How to Make Bean Heating Pads

Every house should have a heating pad or two on hand, for sore muscles or joints. Electric heating pads, however, require power and they're dangerous to sleep with. If you're capable of sewing a simple straight line, you can make your own bean heating pads. They also make nice gifts for friends and family.

Things You'll Need

• 100 percent cotton fabric
• Thread
• Sewing machine (unless you want to sew by hand)
• Beans of choice (or feed corn)

Instructions

1. Determine what size you want your finished bean pad to be. If you want to make one for your neck, it should be narrow and long enough to drape across both shoulders. A heating pad for a thigh should be approximately the size of a piece of printer paper, and a heating pad for your back should be about the size of a standard electric heating pad.

   When you've decided on the dimensions, add 1 1/2 inches to each dimension. In other words, if you want your heating pad to measure 8 by 10 inches, you'll be working with fabric that measures 9 1/2 by 11 1/2 inches.

2. Cut your fabric to the size you've decided on. Make sure that your fabric is 100 percent cotton. Fabrics with synthetic fibers will give off toxic fumes when they are heated in the microwave.

3. Lay your fabric so that the printed sides are facing one another. You should have two squares or rectangles with the pretty, printed side of the fabric touching one another. You'll have one "wrong side" touching the table, and the other wrong side facing up.

4. Sew the pieces of fabric together. Use a 3/4-inch seam allowance. This means you will sew your seam 3/4 inch away from the edge of the fabric. You need to sew around three of the sides completely, and sew only three-quarters of the way around the fourth side.

5. Turn the fabric right side out, using the small opening in the fabric squares to pull the right side out.

6. Fill the empty pillow with beans. If you have a large, clean funnel, you can use this to help you get the beans in easily. Don't overfill. The heating pad needs to be loose enough so that it can drape over body parts, and overfilling it will make it too stiff to do this.

7. Hand-sew the opening closed, Heat the bean bag heating pad in the microwave for a minute, and apply to sore, aching muscles or joints.