Lycra sensory sheets are super easy to make. Use this tutorial to learn how to make your own DIY compression bed sheet for cheap!
I had been debating for months whether or not to sew a weighted blanket for my son before deciding to try making my own sensory bed sheets. I mean one look at the DIY weighted blanket tutorials and I'm like heck no, too much work. Plus, polyfill pellets are expensive!
So me being me, I figured that I could make one for super cheap.
And I did (obviously).
However, before I splurged on some fabric for making some a homemade compression sheet, I wanted to make sure my son would actually like the idea of it. I took our homemade sensory tunnel, which just happens to be the same length required to wrap around my son's mattress, and tried it as a temporary sensory sheet. It worked really great!
So I decided that it was worth making a trip to the fabric store and finally making a legit DIY lycra sensory bed sheet for him.
About this Homemade Lycra Compression Sheet for Kids
The inspiration for this project is this stretchy lycra sheet that costs $70! Geez, that's a lot of money, isn't it?
Thankfully, my final price tag was $15.
Yes, FIFTEEN dollars.
Much better price, right?
How to Make the DIY Sensory Sheet
First, I measured the entire dimension of my son's mattress, top, bottom, and sides included (it was 120 inches). Then I converted it to metres so that I knew how much fabric to purchase. I needed the exact same amount of fabric that I used to make our sensory tunnel: 3 metres (which is about 3.3 yards).
However, in the end I had to cut off about a foot to a foot and a half off to make it tight enough to provide good sensory input to my son.
So K and I headed to the fabric store to look for something in the clearance section.
I was looking for stretchy and cheap. I didn't care what color it was as long as the price was right. It also didn't have to be lycra as any stretchy fabric would work.
I ended up searching and searching and finally found this peach cotton spandex blend for 70% off. So I paid $15 for 3 metres of fabric and I was happy as a...wait for it...yes, as happy as a peach.
At first I thought the color was hideous, but it's kind of grown on me, to be honest.
How to Sew Your Own Lycra Compression Bed Sheet
To sew the stretchy sheet, it's just like sewing the sensory tunnel or stretchy resistance bands.
Simply take the two ends of the fabric and zig zag stitch them together to create a giant sleeve.
Yep, that's seriously it!
Remember, you can use any kind of lycra or spandex material for this project as long as it's nice and stretchy.
How to Use the DIY Sensory Sheet
Using the DIY sensory sheet is straightforward. Simply slide the stretchy sheet onto the mattress. Nice alliteration there too, eh?
I know it sounds easy, but try putting it on a regular mattress on the bottom of a bunk bed when room is limited...It's a bit challenging, especially if the sensory sheet is snug. You'll work up a sweat and say a few curse worse in the process, I'm sure.
Then climb in underneath for a calming night of sleep! Awww, you can sense it can't you?
Hope you found this tutorial helpful. I've got tons of other great sensory hacks just like this.
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