Attaching a duvet cover to a weighted blanked

A few days ago, I bought a weighted blanket. I've seen them recommended for as long as I've followed Autistic communities online, but recent changes prompted me to actually try one. It's described as a weighted blanket, but I think it's closer to a duvet or comforter, for two reasons:

1. The weighting material ("non-toxic micro-glass beads") is stitched inside squares, meaning the warm layers function more like a "bag" with a filling, like a duvet.
2. While it's too warm to want two coverings (I should revisit this in winter), I always want to use it as a single layer. This needs a cover, since I expect it's above the weight limit of the washing machine, so it's going to be a big task to wash.

The first night I tried it, I put it inside a basic duvet cover. This wasn't great. As I moved in the night, I tugged gently on the duvet cover. I pulled the duvet cover from side to side, but the blanket wasn't so easy to move. The blanket ended up balled up in the middle of the cover. It wasn't spread over my body, and it wasn't helping at all.

Searching the web, I quickly found places that sell "weighted blanket covers". The blanket has loops stiched into each corner and edge, eight in total, which seem designed for this purpose. Given I had good duvet covers already, it didn't seem worth buying something extra. I originally thought about adding a big toggle-style button into each corner, but after looking around, I settled on cotton tape. We had some spare cotton tape about 1cm wide at home.

I don't do anything involving needlework very often, so I had to double-check the plan with my wife. I'm not a very competent sewist, but since the stitching isn't visible when the blanket is inside, I didn't mind this being messy.

Ingredients

• Duvet cover, the same dimensions as the weighted blanket
• 1cm wide cotton tape
• Thread - I used a pretty thick linen thread, but you'll need to figure out what works best for you, it needs to be easy to sew with, but thin enough that it's not too visible on the outside of the cover
• A sewing needle which suits the chosen thread.

Method

First, I needed to figure out where the loops on the weighted blanket are. Mine were in the four corners, and half way along each edge. This seems as though it might be standard, but definitely double-check this.

Cut the cotton tape down to size. I chose 40cm lengths, which were good. 30cm would have worked, but tying them would have been more difficult. Maybe 50 would be even more comfortable to use, but at some point there will be too much material stuffed inside. There needs to be one of these per loop, so I needed to cut eight.

Next, I started with the corners. With a knot in the end of the thread, the needle started through the duvet cover. For this, the duvet cover is flipped inside out. This duvet cover has an edge, which is stitched closed, rather than an inner seam. In either case, it should be possible to avoid the stiches going through the fabric so they would be visible on the outside.

Then, the tape was added. Since the tape is so thin, each one only needed about six stitches. I chose a backstitch for extra strength. It doesn't matter at all if they're not neat - as long as the position is chosen carefully, they probably won't be visible during use. After this, it's time to tie off the end of the thread with the needle.

I started on the other ties. I tested the blanket with only the corners tied to the cover. It was an improvement, but still not quite comfortable enough to sleep under.

Then it was just a case of repeating this technique for the non-corner ties. Finding these accurately didn't even require measuring, since they were exactly half way along the edge, folding the cover was enough.

Now the blanket ties right into the cover in eight places, and seems to stay spread evenly through the duvet cover.