How to Sew a Chain Blanket?
A chain blanket can alleviate anxiety, and it can help people with Asperger’s, ADD, ADHD, CP, Dementia, Fibromyalgia, difficulty sleeping, and many other diagnoses and problems. But buying a chain blanket is very expensive; it is possible to sew your own for a fraction of the cost.
So, how do you sew your chain blanket? It would help if you sewed a chain blanket: chains, sheet fabric, keychains, ribbons, and a regular blanket. You also need access to a sewing machine. You sew channels in the sheet fabric where you thread the chain. But I’ll tell you a little more about how to do it.
A chain blanket helps many persons with ADD, ADHD, Aspberger syndrome, and other sleep disorders. However, it is not uncommon for one to cost thousands of dollars. But I’ll tell you how to sew a chain blanket for a fraction of the cost. In recent times, there have been cheaper variants of the weighted blanket.
Do you know someone who sleeps poorly or suffers from Asperger’s, ADD, ADHD, Dementia, or any other diagnosis? Then a weighted blanket can also work.
Why Get a Chain Cover?
Why do you even want to wear a heavy blanket when you sleep? This is how it is. A chain blanket makes it easier for many people with particular diagnoses and unique problems to fall asleep. If you feel anxious in the body, it can be tough to calm down and fall asleep in the evening.
Many people have trouble falling asleep after lying down and spinning for a long time. Many people feel that a chain blanket is a good tool. The weight of the quilt provides warmth, security, and more peace as well. Many say they are helped by a chain blanket when they go to sleep. In a chain blanket, there are sewn-in chains to give the blanket weight.
Of course, it is individual if a chain blanket will make your sleep better. But the groups that often experience an improvement in sleep with a chain blanket (according to Dormire ) are people with:
- Anxiety during chemotherapy
- Anxiety in connection with dental visits
- Down syndrome
- Fibromyalgia
- Menopause
- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
- Anorexia nervosa
- Aggressive behaviors
- Agitation
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Sleeping problems
- Worry / anxiety / stress
- Pain/ache
- Autism spectrum disorder
- ADD / ADHD
- Dementia
- Anxiety disorders
- Bipolar disease
- Traumatic brain injury
- Anxiety in cancer
- Cerebral palsy
- Parkinson’s disease
- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- Restless legs
- Rett syndrome
- Tensions
- Tourettes Syndrome
What Kind of Material Is Needed?
But buying a chain blanket can be an expensive affair. It is not unusual for one to cost more than $1,153.52. For most people, this is a huge deal. In any case, a considerable sum to spend on something you do not know for sure that you will be helped by. But if you can sew one yourself, it will be much cheaper.
When I heard that my friend wanted a chain blanket, I decided to help. After surfing around on a few different pages, I concluded that what you need to sew your chain blanket is:
- Long-chain 6 mm
- (2 bags with 5 meters and a bag with 2 meters)
- White sheet fabric
- A little ribbon to tie with
- An ordinary quilt (150 × 200 cm)
- White sewing thread
Two keychains to fasten the chain together so that it becomes a single long chain.
The chain was a concern indeed. The blanket would weigh 8 kilos when it was ready. The chain should be uniformly placed throughout the quilt to ensure that it weighs it down. If you buy a light chain, you get many channels and get a delicious spread of weight. But then it takes enormous amounts for the quilt to be heavy enough.
I surfed around on various DIY stores’ websites like https://thesewingstuffs.com/ and tried to find something suitable. But it was hopeless. I went to Christmas instead, and the staff was cute and weighed the chain for me. After a long while counting. Then it was a 6 mm long-linked chain that together became 12 meters long.
How to Sew a Chain Blanket?
Sewing a chain blanket required some planning. Before I started sewing, I had concluded that I wanted the quilt to be washable, so I needed to fasten the chains so that they could be removed before washing.
Since different weights are recommended for different diagnoses, and it is also individual which weight is suitable for each person, I realized that it is good if what I sew becomes very flexible. If he needs to, he can buy a little more chain and thread in.
Here’s how to sew a chain blanket: Start by washing the sheet fabric at 90 degrees. This means it will not shrink when rewashed. When the sheet fabric is dry, it needs to be ironed so that it becomes smooth again. Divide the sheet fabric, so you get two squares that are as long as the quilt. Begin by hemming the fabric’s outer border to keep it from fraying.
Then it’s time to start drawing. The chain I chose needed channels that were 6 cm wide. This made it easy to thread the chain into the quilt, but when the chain was in place, the chain was pretty stuck in the channel. I filled the fabric with lines 6 cm apart. I implemented this to make it simple to add more chains as needed. I did not draw to the edge but left 15-20 cm around.
Pin the fabrics together and sew the lines you drew with a reasonably tight zigzag. This makes the seam withstand a little more load. Sew all channels, even if they may not be needed from the beginning. But then you can add more chains later.
Then it’s time to sew the straps. For the chain not to go out so quickly, I sewed straps at regular intervals. I cut a 20 cm ribbon and folded it to find the center point. Then I sewed some ribbons around to tie the chain with. I sewed each ribbon together in the middle so that it got two cords as well.
The chain must be pulled between the two pieces of fabric. Therefore, the cords/ribbons need to be sewn between the two layers. Then fold the fabric layers and fasten the straps distributed reasonably evenly, much like this. The chain needs to be attached to the end and then at regular intervals to not slip out.
When I read about chain blankets, it turned out that a chain blanket works best if it has two different sides—one that is softer padded and one that is not. Therefore, I bought an utterly ordinary quilt from Jysk to use on the padded side. (and not two and had one on each side).
If you want, you can then sew the quilt and the sheet fabric to each other. But I chose not to do that. They are made of different materials and will shrink differently in the laundry. It will rumble and become ugly after washing. That’s why I sewed even more ribbons. Both on the quilt and the sheet fabric. When washing them, though, tie them separate. I may not be so good at drawing, but here I try to show with the blue ribbons how I sewed a cord in the quilt and a cord in the sheet fabric. Then I tied them together to form a bow.
It’s now time to sew the chain to the quilt. For me, it was every third channel that I would use to get the chain evenly distributed. Perhaps things will be different for you. For me, it was ten rows of chains.
To make it easy to thread into the channels, I took a large knitting needle (which you have to knit) and tied some yarn at the end of it. The other yarn end I attached to the chain. Then I first pulled through the knitting needle, then it was just a matter of pulling on the yarn, and the chain followed.
When I saw that I had received it evenly distributed, I tied the chain with the first cords I sewed there. Then I tied the quilt and the sheet cloth together.
There were quite a few twists, but it became a chain blanket that will be easy to wash and easy to both increase and decrease the weight.
What Does the Material Cost to Sew Your Chain Blanket?
What then does the material for a chain blanket cost? The material I used to cost:
- Chain 2 × 5 m ISK 258
- Chain 1 × 2 m ISK 70
- Sheet cloth IKEA Ditte 13.84 USD
- Thread 4.61 USD
- Quilt from Jysk Medal 42.56 USD
- Sewing a chain blanket yourself costs 98.85 USD.
Related Questions
How to Wash a Chain Blanket?
In my model of chain blanket, you tie up the straps and pull out the chain. Then wash the fabric parts of the chain cover in the washing machine.
Do Different Weights on-chain Cover?
The weights usually vary between 4-14 kg depending on what problems you have. If you feel unsure of what exactly you need, you should start with 8 kg. If you sew my model of chain blanket, it is easy to adapt and make the blanket both heavier and lighter when needed.
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