Sunset Blanket
One of the most requested/recommended products in the survey was weighted blankets
Two issues I found with weighted blankets in the market today were inaccessibility due to high prices and difficulty with washing them. I wanted to use less expensive materials and find a way to make a washable duvet that the blanket could securely attach to without sinking due to its weight.
Instead of using glass beads, which can be expensive, I looked around my house to see what materials I already had. I narrowed the options down to beans and rice. Yum.
One of the most requested/recommended products in the survey was weighted blankets
Two issues I found with weighted blankets in the market today were inaccessibility due to high prices and difficulty with washing them. I wanted to use less expensive materials and find a way to make a washable duvet that the blanket could securely attach to without sinking due to its weight.
Instead of using glass beads, which can be expensive, I looked around my house to see what materials I already had. I narrowed the options down to beans and rice. Yum.
After making samples with both, I found that the rice had a much
nicer hand and didn’t create lumps that could become uncomfortable.
the duvet has two sides, the more decorative blanket, and the inner
sheet. It fastens to the top corners and the edges of the weighted
blanket so it doesn’t sink down. In the future, I would look into
different methods of fastening because the buttons can come undone easily.
nicer hand and didn’t create lumps that could become uncomfortable.
the duvet has two sides, the more decorative blanket, and the inner
sheet. It fastens to the top corners and the edges of the weighted
blanket so it doesn’t sink down. In the future, I would look into
different methods of fastening because the buttons can come undone easily.
Door Barrier
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One of the issues highlighted by the survey results was noise. People find it difficult to live in spaces with sounds leaking in from outside of their rooms. There was an interest in insulation for doors and windows. One participant noted that their favorite part about their current living space was the fact that “The door and window can make some noise sound muffled.” I wanted to create a product to limit sounds from outside a person’s own room. The door barrier slips directly under a door and has a pad of soundproof foam on either side. To weigh the piece down I put dried beans in the outermost pockets. My at-home test featured me standing in a closet with a slim door and without the barrier in place to observe how loud my roommate’s pet parakeets were. I could still hear the birdies with the barrier but their chirps were notably quieter. A product like this may be more effective in our apartment because there are large gaps between our doors and the floor.
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An item people already had and felt helped them feel comfortable was black-out curtains. Like weighted blankets, these can be expensive. They can also be difficult to manufacture. I tried to make a tightly packed satin with a lightweight black yarn and while it blocked out a lot of light, some specks would show through. I tried this version with a heavy, highly textured black yarn and though it does block out light, it makes the fabric extremely heavy and inflexible. This isn’t great for curtains. I would like to further develop lighter-weight curtains or find ways to implement this fabric as something other than curtains such as black-out panels.
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Warm light was the preferred lighting according to the survey. People also found comfort in multi-colored LED lights. However, LED lights are difficult to standardize. I decided to look into ways of warming lights and contexts a product like that would make sense. In my apartment, the light in our dining area can only be changed by building maintenance. Currently, it is a strong cool light that I have found distracting at times. A lot of rental housing and/or dorm rooms have their own lighting that residents aren’t able to change. Therefore I thought a filter to warm pre-existing light could be an interesting solution. I created a very open woven structure with yellow PVC.
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