Warm Rice Bag

All of us know it's hard to keep warm in the cold winter months. This Instructable will show you how to make a rice bag that you can hold - on your lap, over your feet/ankles, across your neck, anywhere you're cold. They can also be used to heat away aches and pains.

Step 1 Materials

You will need:
Fabric (about a 10x10 square - or whatever size you want, but I made a 10x10)
Scissors
Thread
Rice or Corn (not popcorn)
Container to Pour Rice With (optional)
Sewing machine (technically optional, but I wouldn't recommend sewing these without it - your filling will be everywhere)

Comments

[rocketman7]

Works well! How long to heat it?

[Hello Kitty]

Probably about 2 minutes. Depending on your microwave, you will probably have to tweak the time by 30 seconds. But on 4 or 5 different microwaves, microwave time for me has always been between one minute and thirty seconds (1:30) and two minutes and thirty seconds (2:30). Of course, if you microwave more than one rice bag at a time, you will need to double that. :)

[rocketman7]

Okay Thanks!

[Hello Kitty]

:)

[mferber88]

I've made a few of these and found that barley works very well and doesn't lead to moisture as some rice does. There's also no smell as with corn. Also, I sewed "sections" about 2 inches from the top & bottom so that the filling doesn't shift from one end to the other but it can move from section to section through top/bottom. Just thought I'd pass on! They're great and a very nice gift!

[sunshiine]

Cute.

[brabantia]

 So pretty! How long does it keep?

[Hello Kitty]

Generally several years - until you bust it, burn it, or it starts looking really mangy. That's one of the reasons we (my family and I) started using rice. It's harder to burn it and it doesn't smell as bad.

[brabantia]

Thx! I've used cherry pips and olive pips in the past but will give rice a try. Seems to be less fussy. (with the pips, you have to collect, clean and dry them first)

[b1russell]

OK!  I've just got to incorporate this into the mittens I'm making!  Oooh, yeah!  Micro-mittens!  No more frost-bitten fingers!  Gotta love it.  Thanks, kitty.

[jkoski]

oatmeal also works, and smells good... just a thought ;]

[islegirl]

I've made these as well and they're great! I also recommend using rice instead of corn as the corn smell is pretty strong when heated up. What I also do is sew channels into the bag so the rice is evenly distributed. They make great gifts too!