Brinley’s Christmas Gift
During Brinley’s physical therapy appointment at Primary Children’s Hospital earlier this month the doctor told us that she appears to have a sensory integration disorder. This was after Brinley screamed when she touched her (although if doctors were always poking and messing with me I would scream every time one came near too). One of the recommendations was a weighted blanket. Apparently the weight has a calming effect. I thought this was the perfect opportunity to make my first blanket. So with A LOT of help from my mom we made a weighted blanket.
I must add in here my sewing history. In high school I made every attempt to get an A in Home Ec. without actually using the sewing machine. Somehow I did it, but it doesn’t feel like much of an achievement now. My mom is an amazing cross stitcher, quilter, and maker of lots of crafty stuff. She has tried her hardest to help me learn to do these motherly things but I still have yet to even learn to sew a button on, and I’ve had many lessons. And I’m going to make a blanket???
It was really difficult and I’ve decided I never want to make anything again. We used this plan, which meant sewing vertical columns 4 inches apart. Then, dividing out the beads so they were distributed evenly. That was more difficult than I ever thought. After weighing out the beads and separating them into 44 bags (I only did half the blanket) we measured the horizontal rows. The first row went terrible. I broke my mom’s needle on her sewing machine because the beads kept wandering in the path of the needle. Unfortunately the best plan to remedy this problem was to sew individual bean bags and then sew those into the columns on the blanket. My mom and I got as far as that first row and then I somehow managed to make the bean bags and finish the rest of the blanket (with some touchups from my gracious Mom). I did finish on Christmas Eve so that Brinley could get it just in time for Christmas. The good part of this long and meticulous process was that Brinley loves the blanket. In the end it was worth it but next year Santa’s going to have to do more delivering and Mom’s taking a break.
Yeah I know the lines are really crooked…it was a heavy blanket and after hours and hours of work I really could care less.
January 5th, 2010 at 9:34 pm
Seems like we have a lot in common with the sewing machine. Either way, I think the blanket is awesome and you did a great job. Way to be the perfect mom to your princess.
January 8th, 2010 at 12:04 am
Jarrett and Gena’s little boy Carson used a weighted blanket for awhile. It think the County schools gave it to him to use. It helped to calm him when he got really upset. He had sensory problems too. He seems to have out grown them.
Your blanket looks so cute. You and your Mom were quit creative. Carsons was just an ugly grey weighted blanket.