I thought the thread was about making blankets for children with autism - I looked, but couldn't find it either

I have been involved with making weighted lap pads as part of volunteer work I do. The ones we made had to be 'wipeable'. After some experimenting, we found oil cloth the easiest to use. The sewing machine liked it better. The ones we made weighed about 5 pounds, and were about 18" squares. We sewed the fabric right sides together on three sides, then turned it, and then sewed channels across the width. These channels were filled with glass beads. Don't sew the channel all the way to the top, so that you can turn in that edge. We found it helpful to have a 2nd person help support the weight of the blanket when we sewed that final seam across the top. Good Luck.

Thank you all for answering. I've got each of your ideas and hints printed out.

My daughter is frantic - these blankets cost an arm and a leg - so me being able to make it to her specifications means a lot.

Thank you!!!

Polypro pellets are washable-those are the kind used in stuffed animals. If you could rig some kind of pockets for the pellets, you could take them out (whatever they are) and wash the 'skin' of the blanket, if that makes sense. Maybe you could use something like pantyhose/tights to make tubes of pellets. In case of an accident, they could be removed and hand washed, without putting them in a washing machine. (I always have visions of pellets everywhere in a washing machine.)

My husband has horrible, chronic insomnia. In desperation, I bought him a weighted blanket-a vintage twin-size wool crazy quilt, batted with raw cotton. It weighs like a dead horse, and works like a charm, but isn't washable.

This comment is a bit off-topic - but not completely so.

The "old" quilts that were made from recycled fabrics (old sheets, etc. were used for "batting") weighed a lot ! We would sleep under two or three of them in fairly cool rooms (cold, actually!)

Wonder if that's why we slept so soundly? It took me a while to get used to a light weight blanket - even if it kept me as warm (or warmer) than the heavier coverings.

maybe that's why we slept so soundly under them?


If anything is made to be removable - would it be necessary to be comparatively child-picky proof? It's amazing what little fingers can do!

A friend's grandson who is also in therapy was told the same thing "get him a weighted blanket". She saw a quilt I had made my grandson & said it was just the right weight- of course I agreed to make her one(what was I thinking!) Anyway, the batting is Warm & Natural -I say medium quilting not really heavy but the backing is flannel . Hope that helps