Cold and Hot Comfort Sacks

I’m knee deep in Christmas present prep…way to procrastinate right?

So here is a re-post of a guest post I did way back in October for Skip to My Lou’s Holiday Bake, Craft, & Sew Along. It’s a quick and inexpensive stocking stuffer project if you’re looking for one.

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For today, I’m going to share variations on an old idea. You all may have heard of rice bags. Rice bags are great for use as ice packs or hot packs and they are a cinch to make.

I just decided to give them a fancier title and spice them up a bit. 🙂

I made one into an eye mask and laced the rice with lavender essential oils mixed in with some real lavender petals. This would be great for pairing with a massage certificate or a homemade salt scrub. It’s great for reducing puffiness if chilled, or for a sty if heated.

Then I made some fun shapes for kids. You can use them as ice packs of course. They are much more fun than just a plain old ice pack

But for winter you’ll want to warm them up in the microwave and bring them to bed with you. They are great for warming up chilly sheets and are also filled with lavender rice so they have a natural calming effect that’s perfect for bedtime as well.

Or you can make some traditional rectangular ones as nice little hand warmers. These are the simplest of the three to make. So why not whip some up and slide some in your mailbox for your mail carrier and spread some holiday cheer to him/her as well. 🙂

Fun right?

Well, let’s make some.

First thing you do is make a pattern IF you aren’t just doing rectangular sacks.

Free hand it, use cookie cutters, whatever you want. I made a few drafts before I got what I liked. The teddy bear was killer. You would think it would be easier to draw than the dinosaur…so wrong. 🙁 Anyway…

Get your patterns cut…

and then use those patterns to cut your fabric out.

Sew all the way around, leaving a 1-inch opening for turning it right side out and filling it with rice. Cut notches and slits at the curves to help it turn right side out without puckering the fabric.

For the rectangular sacks you just need to snip off the corners.

As I was sewing the curvy pieces, I realized it would be so much easier to just do this…

and cut the excess away after. Duh…So you might want to try that. It was a little bit easier.

Turn all your pieces right side out and prepare your rice.

For the hand warmers I just used plain white rice.

For the rest I used lavender rice. I mixed in 1/4 cup of petals and about 20 drops of lavender essential oil to oh about 4-5 cups of rice or so.

I used a funnel to make the work go fast. Be careful not to over fill. I filled mine up about 3/4 of the way.

Then I used an invisible ladder stitch to close them all up by hand. Here is a great tutorial for that from Craftzine.

All done!

To chill: Place in a ziploc bag and freeze {helps keep out odors and to keep it clean}.

To heat: Place in the microwave and heat about 30 sec. to 1 min. This can vary between microwaves. Add to the cooking time if needed.

Just be sure to not get them wet. You don’t want cooked rice and moldy bags. 🙂

Hmmm…I like this eye mask. I think I’m going to “gift” this one to me.

I can just make more later right?

Oh and If you’re looking for more holiday gift ideas check out:

This ear warmer project.

Or this handbag project.

Have fun holiday sewing!

Thanks for having me Cindy.