DIY Rice Hand Warmer

This is a simple DIY project for beginners and specially for kid to get started with sewing and also stay excited at every step. I came up with this idea while using a non-reusable supermarket hand warmer. They are made of wasteful plastic and chemical, many harmful if came in contact with skin, and also did I mention non-reusable?

You can call this an organic hand warmer. And best part, it only takes 15-20 seconds to heat up again and can be made (tailored) your size.

To get started, you will need:

• Fabric
• Scissors
• Needle and thread, or a sewing machine
• Rice
• rules and pencil for marking
• And a funnel (not shown in the image)

Step 1: Measuring and Cutting the Fabric

Start by measuring and cutting a fabric to your prefered sized, I'm cutting mine to 6 inch by inch. This is produce a 6 inch x 3 inch hand warmer.

Draw a line at the center of the fabric, this is where we will fold the fabric.

Step 2: Stitching Stitching and More Stitching

To get started, fold the fabric in half, with the inside part facing outside, this is to hide the stitching from outside.

Start by stitching from one of the corners, if this is your first time stitching, like it was for me, you can refer here and follow through back-stitch. Back-stitch is a type of hand sewing that results in a stronger bind between the two pieces of fabric.

Follow the stitching leaving top end open, this is to fold the hand warmer inside out.

Step 3: Fold, Fill and Stitch

After sewing the two sides, turn the pouch inside out, you can use a pencil of a chopstick to help yourself with. At this point, fill up the pouch with rice to do a test run. This is to insure there are no open ends. Now, here it gets a little tricky if this is your first time stitching. We will stitch the last opening, we will use what is called hidden stitch, as the name suggests, this is to hide the stitches to made a cute hand warmer.

Start by folding a small opening inside, like hemming you jeans, and start stitching. You can refer to this video to learn hidden stitch. And trust me, it is a lot easier than you think. (Coming from a guy doing this for the first time!!!)

Step 4: Fill the Bag!!

Right before you stitch the whole pouch shut, you want to leave it open just enough for the funnel to slide in. Fill the bag with rice and stitch close the reaming opening.

Voila!!! You just made a rice hand warmer.

To heat it up, just microwave the entire pouch for 15-20 seconds, for bigger pouches, heat for longer.

Rice is very forgiving when microwave, but be careful and never exceed beyond 45 seconds. Be careful with overheating.

Couple answers to common question:

Q: Can you get away with sewing and make one more easily?

A: You can use fusible tape or fabric glue

Q: Can I use anything else other than rice?

A: you can use oats or corn barley

Q: Can you freeze it?

A: Yes!!! This can double as an ice pack for hot summers.

Step 5: