The ball blanket

My son, B, has always had difficulty settling-in to sleep at night. We rocked him to sleep every night for the first 2 1/2 years of his life (& also every time he woke up in the night, which he did at least once a night for just about as long...). As B got older he found ways to soothe himself to sleep, although still needed help falling back to sleep when he awoke in the night. When B was 8 years old he developed OCD, which pretty much did-away with his falling-asleep skills. B's school OT at the time suggested that a weighted blanket might help him sleep by giving him proprioceptive feedback & we were ready to try anything that might help... When I looked for weighted blankets in the OT catalogues I was taken-aback by the expense- nearly $200 for something that might not work, so I decided to try to make one myself. The ball blanket was the result & it turned out to be a great success & B still uses it today. The blanket itself cost me $75 in materials. I made a removable cover out of white muslin (recently tie-dyed :) so we could travel with it, and it pretty much goes everywhere with us (except on airplanes...). This particular blanket weighs 10 lbs., but this could be modified by changing the amount of balls it contains. When I went looking for my notes on the ball blanket project I was appalled to discover I had none :( However, the need to do a few repairs on the ball blanket this summer allowed me to recreate the design, so here it is.

This project is best undertaken by someone with good sewing skills (who has quilted or made clothes) & who doesn't mind doing some hand-stitching, since the cross-quilting of the balls in place can't be done by a regular machine.

Materials:
6 yds sturdy fabric ~44" wide (I used denim)
matching thread for sewing
sturdy thread (buttonhole or doubled cotton) for quilting
approximately 4 gross small, rubber balls*

Tools:
sewing machine
scissors
yardstick/tape measure
2" sewing needle (for hand-quilting)
pins to mark channels to be hand-quilted (I used 1 3/4" flower-head pins)

* a note about the balls: I bought the balls for B's quilt from Oriental Trading Company because they were inexpensive. I used a mixture of 1" & 3/4" balls for texture variation. They were a bit smelly when they arrived (a plasticy smell) so I washed them & set them in the sun to out-gas as much as possible. I was worried that the lingering smell might bother B & make the blanket unusable, but the slight odour didn't bother him a bit. If this is a concern, having a removable cover may help until the smell goes away, or making it & letting it sit & air out until the smell goes away. FYI

The finished dimensions of B's blanket are 34" wide by 62" long. If your child is 10 or older you may want to make it a bit longer & wider. which you can do with the same amount of fabric. B can still use his (he's 4' 10" now) just fine, but if I were making it now I'd give it some room to grow.
*For a blanket like B's, cut the 6 yards of fabric 125" long (2 x 62" plus 1" to allow for 1/2" seams) and 35" wide (1/2" seams on the sides, too).
* Fold the whole thing in half (with the wrong side of the fabric out) so that it measures 62 1/2" X 35".
*Iron a 1/2" seam to the wrong side on the short edges, where you'll be loading in the balls &, eventually, sewing the whole blanket shut.
*Stitch the long side seams so you have a bag closed on 3 sides, with the folded-over edge open.
* Turn the bag right-side out.
* Mark the midpoint of the blanket lengthwise with chalk or pins & machine stitch from the folded bottom edge to the top, turned-under edge.
* Mark the midpoint of these 2 channels & do the same. You'll have 4 channels to load the balls into.
* Divide your washed, degassed balls into 4 equal(ish) groups & load them into the channels. B really enjoyed helping me do this part...
* Pin the top shut. Machine stitch closed. (This may be unwieldy, but is possible :).

Now for the hand-quilting...
* Lay the blanket flat on the floor (a table is much nicer, if you have one big enough to lay the blanket out flat on...).
* Start moving the balls along the channels to distribute them as evenly as possible.
* When it seems even, find the middle, crosswise, of the blanket & pin right across so the balls can't escape through the pins.
* I further divided each half of the blanket into thirds & pinned across. Getting the balls evenly divided is difficult, but by pinning before sewing you can fix any glaring imbalances before you've committed yourself with needle & thread. You could also divide the number of balls you have by 28 (4 channels x 7 channels) & try to get an approximate count of every square you pin. I arrived at the estimated number of balls I used by counting 3 channels worth of squares (by feeling through the fabric) & doing an average. Then I just rounded-up to the nearest gross # of balls to see how many I must have used.
* Once everything is balanced & pinned, start hand-stitching across each line, removing pins as you go. I initially used a thickish rayon thread with about 1/2" stitches but the combo of largish stitches & slippery thread allowed the balls to sift to the ends, making this summer's repairs necessary. This time, I used sturdy cotton thread, doubled, & made no larger than 1/4" stitches. It took longer, but I don't think I'll have to do this repair again. (B helped me pull out the old threads & re-pin the channels).

Here is the blanket mostly stitched with a few pins still in it.

And here's a close-up of the pins & hand-quilting.

Once the quilting is done, so are you. To make a cover, you need the same amount of fabric. I made it 2" larger width-wise (add 2" to the cutting dimensions above) & 6 inches longer in total length to allow for a finished edge. I turned the short edges under twice, 1/4" the first time & 3/4" the second, ironed it flat. Do not sew this edge shut, but finish with snaps or velcro (I used 1/2" velcro the full width of the opening.

I suspect this idea could be adapted to other weighted items like vests. let me know if you have questions or additional ideas!