Magic Bags and a Giveaway

Have you seen in the shops, those pads filled with assorted beneficial stuffings, such as wheat grains, or ground up cherry stones, which you put in the microwave or the freezer, and then when suitably hot or cold, you apply these pads to the part of your body which needs soothing or invigorating? They cost a fortune. I bought one a while ago only because it was on sale, but at half price it still cost £8.00!

I run a Suma food group - which means that a group of us order bulk amounts of wholefood at wholesale prices. On my last leaf through the catalogue, i noticed a 3kg bag of organic wheat grain, costing £2.85. Wheat is the filling in my very expensive, aforementioned hot pad from Culpepper, but it is not organic, and the covering is plain corduroy, not - as the price would suggest - fine linen or silk woven by scottish fairies, and breathed upon by lucky leprichauns with a lottery ticket for the pot at the end of the rainbow. So why the ridiculously high pricetag when you could make enough healing pads for your entire extended family with a few scraps of fabric and a 3kg bag of wheat grain - or rice for that matter! Here's how:

Determine the size of your pads, my square one is 6"x6" and the eye pad is 6" measuring accross the bottom. I cut patterns from paper which included a 1cm seam allowance.

The fabric is cashmere, left over from a cloak I made years ago, and Heather Baily Freshcut fabric scraps in pink for the hot pad, and green (like cucumbers) for the cold eye pad. I put each right sides together, sewed right round, leaving about a 2" gap for turning out and stuffing. If you leave a long tail of thread at one end, it will aid hand sewing the gap shut for a neat finish:

Trim the seams, clip the corners, and then when turned out, finger press carefully and you should have these:

You can then fill the bags with the wheat grain (or rice) and add other things, in this case, I have added dried lavender flowers with about 10 drops lavender oil, and mixed it altogether in a bowl.


I used a funnel to aid stuffing - otherwise it tends to go all over the place even if you are very careful!


When the bags are about 3/4 full, you can sew them shut either by hand, or by machine if you don't mind a top stitch effect on one side.


You could ofcourse, top stitch all the way round before stuffing, to make it even and give extra strength. You could also add embellisments before sewing or stuffing or add extra detail such as a seam or two down the middle.

I added a seam on this one which somehow gives more "weight" to each eye. The plastic case I made to go with it, so that you can store it in the fridge without it getting damp or spilled on. I since realised that a foodbag would do just as well.



This little set could be YOURS. All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning it, is leave a comment on this post telling me what makes a good craft blog. I will use a random number picker (when I find one) to pick the winner 10 days from today, 28 March.

To use these bags hot (i would not recommend hot use for the eye pad), put in the microwave along with a glass of water, for 2 minutes on high. I find the lavender bags particularly good for those nasty times of the month when all you want is a hot water bottle, a comfy chair and a mug of cocoa.