a weighted blanket

A friend asked me if I could make a weighted blanket for her son who has autism.  I had never heard of a weighted blanket or it's benefits up until this point. So I searched Pinterest and read several different tutorials and purposes of this blanket. After doing some research I agreed this was something I could do. Since I am combining 3-4 different tutorials and my own ideas I decided to just write my own tutorial. My first tutorial ever!

I started by gathering my supplies and doing some math. The blanket I'm making needs to be 6 lbs and a "twin/medium" size which measures 38 by 62. So I purchased 2 twin flat sheets for $10. I had read to buy a print that has some lines to keep things straighter. Then I bought 3 bags of poly pellets from Joann's. This was probably the biggest expense since they were $6.99 a bag but I did have a few coupons. I also bought some ribbon for $4 but am only using about half of the roll. I had previously purchased some little filler pillows from IKEA for about $2.50 a piece and I used 3 of those to fill the squares. Then I went with a dark grey thread. My total cost for the supplies was about $40 after coupons. A note...I had read people using cheaper items to weigh the blanket down such as rice and beans but the poly pellets seemed like the longer lasting and most durable option. As they can be washed and dried without any problems. 

I then went about prepping my supplies. I washed the sheets and cut 36 ribbons into 5 inch pieces. I had decided to place ribbons every 5 inches on the long sides of the sheets.

Next comes the math. I made the blanket 62 by 38 inches. Giving myself about a 1/2 inch seam allowance on all sides.  I divided 62 by 4.75 and got 13. I divided 38 by 4.75 and got 8. I then multiplied 13 by 8 and got 104. Then I took my 96 oz of pellets and divided that by 104. That gave me 0.923 oz of pellets in each square. 

I cut my sheets to the desired lengths. With the front sides of the 2 sheets together I then pinned the 2 long sides and the top of the blanket. I placed pins every 5 inches since that's where I am placing the ribbons. I sewed up three sides leaving the bottom open. I went ahead and top stitched the 3 sides too so I wouldn't have to tackle those pellets while top stitching.