Chatterbox’s OT made her a weighted blanket for her bed and a weighted lap mat for school. The only problem was that when Chatterbox sat with her legs crossed the lap mat wasn’t quite long enough to go over her legs and so it wasn’t as effective as it should have been. I didn’t know this until her teacher bought it up and so I offered to make it a bit longer. While stewing over how to keep the rocks in their own sections, and not all over the floor, while I was trying to sew the mat up I realised that this would be a perfect job for odd socks! Odd socks to the rescue once again!
What you need:
Aquarium rocks (weighing 5% of the person’s body weight. Aquarium rocks may seem like a strange choice but it is what our OT uses and they are waterproof so the blanket can be washed by hand or on a gentle cycle), thick material, thick odd socks, thread, sewing machine, scissors
Step 1 Measure the person’s lap when sitting on the floor with their legs crossed. I used a bit of string to measure as it is flexible enough to accurately sit on the lap and it’s not a situation where you need exact measurements. Cut a big rectangle of material that is this long. I’m all about taking the easy way out so I made my material twice as wide as I wanted the finished product so that I had one less hem to sew!
Step 2 Fold the material in half and lay the odd socks on top – this is where you will discover how many socks you need for your lap mat. Chop of the tops (leaving the foot section) so that they will fit when fully sewed. Unfold the material and pin the socks down with the toes towards the middle of the material.
~Everything cut pinned and ready to sew – folded over to show how it goes together ~
Step 3 Sew the toe ends onto the material.
Step 4 Carefully put even amounts of rocks into each sock and pin top of sock down.
~Total weight of rocks I had – I cheated and just weighed the amount the OT had put in Chatterbox’s original lap mat! ~
Step 5 Sew along the top of the socks
~Sewing socks closed~
Step 6 Sew two of the open sides of the mat closed.
Step 7 Turn mat in the right way, fold the hem of the open end in and sew closed.
Step 8 Marvel in how much money you have just saved yourself by making a weighted lap mat with odd socks.
~ Chatterbox enjoying her new ‘beanie’ (as she has called both her weighted blanket and lap mat!). She loves sitting, or lying, on the rocks in her ‘beanies’ – it seems to provide her with extra sensory feedback ~
Giggles and Chatterbox-ing 