Homemade- Rice Neck Warmer

A little background for you. I got my first job when I was a sophomore in high school, and then started the love of money. I didn't have any bills so I spent money on things like clothes, and well, more clothes... I had no concept of money at all. Now, 17 years later (oh my goodness!), I have a new respect for the green stuff. And I try not to waste a bit of it.

I have also always been pretty artistic, in fact I went to college for drawing. From there, I discovered the love of being able to "make" things. After I got married, it was my husband extremely cheap ways that made me morph into the person I am today. He would say, "well let's not spend our money on that because you could make THAT!". And usually he was right, if the desire was there, I could usually figure out how to make it.

So, today here I am writing in a blog for all of blogland to see, and I am writing on how to explore this "lost art" of making things by hand, instead of paying an arm and probably a leg, to buy it.

If you have any ideas or anything that you would like to know how to make easily, e-mail me or leave a comment here. I have lots of things we can talk about, but I can always use a challenge!

And today I am going to give you a little step-by-step on how to make a Rice Neck Warmer. These make GREAT gifts, and you would probably end up paying at least 4-5x's more then what it is going to cost you to make one.

Estimated cost of this depends. Fabric can be around a $1. Rice will be probably about $2-3.

So to start:

Get a plain cotton fabric for the inside bag (this will hold the rice, and will not be seen.). Then also get a softer cotton fabric for the outside (this will "house" the inside bag with the rice in it).

Here are the 2 I chose for this warmer:

I got the flower fabric for the outside and the plain fabric for the inside. From each of the fabrics you will need 1 (one) piece approx. 22'' long by 11'' wide, so one from the flower fabric and one from the plain.

Take your plain fabric, and fold it long ways. This does not have to be perfect! Notice, mine is definitely not!

You are going to start sewing (with a sewing machine~if you don't have one, borrow one! This is gonna be EASY!).

You are going to sew the long side first. Followed by one of the short sides, notice I said ONE of the short sides- NOT BOTH. This will sew the bag shut and defeat the whole purpose! =)

When you are done, it should look something like this. Notice, this is not perfect, and it does not have to be! As long as it will hold rice, that is all we care about!

Notice, the far end is unsewn!

Now turn your bag inside out (so the seam is on the inside).

Now, fill the bag with about 4 cups of rice, or your bag should be about 1/2 full. If you do any more then that it won't fit around your neck very well!

At this point you can add dried lavender or some other dried herbs, to make it smell good when heated.

Turn the open end of the bag in. So the edge of the bag goes inside.

Now, you will sew the top shut.

Now take the outside fabric, and turn one of the short edges down about an inch, and sew.

Take your fabric, and fold the fabric longways, just like the other bag. This time make sure the outside of the fabric is turned toward each other. You want the inside of the fabric on the outside, so we can sew it then turn it inside out.

Take this, and now sew along the long edge first (notice our turned down and sewn edge?). Then sew the other short edge.

It should look like this when you are finished. The far edge is sewn. The long edge is sewn, and the short edge closest to us is sewn over and OPEN!

Now, turn it inside out, and inspect your good work!

Now the fun part! Put the rice bag inside the outer bag!

And here it is! The final product! Pat yourself on the back for a job well done!

And another way to reward yourself right now, is to heat this puppy up!

Stick your rice neck warmer in the microwave for about 2 minutes. Make sure you test this our before you give it to a child, to make sure it doesn't get too hot. After 2 minutes, pull your rice neck warmer out of the microwave. It will probably smell like rice, and that's OK! It will be less strong the more you use it. It also may be a little damp feeling the first time or two. This is normal also!

One nice feature of this is that if you need to wash the outside cover, you can just slip it off and throw it into the washer. When it's done, slip it back on and use it again! You can also use this as a cold pack.

I hope you try this out! You will be glad you did!