A lovely friend recently dropped in with a bag full of little linen pouches. Lots and lots of beautiful little pouches. The type that fancy pillow cases and bedlinen come wrapped in. So, these pouches just sat in the bag they were delivered in for a week or two, until my mind started racing with ideas on how to put them to good use.
I’m not sure if I’ll find a purpose for all of them (all 47 of them), however, I’ll do my best. So here is my Repurpose Linen Pouch Project Number One – a DIY Cuddly Little Bear Heat Pack, perfect for our cold Melbourne nights.
Materials:
Fabric Pillow Case Pouch – mine came from Adairs
Thread – White and Black
Piece of Felt, 5 cm x 5 cm
Wheat, 550 grams
Tools:
Scissors
Pattern, download here
Pencil
Pins and Sewing Needle
Sewing Machine
Funnel
Iron
Step One
Unpick your fabric pillow case pouch, including the label at the front, and iron all three pieces flat.
Step Two
Cut out your pattern, then place and pin the pieces onto your fabric. To create a contrast, use the label for the front of the ears.
Step Three
Body – 2 pieces
Ears – 4 pieces (2 base fabric and 2 label fabric)
Arms – 4 pieces
Step Four
Match up you arms and ears so that the wrong side of the fabric is on the outside. Use a sewing machine to sew along the curved edge. Leave the straight edge open / unsewn.
Step Five
Turnout arms and ears so that the right side of the fabric is now facing outwards. Iron all pieces flat. Then, in order to give the ears depth, create a pinch along the straight line and sew over with sewing machine to secure.
Step Six
To draw face in the right position, hold up the pattern and the fabric against a window. This will allow you to accurately trace the face. Then pin the piece of felt onto the wrong side of the fabric, just behind face. This will give extra reinforcement to the face stitching. Using black thread, stitch face detail over pencil mark. I used a pen which then ran once the heat pack was warmed up, so it’s best to lightly mark with a pencil instead.
Step Seven
Lay front of bear down and pin arms and ears as shown on right, then using sewing machine, sew arms and ears into place.
Step Eight
With arms and ears laying flat against front of bear, lay the back fabric over the top of bear. You will now have the wrong side of the fabric (both front and back) facing outwards, the arms and ears should be hidden inside the bear. Using sewing machine, sew around the outside of the body . Leave about 5 cm unsewn so that you can turn the bear right side out.
Step Nine
Clip at the curve, as shown. This allows the seam allowance to spread and sit flat and neat. Your clip should come close to your stitching, however, be careful not to cut your stitching.
Step Ten
Turn bear right side out, iron and fill with wheat. Finally, run the sewing machine over the small opening to completely seal your heat pack.
So there you have it, all you need to know to make this sweet bear heat pack. I couldn’t stop at one, here are the three I made:
