next row (fill and sew). Do this until you get to the top.
The hardest part was making sure no rice was stuck under the presser foot of the sewing machine when sewing the horizontal lines. Also, it would be hard to make a huge blanket without a long arm machine because it is bulky. I used a regular sewing machine.
Then I made a duvet cover to go over the top (so it could be washed).
It felt soooooo nice when I was sewing it and it was sitting on my lap. I didnt want to give it up (but I did). I said I was going to make one for me, but never got around to it.
I think, in total, it might have been about $25 to make.
