Becca Bear

My youngest son is autistic. He has always "bundled" himself in his clothing to help him be calm and feel secure. He would always wear a heavy jacket and sweat pants, even outside in July when the temperature was over a hundred degrees, because that helped him to cope. When he was about 5 years old, the Occupational Therapist working with him supplied us with a weighted vest during his therapy sessions. This helped him to concentrate and participate in the difficult therapy sessions. I made a similar vest for him to wear at home and school. The poly pellets weren't available at that time. I found steel pellets in a sporting goods store and used these to fill the channels in the vest. I made a lining that contained the pellets and an outer cover of his choice of fabric for the outer vest. That way I could remove the lining and wash the cover. His heavy vest was a big hit with the other kids in school, and really helped him improve in school. He is now 23 years old and although he still has many problems, he is doing better. One of the problems we still have is fabric textures against his skin. He will not wear certain types of clothing or specific fabrics because the touch of the fabric against his skin is irritating to him. He also will not sleep with a top sheet on his bed. At night, he will wrap himself in several blankets (cocoon style), always in a specific order, with only his face exposed before he will go to sleep. Although it's been very challenging dealing with his many problems, he is a wonderful young man and has taught me patience and how to look at things and face challenges from a different point of view. He is my daily "sunshine and sugar."

rnrn

Try this website for the pattern for the weighted blanket

CarlaHope

Excellent informtion. Thank you so much.

bobquilt3

Neat link. Thanks

nana4baj

Thanks for the site, I need to make me one for my restless legs.......... :thumbup:

Ellen 1

Wonder if you still have the pattern for your shoulder warmer? I'm also interested in a weighted vest pattern if anyone has one. I suppose you could use a regular pattern that was simple, but how do you know how much pellets to put in either?

Thanks. Ellen

cheryl rearick

HOw very interesting, thank you all for sharing

Becca Bear

When I made my son's vest, I used a regular sewing pattern but made it larger than his normal size to accommodate the pellets being added. It was a very simple pattern with a rounded neckline and armholes that were square in design to fit under the arm. This allowed him to wear the vest over any type of clothing and was easier for him to move in. The vest was large and designed to hang away from the body. The idea is the weight of the vest hanging from the shoulders, not to have the vest fitted to the body. As for how much weight/pellets to add, I just had to guess. As I sewed each channel in the vest and filled them with the pellets, I checked to make sure the vest was comfortable to wear and hung correctly from the shoulders. The weight of the vest needs to be evenly distributed to hang straight across the shoulders. It took just a small amount of pellets in each channel to make the vest hang correctly and the channels were sewn horizontally (double stitched) about 1/2 inch in width across the entire vest. I only filled about every third channel with the pellets, but making the channels is necessary to keep the fabric stable and to prevent the fabric from shifting from the weight of the pellets. I clean finished the outer edge with my serger and then added biased binding to finish the edge. I only had to wash the inner lining with the pellets a few times. I hand washed it and laid it flat to dry. I suppose you could place a weighted vest in a pillow case and then machine wash and dry it. My son wore his vest daily and sometimes he even slept in it. Hope this information helps.

jojosnana

I think that all of you are wonderful to make these calming quilts.

Greeter Eva

Did you make another vest to cover the one with the pellets?>>