The Weighted Blanket (pt 3)
So after a close look at my Singer, I found a thread wrapping itself around the crank wheel.
Black thread on a black machine proved quite challenging! But at least I was up and running again.
As the blanket rows filled it became more and more unwieldy.
I kept having to fold the filled rows over to stop it from suddenly cascading over the edge of the table. But eventually, I was down to the last row.
Before starting to fill it, I trimmed off the excess fabric leaving just over 1″ for a hem. I also unpicked some of each columns so I had space to fold the edge under.
Then as I filled each pocket I folded and pinned each section to stop the beans from escaping.
Then I carefully sewed along the top, pausing at each column divider to sew down the column to replace the stitches I had unpicked.
And then it was finished (to be fair I feel like my upper body has done an epic workout!)
I think the shark fabric has worked well and looks quite effective with the pockets.
And I think the contrast of fleece and fabric also works well. We’ll just have to wait and see what the reaction is next week when she unwraps it! (I’ll try and take some pictures……)
Following on from last week, today I sewed the channels in the blanket.
I marked them at 10″ intervals to start and pinned the fabric in place, then I sewed from the bottom of the blanket to the top. The fleece stretched and moved while sewing, but I think this would ease if I had a walking foot.
Then I divided it again so I had channels that were 5″ apart and sewed again. This time I didn’t need to pin as the previous channels helped to hold it in place.
I also marked some rows 5″ wide in preparation for filling. I used a 1/4 cup measure (I had some American cups from my muffin making) and poured plastic beans into each channel.
Then I sewed along the row, unfortunately, with my first row lots of the beans tried to escape and it was really hard to hold them in place. So for the second row, I pinned above the beans to secure them better.
1 kg of plastics beans comfortably filled 3 rows of 5″ squares. But after I had sewed 5 rows my beloved Singer 99k started acting up. The hand crank became very hard to turn. I checked all the mechanisms and gave it an oil, but it didn’t help. After posting on a Ravelry forum for help, someone suggested that maybe there was a loose thread that was stopping it from moving, so tomorrow I shall dig out a torch and hunt for a rogue thread – so the blanket is on hold for now!
I have 2 weeks to go until her birthday, so this needs to be fixed quickly!
My daughter’s 15th birthday is rapidly approaching, so I needed to work out what to get her. It just so happens that she has recently been diagnosed as on the autistic spectrum (which has answered so many questions!).
She has used heavy things (like sofa cushions) for years to help calm herself when she gets upset, so when she found out about weighted blankets it seemed like an ideal potential present. The only problem is they are expensive!
So after lots of research into sites like Sharing the Weight, I figured I could make one myself.
So here is the first stage of making a weighted blanket:
I bought fabric.
My daughter loves Sharks, and I managed to find this printed quilting fabric called Yikes!
I also picked up some red fleece for the back and plain black polio to line the fleece (as I had read that the fleece can make it difficult to get plastic pellets in).
I stitched together a large rectangle inside out so that when I turned it the right way round I would get a Shark, Poplin, Fleece sandwich.
Approximate size after sewing is 40″ across and more than 50″ high. I’m going to trim the height once I work out how many rows I want. But I’m aiming for 10 x 4″ columns.
I then topstitched around the sides and base. Next weekend I am going to see the columns and start filling them with poly beads. I have already purchased 4kg of poly beads from a shop called Tinkerbell Creations (as they were the most cost-effective I found in the UK).
I’m a little worried about sewing the beads into the blanket as it is already quite unwieldy when sewing, but that is mainly because I’m sewing on a hand crank machines. So I only have 1 hand to support and steer the fabric. I already have some spectacular scratches on my arms from the pins, so let’s see how mangled I get next weekend!
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I’ve been watching people making temperature quilts on social media for a few years and really liked the idea of making one. But I knew I would struggle to carry such a large project through to the end, plus the idea of knitting a blanket in the heat of summer wasn’t that appealing. Then I […]
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