Making a Sensory Weighted Vest

This post may contain affiliate links, view our disclosure policy for details.

If you’ve been following my Facebook Page at all you know that I have been working on the painstaking process of making my son a sensory weighted vest.
Weighted vests and blankets are used for several different reasons, but for us my son uses it to help add additional sensory input into his daily routine.
It helps him “pull it together” better while he’s at school. Why was it painstaking? Because I don’t know how to sew!!
What you see above was a partially finished project. I’ve since sewn the edges of the armholes and neck so they look nicer and won’t fray.

 

A weighted vest cost about $65-100 depending on the size and where you buy it. I made ours for less than $25 – so a HUGE money saver. Even if it is hideously crooked! 🙂 I bought a simple vest pattern then made a vest.
Above you can see the cow print pouches (special request from my son!) which are filled with micro-poly pellets which can be found at Walmart. I use these because they are machine washable and antimicrobial – which means the vest is MUCH easier to clean if it gets dirty!!
Seriously – no critiquing what it looks like! 🙂 I just wanted to show you because I know some of you are interested in these weighted vests and blankets. You can see the weighted blanket I made last year here. I had one of you suggest to purchase a fishing vest and weight it down which was actually a really great idea!
My friend Alissa over at Fun Finds for Families found this cute Safari Cargo Vest which would work really well too (and be SOOOO much easier than what I did!!).
My sewing machine (remember I can’t sew?!) ate a hole in one section of the vest because I don’t always know how to use it properly, so I am going to have to hand sew a cow print patch over it to hide the hole!! BUT my son loves it and that’s all that matters!

Share with your friends!

Similar Posts

8 Comments

  1. I had a student that needed to wear a sensory vest off and on through out the school day. I could really see a difference in him.

  2. You are awesome for learning this and posting it! I tripped over it looking for a blanket pattern.

      1. I am wondering if you would be so kind as to send me the pattern that I can print it off and use it to make some of these for my friends I don’t see where to print off the pattern.. thank you
        please send to my email..

        shelley

        1. Unfortunately since I’m not great at sewing I did not follow or make a pattern (which is why it’s a bit crooked!) I just measured my son the best I could and winged it!

  3. I think it’s awesome!

  4. Great idea and kudos to you for learning how to sew! If you make pockets in the vest then put your pellets into pouches, which go into the pockets, the vest is even easier to wash. Plus, you can make bags of different weights if needed and switch them out as needed.

Comments are closed.