Stuffed animal heating pad

[tinasquirrel]

I know I saw a tutorial for this recently but now I can't find it. DS was complaining his tummy hurt last night, and I was wishing that I had a heating pad for him. (You know, one of those that you put in the microwave.) I was thinking it would be really cute to make a stuffie version of one. I found a tutorial for a regular heating pad on Sew Mama Sew's blog, and I could probably just convert it into a stuffed animal/monster shape of some sort, but was just wondering if anyone knew of any tutorials. I couldn't really find anything when I googled, but maybe I was using the wrong search terms.

Thanks!

[Magelet]

something like this elephant would make a great hot pad http://quilttaffy.blogspot.com/2008/...-tutorial.html

but I think you could also take any stuffie pattern with one largish surface online, make it with cotton, and fill it with rice or wheat. Something like a sitting dog where the dog would sit on your son stomach or whatever hurt, or a teddy bear could be cuddled upright against that part, would work well too. something like this: http://www.aokcorral.com/projects/how2jan2008.htm except all in one peice, (no joints.) but I couldn't find that atm, would work great

here http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf634836.tip.html someone said that they or their friend had emptied commercial stuffed animals and filled them with wheat, but I personally would be worried about the synthetic fabrics in the microwave.

[Mirta]

Ironically I'm about to start making the exact same thing for my son for his birthday and for his night weaning. (I need to wean for medical reasons and I'm hoping having a warm buddy to hug at night might help) I've been reading the various threads about making rice/corn/wheat bags. many of them recommend having a cover for the bags that you can clean, since you can't put the bag itself in the wash... this is what I've been playing with in my mind today.. I'm considering/planning on making a <insert heatable item here> stuffed bunny that I can insert inside a soft furry bunny cover with a zipper. I'm not sure how well it will work, especially considering that I am a beginning sewer, but that is what I would LOVE to try to do...you could even do this with an existing stuffed animal..just remove the stuffing in the middle and put in a heated pillow that fills the tummy.
Close up the opening with a velcro closure or zipper so you can remove the heating pad to heat & replace.

Kym

[tinasquirrel]

Thanks guys. I don't know why these things are so hard to find! Strange. I did a search on Etsy to get ideas, and mostly I could only find square pillows and log shapes. No animal shapes, which is what I think would be fun. I did find a gecko/lizard one that looked neat, it might have been made with fleece. So, I'm just going to have to wing it.

Kym, I thought the same thing about having the insert be removeable. I'm thinking perhaps of doing a rice bag with some essential oils in the rice. Put that in a muslin bag which I can stuff into the belly of some sort of animal. My DS loves penguins, but I'm not sure if I'm up for a penguin. Maybe I can figure out some sort of really simply shaped one. I've never sewn a zipper in my life, so I was thinking a velcro closure would work just as well!

[tinasquirrel]

Here is a rice heat therapy bag tutorial on Sew Mama Sew by the way.

http://www.sewmamasew.com/blog2/?p=280

I was going to use this tutorial for the heat bag part, and just modify it to stuff it into a stuffed animal shape instead of a pillow shape.

[beanma]

I made pandas one year. They weren't too tricky. Didn't use a pattern. I also just filled it with wheat berries and didn't do the muslin inner bag, but that would be a nice touch. We also have a couple of other similar animals we purchased. Two are kitties that go around your neck and have a simple removable insert shaped like a tube sock, but made of muslin. The other is also a kitty and it too has a removable insert. It's just shaped more like a real kitty. They're fun and easy.

[notjustmamie]

This is such a cool idea!!! :

I could even see making the arms/legs/head of an animal separately and stuff them with wool or whatever and just have the tummy hollow to put in the heat pack. You could even make two packs, one to heat and one to keep in the freezer for and instant cuddly ice pack.

Adding to my list of stuff I need to try ... :

[tinasquirrel]

I made a stuffed penguin the other day for DS! I stuffed it with a separate rice bag (a recycled sleeve from an old shirt!), and I sewed channels in the bag. I think this was a good idea. It really helps keep the rice in place and laying flat. It turned out very cute!

http://squirrelacorns.blogspot.com/2...ating-pad.html

Thanks for all the ideas! They were really helpful.