I have a lovely neck whatsis that I warm in the microwave. It has nice-smelling herbs in it and it feels wonderful. Everybody should have one. Maybe two. I’m serious. It has lavender and something else I can’t quite identify in it.
The cover can be removed to wash it. It’s very nice and soft, too, so that it feels good against even very sensitive skin. Not like towel fabric, but something, hmm, close to felt but not? Blanket-y? It’s plain white, which is going to show any soiling very easily. We saw some other heatable pretties at a kiosk in the mall recently that were covered in a variety of gorgeous fabrics that wouldn’t show soiling as easily. They weren’t as soft as this, though, and I don’t believe they were washable.
Now I want the same for my lower back, but I think I’ll need to actually design and make it so as to be sure it’ll fit my girth. It would feel good for people with low back pain and those who get those nasty cramps.
I’m thinking that getting a pretty big piece of fabric and separating it into pockets filled with rice and herbs will work better than one large section. That’ll keep the rice from clumping at one end or the other, at least (that’s my only complaint about the one I have). In fact, to make sure that it doesn’t all fall to the bottom, the thing may need to be divided into pockets both ways. Quilted, almost. Does that make any sense? Now I want a sewing machine so I can try it. It shouldn’t cost much at all for materials, but I don’t want to hand-sew that much.
The removable cover part—hmm, I think it would work better with a zipper, like my neck thingy, than with velcro. Zippers and buttons are way beyond my skill level. I think I may have to throw myself on the mercy of those who can truly sew.
The “scent packs” for the neck thing are removable. I suppose that would allow you to change to other herbs if you prefer them (or are allergic to some, like waya is). When I did a neck thing before for myself, I just mixed the herbs in with the rice. You could, of course, leave it unscented, which would take care of any possible allergy issues.
Would it be better to make up small muslin bags of rice, then sew them into pockets in the other fabric? That would probably make the sewing easier, although it adds a step.
