Oooh! Warm hugs!

Did you know that most aches and pains are better treated with a warm rice pack? Better than reaching for the tablets although they too have their place.

A real pain to photograph but you will see it better as we go along!

And rice packs are easy to make, take next to no materials and they are great gifts and craft fair sellers too. All good!

Quick to make and great for gifts.

You can fill them with things other than rice but rice is cheap and easily found. It heats in the microwave in 1-2 minutes too and provides the bearer of the aches and pains a wonderfully soothing warm hug. 

REALLY addicted to putting text on things using die cuts.

Wheat is popular and some people like to use dried beans - I favour a smaller particle though because it moulds to your body a bit better and the more of this wonderful warmth in contact with the afflicted part, the better.

I work on my own so I don't have a model but you can see how this is just full enough to curve nicely.

Now I wanted to de-medicalise this make as much as possible! It is supposed to be a bit more fun so make sure you choose some pretty fabrics and then, for the piece de resistance....a bit of fanfare please...we are going to add die cut words to make you smile every time you use it! That last bit is also important because a smile starts the flow of endorphins (feel good chemicals) and they are pain relieving too.

Just what is needed

So what do we need this time?
-30cm strip (12") pretty and light coloured fabric. I am using a gorgeous mustard yellow (the current favourite colour) fabric from the Essentials II collection by Pat Bravo for Art Gallery Fabrics (Hantex)
-F8th H630 iron on wadding (Vlieseline)
-black iron on fabric or plain black solid fabric and a good quality fabric glue*
-10cm black and white ribbon (Berisfords)
-uncooked rice
-Sizzix Big Shot manual die cutting machine
-Sizzix Bigz XL alphabet die #662707A Cutout by Tim Holtz
- your usual sewing needs.

* make sure that whatever product you choose, it is microwave safe! To use something like an iron on foil could damage your microwave. If in doubt, choose the fabric and glue option. 

Not much needed and no template either!

Right! To business then....
Begin by cutting two rectangles from your fabric 12cm wide x 60cm long (4 3/4" x 23 5/8") and fuse the H630 wadding to the wrong side of each.

This wadding is just enough to make the pad feel luxe and help it to keep its heat too.

Using a round object, round the corners....

The larger your round object, the gentler the curve to sew around!

Now cut out your letters. These can spell anything at all but I have decided on 'ooh Warm hugs!'.

A good die cutting machine is a real must have tool. Put it on your birthday list :-) 

Lay the letters onto one of the interfaced rectangles next so that they are well centred and make sense.

To get the placement right, find the centre of the rectangle and then the centre of the centre word and build from there. If you are not good at getting things straight, go deliberately wonky.

There wasn't actually an exclamation mark in the set so I die cut the I and then just snipped the end off.

When you are happy with the layout, iron or glue the letters on.

Once you have peeled the protective film off the letters, they will be soft and flexible.

Take the little piece of ribbon and fold it in half to make a loop tab and attach it to one end.....

Adore black and white with mustard!

Now with the right sides together, pin and sew the two rectangles, leaving a turning gap on one long side. Clip the edge curves to reduce bulk there...

Careful not to cut the stitches!

Turn out through the gap. Fill 2/3 full with rice and then close the gap.

Don't over fill with rice because ideally for the beneficial effects to be felt, this has to have a lot of contact and if it is too full, it will be a bit too rigid to cover properly.

Don't fill so much that it cannot fit around a curve like a neck or over a knee.

And that's it! I did say simple and fast!

Would make a nice draft excluder too :-)

Thank you for stopping by and I will have something else for you very soon! I am working on some faux pottery effects on upcycled jam jars so that could be the next thing....

I used a few things in this make that are quite special and to find them, here are a few useful addresses...

Vlieseline from  Six Penny Memories - http://www.six-penny.com/ Tel: 01207-565728 and  Lady Sew and Sew, 0162 8890532, info@ladysewandsew.co.uk , www.ladysewandsew.co.uk

Hantex: For further details & stockists information please visit www.hantex.co.uk/mystockist

Berisfords@stockistenquiries.co.uk or telephone: 01453 883581.

Or visit www.berisfords-ribbons.co.uk.

Sizzix from www.sizzix.co.uk   0844 499 8181 or 44 (0) 845 345 2277 outside UK