I make weighted blankets for our Project Linus group. I have made 412 in 3 years and donated them. We take two pieces of 1 yard x width of fabric and sew them in a tube. We use velcro on both sides of the empty tube to be able to to remove the rolled sheets/towels/bath blankets that we use to stuff them. After the velcro is sewn on both openings, we then stitch a seam down the middle lengthwise. Turn the blanket and sew 6 evenly spaced tubes on the short side. Roll your blankets/towels/sheets and stuff them into the tubes. The weight of the blanket should not weigh more than 10% of the bodyweight plus 1 pound of the child. The child must be able to move the blanket should they need to get up in the middle of the night. If you need more help, please pm me and I will send you a pattern.
Schools use them as a calming tool during classes. It is sensory issues. They can be made out of duck cloth, cotton, denim, corduroy, I prefer to use a solid and a print that the child likes. Some of the children are non-verbal so to find something that makes them excited and responsive is a huge +.

Attached is a picture of a weighted blanket I made for my daughter with autism. It is actually what began my quilting hobby. After I made this blanket my other daughters wanted me to make "blankets" for them.

I did I guess what you would call the bean bag technique. I cut rectangles, folded the rectangle in half, sewed (by hand as I didn't have a sewing machine at that time) around the other 3 sides leaving a area to turn it inside out. Then I used a funnel to fill the bag about 1/3 of the way full with polly pellets, then sewed it shut. I then sewed then together to make the blanket.

This method if very difficult to determine the over-all weight. There is a formula/ratio of weight of child to the weight of the blanket. You don't want it too heavy, but if it isn't heavy enough the child will not receive enough deep pressure. My daughter's blanket was actually too heavy for my daughter when it was first made. She liked the look of it but she didn't really use it because it was too heavy for her. But as she has grown it is appropriate for her now.

The polly pellets are good to use because they are washable. I used a silky feel edging as kids with autism are very sensory and thought she may like to rub the silky edge. The polly pellets also allow the child to kind of manuver the pellets in it's little bag. That can also meet some sensory needs.

That is a huge help, thank you. This is for a friend who works with older children- teenagers. She said that when they have meltdowns the blankets help alot and suggested that the method of quilting in pellets rather than using velcro pouches that could be removed was better because the kids pull them out during those meltdowns. I thought maybe I could do them on my Long Arm by quilting strips, inserting pouches filled with silica pellets and quilting squares/strips as I go along. I have not done any thing like this before am finding lots of info in my research. I'm trying to find a way to make it easy by using my LA to do the quilting. Thanks again.

Thats what I had in mind. I wonder if fleece would be a good fabric to use.

I just used cotton. I have not worked much with fleece so I really couldn't advise.

I made one for my gnephew, I used thermal blankets for the weights.

http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-94993-1.htm

On p.1 of the June 2011 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting magazine are info & tips for making a weighted blanket. It says to type AllPeopleQuilt.com/482 into your browser to find out how to get a free pattern from the Craft Nectar blog (craftnectar.com).

Hope this will help.

P.S. I got my magazine in the mail today so it should be on newstands soon (if it isn't already).

Here's a link I had bookmarked:
http://craftnectar.com/2009/09/03/ca...hted-blankets/