I love sleeping with a warm beanbag in the winter. It keeps my bed warm when the room is freezing, and it’s nice to cuddle something that’s warm and soft and doesn’t complain about being suffocated. But… it’s started smelling a bit funny. I guess regularly microwaving something filled with unidentified organic matter dramatically shortens its useable life.
So, I made another one. With a fuzzy, washable cover, and filled with some things that smell nice. It was very easy, and took all of an hour (and I was distracted to boot). I used some leftover flannel and super fuzzy flannel, and odds and ends of really old dry goods from the pantry. Eight seams, and you’ve got yourself a warm bag of wonder for winter nights and sore muscles.
For the inner bag that holds all the things that get warm, you’ll need a square of fabric. I went with 20×20″. That was a bit… big. You should probably step it down to something like 15×7″. Fold it in half and sew it up along the three open sides, leaving a 4″ opening to fill it up.
Then fill it with your choice of dry beans, dry rice, dry lentils (or a mixture of the three). Don’t stuff it full, fill it just enough so it’s flexible. Add a tablespoon or two of dry lavender for antiseptic/pretty smell benefits. Slip stitch the bag closed.
The case will be a strip of fabric, twice as long as the beanbag, plus 5″, and as wide as the beanbag, plus 2″. For the bag I made, that was 25×13″. I didn’t have a piece of super fuzzy flannel that big, so I divided it in half. The front piece is the super fuzzy stuff, 21×13″. The back is two pieces are 12×13″. I stitched the three pieces together to form a large enough piece for the cover, and went from there.
The case has a gap at the back that folds over so you can slide the beanbag in and out as you need to. Hem the ends, and then fold the strip of fabric in half, folding the hemmed edges over by an inch and a half at the middle. Stitch the edges of the case together, turn right side out, and voila!
Loving your blog, just found it today.
I made heat bags like this, but ordered cleaned cherry pits online, as I wanted to be able to wash the bag. They are great, and I can just chuck it into the washer and dryer. (I bought a bag of pits some time ago, would have to google them again to find the source, but they’re worth it!)
I can think of a very delicious way to get myself a bag of cherry pits 😉 I’ll just have to wait until July!
http://www.cherrypitstore.com/
Wasn’t even close to worth purchasing, eating and cleaning that many pits to the degree they need to be cleaned, for me.
Fair point—even with my moderately dangerous love for cherries, I’m sure I’d make myself very ill long before I had enough for a bean bag bigger than a potato! I’ll have to try and locate a Canadian supplier—I don’t want to try and deal with the hassle of getting a big bag of cherry pits over the border, haha.
I had no hassle, other than the shipping cost. (I”m also in Alberta) I figured it was worth it to be able to wash the bag, and it made several bags (price with shipping is about $40)
Oh, awesome! I shall definitely consider it, then 🙂 Right now I’m really enjoying an electric heating pad my Grandma passed on to me—it’s especially good for those really cold nights when I need a constant heat output to keep me cozy. And I haven’t lit myself or my bed on fire yet, either! 😛