Linda's Rice Bag

Last year for Christmas I made all the girls in my family therapeutic rice bags. Therapeutic rice bags are bags full of rice that when heated up can work as a soothing relief - like a hot water bottle or heating blanket. These bags are great because all you have to do is stick it in the microwave for 3 minutes and you have a warm bag of goodness that you can put on cramps, sore muscles or just under the covers to make your bed warm.

My mother-in-law loves these so much that she uses them every day to keep her toes warm and to sooth any aching muscles she may have. Since hers are probably pretty well used up, I decided to make her some more bags for Christmas this year.

The bags do not need much fabric, so I just went to the remnants area of my local fabric store and picked out some cute patterns.

Bag One:

Once the fabric was ready I started on the first bag. This bag is just a simple rectangular bag, 15in x 8in size. I sewed up all the sides except for 3 inches in one corner (so I can put the rice in)

The best rice to use is medium or short grain rice. They hold the most heat. I recommend using a funnel to pour the rice into the bag. Since I didn't have a funnel I just cut off the bottom of a milk carton and used that as a funnel.

I filled the bag about half full and sewed up the rest of the bag. Bag one is done!


Bag Two:

My intention for Bag two is a neck warmer. I made this bag into a long skinny rectangle, 20in x 6in size. Since I didn't want all the rice to go to ends of the bag when it's wrapped around a neck, I made compartments for the rice. I sewed a seam lengthwise down the middle of the bag and fill each side with a little rice, then I sealed off those compartments by sewing a seam widthwise.

I filled the next compartments with about the same amount of rice and sealed them off.

and last but not least, the 3rd compartments and sealed off the end of the bag.

Bag two is done!

Now that I've got both bags done it's time to wrap them up and give them to Linda for her Christmas present.

Oh and one more thing, the outside of these bags will probably get dirty with use so you could make a "pillow case" to go over the bag. That way when the bag gets dirty you can just take the case off and wash it. That's what I've done with my rice bag and so far it's worked well. Remember: heat for about 3 minutes, place on aches and pains and let the bag take all your pains (or coldness) away.