Heating Pillow with Buckwheat

Sew up an easy pillow filled with buckwheat to serve as a heating pad. Buckwheat holds the heat (or cold) better than rice or other grains and is hypoallergenic, since buckwheat is not actually a cereal or grass. Add a few drops of your favorite fragrance oil, or just enjoy the smell of buckwheat. You can also use this pillow as a wrist pillow when working with your computer mouse.

This project comes to us from Jenya of MyEvaForeva.
 

Materials:

• hand knitted piece (optional, but if you do use it – only natural yarn like wool or cotton)
• piece of fabric (preferably cotton) that is at least twice bigger than your knitted piece
• sewing machine
• needle and threads
• scissors
• piece of paper
• buckwheat

Instructions:

knit a cover piece; make it the shape you want your heating pad to be. place your hand knitted piece in a flat position and slightly stretch

cut your cotton into two exactly the same pieces so that they are slightly bigger than your knitted piece

take two cotton pieces and place the knitted piece in between like in the photo

sew around the edges making sure you get all three layers. leave an opening about 2” long

turn it inside out

make a little fennel out of paper and use it to fill up the sack with your precious buckwheat about half way so the sack is rather loose – this way it will take a shape of whatever you want to warm up easier

use blind stitch to close it up. you are done! now go put it in the microwave and heat it up for 1 minute, take it out and shake it up. then put it back in for another minute. don’t you love it?

For other similar sewing ideas, check out the FREE ebook, "The Sewn Christmas Gifts Guide" on our sister site, AllFreeSewing.com.