Heated Blanket Chair

This chair is sew warm. My son Jackson is susceptible to becoming cold very easily with minor temperature fluctuations. This winter has been particularly frigid so I wanted to make him something to keep warm and this turned out to be the perfect thing for him.

I thought this would be a good idea since the blankets around here always go missing just when Jackson wants to warm up. The blanket is sewn into this chair so it can never get lost, and it has a built in adjustable temperature heating pad making it even warmer.

Butterfly chair frame - I found this frame at a garage sale for seven bucks.

3 yards canvas or denim fabric (Canvas is more durable and I recommend canvas if you weigh more than 175 lbs. I used denim because it's easy to sew with on a regular machine and my grandson doesn't weigh much)

3 yards fleece or other blanket type fabric

Thread

Scissors

Tape measure

Sewing machine

Heating pad - the one I found is about 12x24 inches

Marker

Measure the width and length of the chair frame. This particular chair is 31.5 inches wide and 36 inches long. Subtract two inches from the width and 4 inches from the length to make the pattern for the chair. You will want the fabric to be taunt on the frame. If you leave it the same as the actual measurements you will sink down in the chair and the fabric will look loose. I'm really bad at making paper patterns so I winged the drawing of the shape on the fabric. I made starting points on the fabric and drew the lines with a marker and based the shape and measurements on a google search of butterfly chair covers. (Hell, I know I used a sharpie marker, but old guys like me don't have those fancy disappearing ink markers laying around anywhere and I wasn't about to buy one. It's already a miracle I know my way around a sewing machine)

Cut out the pattern with pinking sheers if you are using fabric that might fray. It needs to be two layers thick. Lay fabric (two layers thick) behind one of the corners and cut out a moon shape like shown. This will create the flaps that will hold the cover on the frame. Repeat with the other three sides. Number them so you can remember which piece goes where

Stitch the pieces together and repeat for each corner. Iron them flat with the seam on the inside.

Sandwich the corner pieces between the cover pieces (wrong sides out) and pin the pieces together. Sew all around the edges except for about a 10 inch space so you can turn the cover right side out. (I mark it with the sharpie so I know where to start and stop.) Turn it right side out and sew the very edge, all the way around, to make a stronger seam. This will close the hole that you left open in the step before.

Measure the heating pad and cut a piece of fabric leaving room for hem, about 1/2 inch on all sides. In this case 13x25 inches. (I used a contrasting piece of fabric so you could see better what I was doing and you won't see it in the finished piece anyway since it will be covered by the blanket, but you can use matching fabric.) Iron all the sides down making hems. Sew the top (short side) of the fabric to make a hem. Pin the fabric to the front side of the cover where you want the heating pad. Stitch three sides leaving the top open.

Lay the fleece out flat on the floor. Center the cover on the fleece and position it slightly closer to the top, like shown. Pin the cover to the fleece, on the long sides only, and roll the sides of the fleece up to make them small enough to fit through the arm of the sewing machine. Sew the fleece to the cover. Since I purchased extra thick fleece I didn't finish edges but you could if you want. I plan to teach Jackson how to make a blanket stitch and add it to the edges later on.

Place the cover on the frame and fold up the fabric to make it tidy when you aren't sitting in it. Otherwise, wrap up in the blanket and turn on the heating pad for a warm place it sit.