DIY Comforting Heat Pillow

Many years ago, my mom bought a heating pad for my dad at a kiosk at the mall. It was made of blue fabric with stars and moons on it, and was shaped to drape around your shoulders. He warmed it in the microwave and it smelled pretty terrible. However, my dad LOVED it. He would warm it up in the evening when his shoulders were tight or even if just when he was cold. Eventually, the blue pad was either misplaced or fell apart. A couple of years ago, I decided to make him a new one! I followed a tutorial from the blog An Oregon Cottage. It turned out well, he really likes it, and it smells good!

A while back (I honestly cannot remember when) my sister-in-law was talking about some back pain she was having. I asked if she ever used a heating pad, and she told me that she borrowed one from her mom every now and then. I picked out some fabric that I thought she would like and months later I finally made her a heat pillow! If you have aches and pains (and a sewing machine), you should make one, too! I haven’t been sewing for very long and I was able to complete this project easily (once I had some time when the kids were napping and there weren’t piles of dirty dishes/clothes/toys everywhere.) I changed a bit from the original tutorial, since I didn’t love the finishing on the first one.

How to begin:

Cut a pattern from paper of a 12 inch by 20 inch rectangle. Use this to cut out your fabric. You should choose a fabric that is 100% cotton (so it won’t catch fire or anything in the microwave.) Thicker broadcloth and home decor fabrics are best.

Fold the fabric in half lengthwise with right sides together. Sew together beginning on one of the short sides, putting in a few backstitches to keep it together. Stop a bit before the corner, lift the presser foot up, turn the fabric and continue sewing the long side. Turn the next corner and sew halfway up the short side, then stop, again with a few backstitches.

Cut the corners off a bit so they won’t make for a bulky corner. Turn right side out. Fill about halfway with flaxseed. (I like flaxseed because it doesn’t burn in the microwave and it creates a nice, moist heat that is helpful for aching muscles.) Fiddle around with it to figure out how much you like, as too empty won’t keep the heat in as well and too full will be hard. I also add about 1/4 cup of dried lavender. You don’t have to, but it smells nice!

Finally use a ladder stitch to close the hole up. I learned this stitch while fixing some stuffed animals that were torn. It is a great way to hide the hole and it honestly isn’t that hard, especially with this thick fabric. It takes about five minutes to learn from a few YouTube videos. I like this one:

 

Once you stitch it closed, you are finished!

When you are ready to use it, heat it in the microwave about 45 seconds. Give it a shake, then heat another 20 seconds until it feels warm enough to soothe what ails you.