DIY Microwavable Heat Pads

After injuring myself at work and ending up with a week off to get myself fit again I needed something to save me from going mad from just sitting doing nothing and resting - I am not one for sitting around but the pain from pulling a muscle or trapping a nerve in my shoulder was to painful to do even the smallest of housework tasks. 

I have a stack of spare materials etc that I have been meaning to do something with , and after a hour or so sitting on the sofa , scouring Pinterest and getting cold , I decided to make my self something that could be put to use quite a lot over the next coming months 

A Heat wrap and hand warmers !  

I had searched several sites and couldn't believe how easy they were to make to be honest , not only that , some of the on-line stores sell these for ridiculous prices ! So I have saved a small fortune.

At the end of the day - all they are are a few pieces of material, with a mixture of household grains that you probably have in your cupboard .....

I was so excited , I made these in a bit of a hurry so don't zoom in too close on my sewing skills, I'm not selling them so it's only me that's going to see the sewing anyway ha ha .

Right to start with I had one of them neck support cushions you buy for travelling , so I traced around that for my pattern . On doubled up material you need to cut the pattern out so you end up with two pieces in the shape you want , 

Next - pin these materials together , leaving the end's open .

Then sew all the way around the outside and up around the centre part - again do not sew the ends. 

After sewing, turn the item inside out and press so all the seams are flat.

I then decided I would stitch a centre divide the whole way around too so it makes different sections but if your making one yourself you don't have to do that part .

You now need to sew shut one of your ends - so fold in your seam allowance , I used a straight stitch first and then went along again with a zig-zag stich just to double make sure that end was sealed closed for sure .

So now your ready for the filling with whatever you decide to fill it with , from what I've read you can use wheat, rice, barley, corn , flaxseed etc .

I used what I had in the cupboard , Rice , Linseed and some freshly picked dried lavender out of the garden . I mixed this all together in a jug - which Is easier to pour into the end of the wrap .

I only used a small amount of lavender as you don't want it too over powering .

Don't overfill the wrap ! You want a nice even layer in there and don't want it too bulky .

Once you have filled the wrap , you need to sew the other end part to seal it all in there completely .

And here is a picture with my neck wrap all filled and sealed.

The rice mixture can still move around in there so it not overfilled and compact and I suppose when it's all levelled out the wrap is about 1-2 cm high .

Sorry about the next two pictures but I thought I would show how it sits around the neck .

Now this can be put in the microwave to he heated . 

After reading quite a few sites regarding these heat pads , quite a lot of them mentioned heating them for a few min's  but also placing a cup of water in the microwave too. ( I am assuming this is to stop wheat etc drying out to much as then this could be a hazard ) , I haven't used wheat in mine but will place the cup of water in there too just to be safe.

This particular one I made took 1 min 45 seconds to get to temperature I wanted and which felt comfortable around my neck .  Do not overheat them . If you are making one - put it in the microwave at 30 second intervals until it has reached a nice temperature. .

I went on to make a cover for my heat pad so it was even more snugly using some fleece I had , the first one was a quickly made one which I wasn't overall happy about the colour of brown so I then decided I would use some lovely owl cotton material and another fleece material I had to make a different two tone one.

At least with making a cover - no one sees my quick, badly done stitching on the ends of the wrap and you can at least wash the cover .  I have seen some of these heat in the microwave pads made with fleece material but I personally don't think it is a good idea for that sort of material to be put in the microwave. 

Doesn't that look so much better then the brown one ?? 

So there you go , all done and my neck and top's of my shoulders are lovely and warm . Where I put lavender in as well, once it's heated you get a lovely aroma too rather then just a smell of hot rice lol. 

After that I went on to make some matching hand warmers too.