I spent a good part of Saturday working on a weighted blanket for a young friend. Her mom asked me to make it a few weeks ago, and sent me to the directions above. It was right after I had signed up for Weeks Ringle's Kaliedescope class, so when I saw the website, it looked really familiar.
I suggested that Christina help in this endeavor, so she spent the bulk of her time weighing out 1.6 ounces of beanie baby beads into 150 little baggies. She did it! What a trooper!
I spent a lot of time preparing to sew--squaring up the material, and marking the channels. I used a sliver of soap and my quilting rulers for this task.
Lori and Christina are pouring the 1.6 oz of beads (pre-measured) into the channels with the help of a canning jar funnel.
It took us a while to figure out that we needed to pin a channel away from the sewing line. This kept the beads out of the seam. If they got in the way, they caused problems by breaking needles and thread. Things when much smoother when we figured out how to keep them at bay, so to speak. Lori helped with the pinning--or I'd still be there. Thanks!
It was also a good idea to keep the weight of the growing blanket on the table. I was working on Lori's kitchen table, so I had plenty of room (more than in my own sewing studio!) I also decided to use my old sewing machine, The Rikkar. With all metal parts, it's a real work-horse, and I wouldn't worry about hurting it with this "industrial" project. This blanket wound up weighing 15 pounds. Here you can also see the pockets full of the beads--just like little bean bags.
Along with keeping the weight on the table, my left hand in under the blanket to keep the weighted pockets from getting stuck and caught on the corner of the sewing machine platform (Took a while for us to figure that one out, too!) In other words, my arm sort of acted like an extension table to keep the work surface relatively flat.
The last row!
It's done!
Christina trying out her new weighted blanket. Her mother reports that she slept well last night with it. Hurray!
4 comments:
and THAT is what sewing is all about! I love it when I can make something that I know will be loved.
Michelle was so generous with her time and talent and we greatly appreciate it! Not only that, but it would have cost $182.00 to purchase a blanket and only cost $62.00 + 1 IOU bigtime to a friend. Don't be afraid to collect, Michelle! Thanks a million, Lori and Christina
What a wonderful project. I have always slept better under a bunch of heavy blankets or quilts -- even in summer.
I'm so delighted that you finished it and that it was appreciated.
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