Weighted Blankets?

Discussion in 'Make It So' started by PotteryWalrus, Jul 5, 2016.

  1. PotteryWalrus

    PotteryWalrus halfway hideous and halfway sweet

    Hey, this is one for all us Dyspraxics and Sperglords and Autists, as well as anyone else with sensory brainweirds out there -

    I've been looking up weighted blankets online, and they seem ridiculously overpriced for what they are. Would anyone be interested if I started making and selling them by commission, for around £50 - 80 depending on the size you want plus postage?

    Fancy stuff like patchworking and beading and embroidery would cost extra, and I'm not sure how well I can ship such large objects to the US - is the weighted blanket market as badly overpriced as it is here, even?

    Anyway, this is just a query. I'll be making one for my friend's birthday and that can be the prototype, then I'll work from there.
     
    • Like x 3
  2. A quick google search tells me that a weighted blanket would probably run me about $200 over here. I'd never heard of them before, but it sounds like something I'd very much like to have.
     
  3. PotteryWalrus

    PotteryWalrus halfway hideous and halfway sweet

    Like I said, I'm not too sure about posting such a large object across the pond, but yeah. I think I can make them more cheaply and prettier than the ones I see online, and if enough people are interested after I've finished this one for my friend, then I will definitely start doing that as a thing :)
     
    • Like x 1
  4. Enzel

    Enzel androgynous jrpg protag

    I've been looking into making one for my partner myself, but the balancing act between "enough weight" and "suffocating from heat" (they have temp regulation issues too) is tricky. Do you know of any tutorials or tips on making them?
     
    • Like x 1
  5. How warm they are is something I'm curious about. I get pretty warm at night and have been forced to sleep with only a sheet most nights, which frustrates me because I want my heavy piles of blankets on top of me while I sleep.
     
    • Like x 1
  6. PotteryWalrus

    PotteryWalrus halfway hideous and halfway sweet

    • Like x 2
  7. Deresto

    Deresto Foolish Mortal

    i'm extremely interested if that ends up being affordable for you to do for peeps, but it sounds like i'd have to wait until around christmastime.

    edit: not cause that's how long it'd take to get to me, but cause that's when i could most likely afford it
     
    Last edited: Jul 5, 2016
    • Like x 1
  8. Soul

    Soul Covered in bees

    If anyone needs the pellets to fill blankets with, I got mine at www.craftpellets.com. I'm making my blanket out of purple minky fabric and heavy black cotton. the minky fabric is really soft and has an interesting texture.
     
  9. turtleDove

    turtleDove Well-Known Member

    Dug through to find the right thread for this: I'm starting work on a weighted blanket for myself, using a quilt-as-you-go pattern that my mom's showing me. The idea is that I'll end up with 12" quilt blocks and fill them with the right amount of beads, stitch the last part of the block shut, and then attach each block together until I've made 62" blanket that's big enough for me to curl up under.

    The quilt-as-you-go method just makes more sense to me than trying to use the how-to guides I've been finding online; all of those seem to involve sewing channels down a full-sized blanket and filling each channel with beads before stitching them shut to create individual pockets. And wrestling with a full blanket just seems like a good way to burn spoons and spill beads everywhere, to me.
     
    • Winner x 2
    • Like x 1
  10. turtleDove

    turtleDove Well-Known Member

    Progress update: quilt-as-you-go does work decently for this. However, you're going to want a few things before you embark on trying it yourself.

    Things I've learned in the process:
    • use a digital scale to measure out the portions of beads; the accuracy of my blocks is off as a result of having used an analog scale that had the numbering jump from 4 ounces to 8 ounces, which made things Interesting when I needed to measure out 4.8 ounces - measuring on the digital scale, it seems like most of my blocks are likely under 4.8 ounces
    • keep in mind the seams on the top blocks - it's easier to pour the beads in so that they're sandwiched between the bottom block and the batting. If the texture of poly pellets through quilting cotton would bug you, I would have to strongly advise you use something else besides poly pellets for the weight or figure out something that'll put enough layer between you and the beads; the seams on the top block are going to make getting the beads distributed properly very difficult without tacking down the seam edges (which is then going to look really weird unless you do it in a way where it looks like a pattern)
    • lock-stitch everything, even if you're sure you shouldn't need to; especially lock-stitch the sections that will be reinforcing where the beads are contained and the line of stitching that will seal them in. I didn't have any beads get loose once they were sealed in, and I attribute that to having lock-stitched and gone with very tiny stitches
    • unless you're planning to do this completely by hand, make sure you have a walking foot for your sewing machine; even if you don't add in batting, this will make sure that the two halves of the block are feeding properly while you sew them together and it'll make sure that nothing snags or anything like that when you start doing the sashing to join the blocks together
    • you're still going to be wrestling with a full blanket, just one that's slowly assembling itself once you get to the sashing stage and start needing to join the blocks together; the main benefit here is that you won't be wrestling with a full blanket that has beads that could spill everywhere - by the time you get to the "sash the blocks together" stage, you've already sealed the beads inside and they're not going anywhere
    At this point, the main appeal seems to be: you don't need to worry about beads going everywhere if you're not careful during the end stages; and you can make it look pretty at a level that's more involved than just "pick out a blanket or sheet that's got a nice colour or pattern".
     
    • Informative x 1
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