Blog #12: Rice Sock Tutorial

Rice socks are probably the best things ever for me because of my migraines. Just pop it in the microwave for a minute or so. Put it on your hurt, and presto you have wonderful soothing warmth right where you need it. So with the ever present question of what to make with all my Spoonflower swatches, this was the first thing I thought of.
Top view



A quick and simple swatch project: rice sock!


1. Measure swatch into thirds. Be sure and only measure the patterned portion.

2. Fold one end to the middle along measured line.( The doubled portion of the swatch will be on the outside at the end, and the bit hanging off the top will not be visible.) Sew along the line that you have measured above, or if you can see through the fabric just sew along the end of the design.

3. Fold the small white portion down and iron. Then flip it over and fold the large portion down an iron the same way.

4. Cut off any of the large portion that hangs over the edge.

5. Fold in raw edges along the edge of the design on both sides and iron. Unfold one side.

6. Sew down folded portion.

7. Turn entire thing inside out, and fill 2/3 with rice.

8. Tuck raw edges inside and hand stitch closed. You can use a ladder stitch to hide your seam, but I prefer to stitch it closed with a whip stitch since my rice socks see heavy use. This makes it easy to undo the seam when I want to put in fresh rice or clean the sock.

Bottom view
(You can tell I couldn't sew a straight line that day!)

Sock detail
Note: Please use common sense! When you warm up a rice sock, it will be hot. Don't burn yourself.

Comments

  1. HLRussellMarch 10, 2011 at 9:49 AM

    So sorry to hear you get migraines! From what I've heard of the pain, I don't think I could stand them.

    This sock would make a good hand-warmer, too.

    I'm so curious about the title of the article in the magazine the sock is sitting on. What would make a "perfect pet"?

    I came here via your link in the swatch discussion in the Flickr/Spoonflower group, btw. ...Harriet

    ReplyDelete
  2. pond_rippleMarch 10, 2011 at 4:57 PM

    The article is "Taming the Wild" by Evan Ratliff in this month's issue of National Geographic. It's about the implications of a breeding experiment done with foxes about the role of genes in domestication.

    It's a great article; if you'd like to read it, it's online here: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/featurehub

    ReplyDelete
  3. ~WelshStump~March 11, 2011 at 4:52 PM

    This is great! Came in through the Flickr group, I just had to make one myself (I used flax, I like the softer squish of it) and it came out great! Thank you!

    Oh, would you mind if I cross post your blog post on my blog?

    And thank you for posting the NatGeo link, I saw it on the news stand and really wanted to read the whole article but didn't want to buy the entire magazine for it (I have enough magazines as it is!).

    ReplyDelete
  4. pond_rippleMarch 12, 2011 at 1:39 AM

    I saw yours on Flickr and it's so cute!

    And you can totally use my post as long as you put a link back to my blog.

    ReplyDelete

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