A heating pad is a very important item to have around in the household. Whether it’s a headache, menstrual cramps or other pains, a heating pad would make for a great help. This heating pad is also made with organic and recycled materials, so you don’t have to contribute to any more waste by buying a new rubber heating pad. Read on to learn more.

Tools

• Old, but intact, shirt
• 8 inches of old denim
• Ruler
• Needle and thread
• Scissors
• Sewing machine
• Uncooked rice, not instant
• Funnel
• Microwave

Procedure

Ask for help if you’re not used to sewing. This project could be a good starter project for a newbie.

1. Measure out your eight inches wide of denim from the cuff of an old pair of pants. The loop should be eight inches wide. If you don’t have any old pants, buy some denim. Iron the denim out
2. Now, take your old shirt and inspect for any rips or tears. If there are none, measure out a piece of shirt that’s twice as long as the piece of denim that you have. It should also be eight inches wide.
3. If you like, you can add some decoration on the outside part of your heating pad. You can use a thread or needle for this. However, if, again you feel like you are not skilled enough, you can skip this part too.
4. Start sewing the seams of your heating pad. Start by folding the shirt fabric in half, sewing around the outside edges. Leave a three-inch portion open for all the rice to be poured in through later on. Use a double stitch for your seams to make them hold on faster.
5. Now take your denim fabric and turn it inside-out. Align the edges of the shirt and the denim to one side of the pad. Use a double stitch when stitching to make it more durable.
6. The other side of the denim fabric should be left open like a pocket, and this is where the rice will go.
7. Turn the attached denim fabric and shirt right-side out, putting the seams back in the inside part.
8. Insert the funnel into the three-inch opening you’ve left. Start putting rice in until you’ve filled the heating pad halfway.
9. Use a double stitch to seal the three-inch opening.
10. Insert the shirt pouch into the denim pant leg to complete the heating pad. Flatten the pouch with your palms.
11. Insert the pouch into the pant leg and sew the opening closed, using, again, a double stitch for durability.



12. You’ve now made your own heating pad with recycled materials and biodegradable rice. If you need to heat up your heating pad, simply pop in the pouch into the microwave oven (For more information on microwaves, read Microwaves: One Hot Appliance) and heat for two minutes. The rice will retain the heat longer.
13. If you want a more pleasant experience with your heating pad, you can mix the rice with lavender blooms, rosemary, rose petals, cloves or marjoram. The aromatherapy these herbs provide will make it the use of your heating pad a more therapeutic experience.

If there’s anything this exercise has taught us, is that there are a myriad of ways we can use for things that we think are no longer useful.

Watch The Video

How to Make a Heating Pad

How to Make a Microwaveable Heating Pad