When my friend's son Daniel was having trouble sleeping because of his anxiety, she was advised to get him a weighted blanket, which would help with his sensory processing issues as well. Research quickly showed that weighted blankets were rather expensive, and she hesitated. When I offered to help her make one from scratch, she jumped at the chance, especially when she realized we could choose any fabric pattern she wanted.

I decided that the easiest way to get started on this was with a duvet cover. This would take out all the need for messy fabric calculations, and allow me to get started right away. And there are a zillion duvets out there to choose from, in every size and color! We made a trip to IKEA and quickly found a duvet that would match Daniel's room perfectly. I was excited to be able to hack a SMORBOLL duvet into a weighted blanket.

The other thing we needed was a big box of plastic pellets for weighted blankets. You'll need to choose the quantity and weight for your blanket size and body size. For Daniel's twin blanket, we used 17 lbs of a very tiny pellet.

I started by laying the duvet out flat, and looked at the open end. It had a row of snaps that typically hold the cover closed on a comforter.

Those snaps wouldn't be good enough to hold the tiny beads in, so I just cut the end off completely.

Most weighted blankets have rather large pockets for the beads, but I think that makes for uneven coverage and a lumpy feel. I decided to make the weighted pockets 2" x 2" so that it would feel more even for Daniel's little body.

To start, I sewed rows of stitches lengthwise on the cover, from the open end (at the head) to the closed end (at the foot). I spaced them 2" apart.

The long rows of stitches formed tubes down the length of the blanket, perfect for holding the beads.

To add the beads, I got a tiny scoop out of some drink mix I had, and put one scoopfull in each channel.

I held the blanket in the air and shook it until the beads had all fallen to the bottom of the channels. Then I sewed a row of stitches crosswise, closing the beads up in a little 2" x 2" pocket.

Then I added another scoop of beads to each channel, shook them down to the new end, and sewed another row across. Soon I had several rows of puffy little pockets!

As I continued filling and sewing the rows, I found it a little challenging at times to keep the beads out of the way of the needle. After breaking my second needle when it hit a bead, I figured out that a metal ruler was a great tool for scraping them aside and clearing the path.

When I got to the end — where the snaps had been originally — I just folded over the fabric and hemmed it shut.

The final result is wonderfully cozy and surprisingly heavy. I love how each pocket has just enough pellets in it to be substantial, but not so many that they gather in the corners, which would make it lumpy.

Daniel loves his new weighted blanket, and my friend loves that she saved a bunch of money!