Weighed sensory blankets and toys are crazy popular right now, now that people are starting to understand individual differences and recognize the importance of sensory input. As a special needs teacher, and a neuro-atypical person myself, I’m very familiar with the need for proprioceptive input to provide a sense of balance. Proprioception is your mind’s sense of your whole body, feeling stable and grounded, and being aware of your physical presence in the world. Not surprisingly, sensing your place in the world helps you feel more calm. If you haven’t yet tried a weighted blanket, this is your sign. All the hype is true, and I promise you’ll love it!
Perhaps because the interest for weighted items has gone up, the prices have followed suit. Just look at this 3 pound weighted teddy bear I found online:
Now, look at this FAO Schwarz teddy bear (originally $50+) that I found at the Salvation Army for $4.50
Can you guess where I’m going here?
That’s right, we’re going to make our own weighted teddy bear! My little sister wants to learn how to sew better, so this project was spear-headed by her.
We went to JoAnn’s Fabric where they were having a going out of business sale, and grabbed 2 bags of these Poly-fil Glasslets glass beads, like the ones found here: https://www.joann.com/poly-fil-glass-micro-beads-4lbs/16783516.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&gclid=CjwKCAjw1K75BRAEEiwAd41h1LjaP-iGee0q_q8YOPVyYDPF2bzTUgovd7yiuywAHW_3FE3jVU2YghoCQUYQAvD_BwE.
You can see they were originally $9.99 for a 4 pound bag, but we got the 2 bags for $4 each. To math it out, that’s 8 pounds, for $8 and some tax.
Now these beads are very tiny and don’t like to be near each other, so in order to fill the teddy bear with the beads, we had to make bean bags to contain them in. The bean bags would then be stuffed into the bear (but that’s later).
To make the bean bags, I got a piece of scrap fabric and eyeballed some rectangles. We needed two small ones for the arms, two larger ones for each leg, and one big one for the teddy’s tummy.
I laid the fabric down and started cutting:
So to sew the beanbags, you just need to sew almost all the way around the rectangle, but leave a little space where you can pour the beads into it. You know, like this diagram says…
Once the beads are poured in, simply sew up the hole!
The next part is a bit brutal, because we had to open up the bear. Claire-Marie used embroidery scissors to cut along the seams of the bear, then gently shoved the bean bags in and stitched the seams back up again.
And that’s it! Now she has a weighted teddy bear at a fraction of the cost. $8 for beads, and $4.50 for the bear itself (who has since been named “Fenulla”) comes to $12.50 before taxes. That’s a lot better than $43 before tax and shipping, and this bear is a whole 5 pounds heavier! It a win-win-win all around.
Even Marcheline approves.
Moonflower DIY 