Free Fidget Quilt Ideas to Discover the Joy of Sensory Items

Are you looking for a fun and creative way to use all those little bits and pieces you’ve collected over the years? Look no further than sensory items! Fidget quilts, twiddle blankets, fidget vests, aprons, and lap quilts are all waiting for your personal touch. You can add anything you want to them, from hard dimensions to soft textures. Let’s create something truly unique together with these creative fidget quilt ideas and patterns!

What is a fidget quilt?

Fidget quilts are basically lap quilts with a lot of movable parts and different textures that provide stimulation and entertainment for fidgeting hands, keeping them busy and soothing their senses. It does not really have to be a ‘quilt’ but rather something with a lot of movable parts to give the restless hands something to do.

Fidgeting hands can be a challenge for Alzheimer’s, dementia, and autistic people. But what if we told you there’s a solution that can help? Introducing fidget quilts! With endless textures, colors, and designs, fidget quilts are the perfect solution for anyone looking for a little extra comfort and stimulation. Let’s unlock the power of fidget quilts together!

What do you put on a fidget quilt?

Unlock the Power of Fidget Quilts: A Lap Quilt That Soothes and Stimulates!

Items you can use to make a fidget quilt:

• bright and colorful fabric
• unique pieces of fabric with different texture (fur, satin, felt, velvet, lace etc)
• light weight cotton batting
• netting
• Large decorative or unique buttons
• slide buckles
• zippers (in different colors)
• large wooden or plastic beads
• 1″ wide ribbon
• jingle bells
• curtain fringe
• small change purses
• key rings and metal keys
• squeakers (like these found in dog toys)
• empty thread spools
• jean pockets (kids size)
• pom-poms
• elastic
• velcro

Fidget Quilt Ideas to Sew

How to make a Dementia Fidget Blanket from a Cushion!

Here’s a quilt that features a 3 x 3 grid with a form of sensory stimulation on each block, like a zipper, a velcro strap, a few snap-on buttons, a regular button, a band with many rubber bands threaded onto it, some foam balls, a thread with beads, and a few others, made from an upcycled cushion!

by Dementiawho

FIDGET-QUILT

This fidget quilt focuses more on different types of texture than on interactive tools, with a 3 x 4 grid of squares that differ in fabric types, but with a couple of interactive tools on some blocks as well, like a thread with tiny beads, a strap with a button, or a diagonally set zipper.

by Thewi

How to Make Sensory Blankets for Dementia Care

The pattern here will help you make a lovely lap quilt for your granny that will stimulate her sensory input with a 3 x 3 grid of blocks that offer interactive means like a zipper, a button-up pocket, a hanging keychain, some ribbons she can lace up or undo, and more of the sorts.

by Goldencarers

Alzheimers fidget quilt

This lap quilt has six sections in different sizes, with sensory stimulation gadgets in the form of a belt with loops to go through, a hanging keychain, a rough texture block, a pocket with buttons, a few pieces of drawstring stitched to the quilt on one side, and a zipper.

by Sewingwilde

Alzheimer’s/Dementia Fidget Lap Blanket Quilt

Here comes an adorable fidget quilt that can be a wonderful present for your elderly family members who struggle with dementia, featuring loops in different sizes and textures stitched to the edges of the quilt all around, a big horizontal zipper, a pocket with velcro closure, some ribbons secured on one end, a little ball of folded felt resembling a rose, some beads on a ribbon, and a belt with a plastic buckle.

by Suggys

The Busy Hands Fidget Apron Pattern

Make sure your grandma has her fingers busy and stimulated even while she’s not sitting with this diy fidget apron that has all sorts of fidgets like zippers, pockets, little pieces of fabric in different textures, and hanging straps with items like keychains, buckles, beads, ribbons, tiny crocheted pieces, and more on their ends.

by Hemmein

Alzheimer Fidget Fun Mats

Two main characteristics of this fidget quilt pattern are practicality and inventiveness since it is a lap quilt that can fold up into a tote bag and it has a lot of fun and unique features like a flap that holds little houses in different textures inside, a denim pocket with a tiny animal on a string inside, elastic bands, a zipper, a fabric book, and a few other that are just as fun and stimulating.

by Susansquiltcreations

Lulabelle’s Fidget Quilts

Use this fidget quilt pattern to whip up a quick lap quilt that will keep your grandma’s brain active with neat fidgets like fabric loops in different sizes and textures, a couple of quilted yo-yos sewn onto the quilt, some tassels, buttons, ribbons, and zippers in a horizontal or vertical orientation.

by Lulabellesview

 Sensory blanket

Here’s a fidget blanket that has a zipper, a pair of braided strings, a piece of fabric with a button, a short strap with a snap buckle, a pocket with a drawstring closure, pieces of faux fur, embossed velvet, and non-slip fabric for tactile stimulation, a zipper, and few flaps of frayed fabric.

by Figjamandlimecordial

Build Your Own Fidget Quilt

This fidget blanket can become an improvised apron if you opt to add a neck loop to it, but is essentially a lap quilt with a 4 x 4 grid of squares you can enrich with sensory stimulation tools you have, like buckles, velcro straps, ribbons, beads, buttons, and more, set on fabric pieces that have various textures, depending on what you have in your scraps storage.

How to Make a Fidget Quilt

Surprise your parent or grandparent with a lap quilt that will help slow down dementia at least a little bit with its sensory stimulation features like ribbons with beads, a strap with a clasp-on buckle, some buttons and pockets, together with various textures that range from soft to hard, split into twelve squares on the quilt.

by Needlepointers

 Chicken fidget blanket quilt

Who says fidget quilts can’t be adorable hasn’t seen this cute one that has a depiction of a chicken on a farm, with the chicken that has a button-up pocket for a wing, button eyes, legs made of ribbons that have beads threaded onto them, fabric loops on its tail, as well as a big sunflower with a zipper on its stem and a button on its head next to some yarn worms!

by Pinterest

 Community Fabric

This pattern will help you make a lap blanket for your grandpa that will keep his mind and hands active while he’s watching the game on TV, thanks to the fun additions it has like the big deep pocket he can open and close, some zippers, buckles, buttons, loops, elastic bands, and beads he can pull back and forth, and a few pieces of fabric with unusual textures that are fun to touch.

by Americanlibrariesmagazine

 How to Make a Fidget Quilts – YouTube

Here’s a pattern that’s ideal for both elderly men and women. It features a grid of squares that will subtly engage their brain into a bit of stimulation with different textures like rough or soft, a few different types of pockets, some fabric loops, interlaced ribbons, tiny objects on a ribbon’s end and more.

Fidget quilt – Make and Do

Here comes a fidget quilt for gentlemen of senior age, with a piece of fabric of interesting texture shaped like a tie, a few pockets, some straps, ribbons with beads, a couple of keychain rings, a little card on a thread, a few loops made of various fabric types, and a short strap with a D-ring on it.

by Sumakeanddo

 Another fidget quilt – Make and Do

Multiple stimulating features neatly arranged on a rectangular quilt, that’s what this fidget blanket is, with some fabric flowers of fun textures, a few pockets with one that has a key on a strap that can go inside it, a zipper on the center, some fabric loops near the outer edge of the quilt, as well as buttons and D-rings on top and bottom sides of the blanket.

by Sumakeanddo

More fidget quilt ideas by Jill

This pattern brings a few more options to the table because it doesn’t only show you how to make a lap quilt with fidgets, but also a similar cushion, an interactive quilt with blocks that are miniature games each, and a pair of muffles with ribbons and fabric pieces in all sorts of textures, all great for dementia patients as a useful pastime activity.

by Jillalexa

Want more ideas? Check the book “Fidget to focus”:

Fidget to focus

Full of tips and strategies collected over years of shared experiences, Fidget to Focus is a gold mine of information and sometimes surprising, sometimes heart-warming stories about how to stay focused and on track, even when tasks are dull, tedious, and boring.

View on Amazon

Whether you have a loved one battling with Alzheimer’s or dementia, or you just like to donate your sewing products, these fidget quilt patterns will help you make splendid quilts that will help keep the mind of these patients active and slow down their illness even by a shred. But they’re also useful for little kids as it stimulates their development in a similar way. Feel free to share your impressions about the fidget quilt patterns in the comments below. After that, you can go ahead and subscribe to the mailing list to stay up-to-date with the latest patterns and tutorials on our website. Enjoy your quilting sessions!