DIY Tutorial: 3 quick and easy reusable heat pads to soothe your aches and cramps
These soothing heat pads are easy to make, whether you know how to sew or not! I’ll be going over 3 ways you can make your own reusable heating pads at home, including a no sew option. Method 1, a tummy heat pad, is a larger pad great for areas like the stomach and lower back. Method 2, the hand warmer set, is a pair of smaller heat pads, perfect for slipping into gloves or pockets to keep your hands warm. Method 3, the no-sew sock is the quickest and easiest solution, all you need is a sock and your heatable filling!
How can a heat pad help?
Heating pads are a great way to soothe your muscles from aches, cramps and muscle stiffness through heat therapy.
“There are many benefits of using heating pads to deal with pain. Thermotherapy allows for greater circulation in the affected areas, bringing more oxygen and blood to injuries in order to speed up the recovery process. The warmth can also help to soothe sore or aching muscles as well as joints within the body. This can help to increase the range of motion in your arms, legs, and back.”
How to use your heating pad
- Pop your heat pad into the microwave for the amount of time specified below for each DIY heat pad method.
- Take care when removing the heat pad from the microwave as it will be hot. If you find it is too hot to the touch, wrap your heat pad in a dry towel or let it cool a bit before using.
- Apply to your sore muscles, aches, and cramps.
Tummy Heat Pad: 1-2 minutes
Hand Warmers: 45 seconds – 1 minute
No-Sew Sock: 1-2 minutes
Make your own heating pad!
Materials
Construction Materials
Heatable Filling Materials
Choose your heat pad:
Method 1: Tummy Heat Pad
Follow steps 1-10, using the Tummy Heat Pad pattern pieces.
Method 2: Hand Warmer Set
Follow steps 1-10, using the Hand Warmer Set pattern pieces.
Method 3: No-Sew Sock Heat Pad
Find a sock made of all natural fibers, and skip to step 8.
Instructions
Step 1: Select your fabric
For this project, you will need fabric that is composed of 100% natural fibers such as cotton, linen or wool. You can find many suitable options in your own home, at the thrift store, or in a fabric store. To find the fiber content of secondhand materials like t-shirts and bedding, look on the tag. It is important to use natural fibers as synthetic fabric is more likely to burn or melt when heated.
You will need an outer layer of fabric and a lining layer which will not be visible once the heat pad is constructed. The amount of fabric needed for each pattern is specified in the next section.
Step 2: Select your pattern
The patterns for method 1 and 2 are available below. These patterns can be printed to scale and assembled, or traced and re-drafted if you don’t have a printer. If you will be printing the patterns, make sure to use the PDF Pattern Download option below to get the printable version of the pattern.
Tummy Heat Pad
To make the tummy heat pad, you will need:
10×22″ or 11×20″ piece of outer fabric
10×22″ or 11×20″ piece of lining fabric
Hand Warmer Set
To make a set of 2 hand warmers, you will need:
8×10″ piece of outer fabric
8×10″ piece of lining fabric
Step 3: Cut your fabric
Once you’ve selected your cotton fabric and have your pattern ready, it’s time to cut out your pattern pieces!
Lay your fabric flat on your work surface and place your pattern over it. It may help to pin the pattern down to your fabric to get a more accurate cut.
Cut out the number of pieces specified in the pattern from your outer and lining fabric.
Step 4: Arrange and pin your pattern pieces
Face your outer fabric pieces right sides together. This is very important, since you want the right sides to be exposed when you turn your work right sides out. Sandwich your lining pieces around your outside pieces. It doesn’t really matter which way the lining faces since you won’t be able to see them once the heat pad is fully assembled.
Pin the pieces together to secure in place. Mark a small 1.5-2” opening at one end of the heat pad as indicated in the pattern.
Step 5: Sew
- Start your sewing at one end of opening you marked with a 1/4 inch seam allowance.
- Backstitch at the beginning to secure your thread.
- Sew straight until you are 1/4 inch away from edge of the fabric.
- Lower your needle into the fabric, lift the presser foot and rotate your fabric until it is parallel to the next edge.
- Continue around the perimeter of your fabric in this way until you reach the other end of the marked opening.
- Backstitch to secure your thread
- Remove your heat pad from the sewing machine and trim the threads at the beginning and end of your stitch line.
Step 6: Trim
Trim each edge of your work.
Cut off the corners of your work. Around each corner, cut small notches perpendicular to the fabric. Make sure not to cut through your stitches.
This trimming step will make your corners sharper and easier to turn out, since there is less fabric bulking up the seam and the notches will allow the fabric around the corners to stretch as needed.
Step 7: Turn right sides out
To get the right sides facing outward, I find it easiest to start by pushing one corner near the opening through it first.
Continue pushing the rest of the heat pad through the opening, corner by corner.
As you go, it may be easier to start pulling the fabric from the other end, of the opening, and alternate between pushing and pulling until the work is turned right sides out.
The corners will still be caved in. To turn them out, grab your chopstick or other long utensil, insert it through the opening, find the corner and use the end of your chopstick to push the tip of the corner outwards.
Step 8: Mix your rice
Grab your bowl, cleaned rice, and aromatics.
Combine the rice and aromatics into the bowl. See below for the recommended quantities of rice and aromatics for each method.
Mix up your rice concoction until the aromatics are evenly distributed.
- single hand warmer: ~1/3 cup rice with 1 tsp lavender or 2 drops essential oil
- tummy heat pad: ~3 cups rice with 2 tbsp lavender or 10 drops essential oil
- no-sew sock: 2 cups of rice (per section) to 1 tbsp lavender or 6 drops essential oil.
- Ex: my no-sew sock has 3 sections of rice, so I used 6 cups of rice in total.
Step 9: Fill your heat pad
Tummy Heat Pad and Hand Warmers:
Grab your funnel and insert it into the opening of your heat pad. Make sure it is between the two inner lining pieces.
Fill the heat pad a little over 3/5 full with rice. You can adjust the quantity as you prefer.
No-Sew Sock
Grab your cup and place your sock into it. Slide the top of the sock down over the cup and place the funnel into the sock. You can also fill the sock directly with the funnel instead. Fill the desired amount of rice. If you want multiple sections, you’ll repeat this step after tying a knot in the sock.
Step 10: Seal your heat pad
Tummy Heat Pad and Hand Warmers:
Fold the raw edges of the fabric around the opening inwards until the seam is aligned. Pin in place if desired.
Grab a needle and thread. Try to match the thread color to your fabric to better hide the final seam (I use a contrasting color in these photos for visibility).
Thread your needle, tie a knot at one end of your thread, and insert your needle into the edge of the opening until you find the stitch line.
Pull the needle upwards through the fabric until the knot at the end of your thread is taught. The knot should be hidden on the inside of the heating pad.
Seal the opening shut with a slip stitch. This stitch is meant to hide your thread so it is not visible once finished.
Insert your needle under one edge of the opening, catch about a 1/4 inch of fabric and pull through. Insert your needle under the other edge of the opening at the same point as the end of your last stitch, catch 1/4 inch of fabric and pull through.
Once you have enough practice, you can try catching a few of these stitches on your needle at once before pulling your thread through to speed up the process.
Every 5 or so stitches, gently pull on your thread to tighten the seam and watch your stitches disappear into the fabric. Repeat this until the seam is fully closed.
Tie a knot by making another stitch in the same place as your last stitch, pulling the thread until there is just a small loop left above the fabric.
Thread your needle through that small loop and pull to tighten.
To secure the thread one last time, insert your needle directly into the seam and bring it out a couple inches down.
Pull your thread all the way through, and trim the excess.
Now your last stitch is secured by a long tail hidden within the heat pad.
No-Sew Sock
Push the rice downwards until it has settled into the area you want it in. Add or remove rice for bigger or smaller sections.
Twist the sock a few times right above the pocket of rice.
Tie a knot and tighten by pulling on either side.
Repeat steps 9 and 10 as many times as you like to get the number of sections you want.
Now enjoy your brand new, reusable heating pad!
Thank you for following along with my tutorial! I hope you enjoy your new heating pad.
How to use your heating pad
- Pop your heat pad into the microwave for the amount of time specified below for each DIY heat pad method.
- Take care when removing the heat pad from the microwave as it will be hot. If you find it is too hot to the touch, wrap your heat pad in a dry towel or let it cool a bit before using.
- Apply to your sore muscles, aches, and cramps.
Tummy Heat Pad: 1-2 minutes
Hand Warmers: 45 seconds – 1 minute
No-Sew Sock: 1-2 minutes
Further Education
Information about the benefits of heat therapy were found at this source:
https://healthyline.com/what-are-the-benefits-of-heating-pads-for-your-body/