Rice pack tutorial

This is the third tutorial I promised for this week. I know I have done a tutorial on rice packs in the past, but this is another version. I use this one in my home all the time, and prefer it over my heating pad. My husband also loves it. Mine is made from muslin, with a cover. However, I made this one out of cotton, so it did not need a cover.

 Cut two pieces of cotton 7"x22". You will also need 18" of ribbon for the handles, and about 2 lbs of brown rice. Sorry about the orientation of this photo.

 Cut the ribbon in half, for 2 9" pieces. Place one piece on top of the right side of your cotton, about 1" from the edge. Curve it up, and place the other end of the ribbon about 1" from the opposite edge.

 Lay your other piece of cotton, right side down, and pin the ribbon in place. Stitch across the top, using a 1/2" seam. Sew down both of the long sides, using a 1/2" seam as well, making sure not to sew over the ribbon.

 Turn right side out, push out corners, and press. It should look like this.

 To secure the ribbon a little more, I add two-three lines of additional stitching, spaced about 1/4" apart.

 Now comes the fun part. Filling the bag, and stitching. I use about 1 cup of rice per compartment. I use a funnel to aid in filling, because I have spilled rice all over my kitchen, and it's not fun to clean up.

 To aid in the stitching, I usually hold the bag upright, and compress the rice as much as it will go. I then pin a line across, to hold the rice in place.

 Leaving the pins in place, I stitch about 1/2" from the pins, and then remove them.

 Continue the filling and stitching the entire length of the bag, leaving about 2" at the end for the remaining handle. This is why I left the selvage edge on my bag. I use it as a guide for turning the end under. I press it in place, add my handle in the same fashion, and stitch 2-3 rows of stitching.

Here is the finished bag. To use, just pop in the microwave for 1-2 minutes, and then place where you need the relief. These bags cannot be washed, but making a cover is relatively easy. You just sew a tube about 1" bigger than the bag, and slide it over the bag.