Lavender Rice Bag – how to make scented rice bags for gifts

In today’s post,  I am going to show you how to make scented rice bags and in particular a lavender rice bag to soothe and bring comfort through the colder months ahead. First though, there is a story. Many years ago, before the arrival of Master M, Mr M and I moved with our then tiny Little Miss, to a small and fairly rural town. I was convinced we had finally arrived in the countryside and only days after settling in, we enjoyed watching young deer frolicking at dusk in our back garden, glimpsed rabbits and foxes all in close proximity and soon I decided, yes, the country life was indeed for me.

That was until one Monday morning shortly after Mr M had left for work. I worryingly noticed little trails of what appeared to be nuts and grains all over the sitting room floor. On closer inspection this pattern continued upstairs, into our bedroom and finally stopped in Little Miss’ bedroom. And the trail further continued to her cot. I was horrified, appalled even. This could only mean one thing. Mice. Mice in my beautiful clean home and in my sweet baby daughters cot. What on earth would I do…

I screeched this information down the phone to Mr M who was at a loss as to what to say. He suggested I called pest control at the council who in turn suggested the (private and expensive) mouse man. The mouse man arrived very calmly and began plugging holes, puffing smoke and installing traps everywhere. He instructed the (costly) removal of many years worth of pretty cottage clematis from the sunny façade of the house and poked around in the garden shed suggesting a good tidy up wouldn’t go a miss. And in time, the trail disappeared and Little Miss and her cot returned to their own room and once again normality was restored.

Some weeks after our trauma, my aching shoulder was soothed by a comforting lavender wheat bag. As the bag heated in the microwave, I again noticed a trail. A worryingly similar trail to one I had seen before. Could they be back? The nest of mice who had plagued our country home once before? Ahh, as usual I see, you are so much quicker than I. You have indeed already worked out, there would not now be, nor was there ever, any need for the mouse man. Instead a quick hoover around and a few stitches administered to the previously unnoticed hole in the lavender bag would suffice. No mice of course, had ever visited. I am not entirely sure I ever did share the financial cost of this true story with Mr M who that month, had huffed and puffed his way through our bank statements alarmingly. No matter, I guess he will know by now.

Since this incident I have done away with wheat bags and instead use rice. I know where I am with rice. I began this project with a beautiful french grainsack; the beauty of such fabric is in its identical appearance both front and back, making it difficult even for me with my naive sewing skills, to mess this project up.

The bottom of the sack, was rather helpfully already stitched and so I measured to where I wanted my completed lavender rice bag to finish then added on a further two centimetres for the seam allowance. Or there abouts. Next I created three similar sized pockets by stitching three straight lines, equal distance apart, approximately a centimetre up from the already stitched bottom of the fabric. The idea is to distribute the filling fairly evenly along the length of the finished rice bag. Rather unhelpfully I forgot to photograph this stage of the project as once I was in my stitching stride nothing was stopping me. You will see what I mean I hope, in the final photographs.

Then I ironed down the seam allowance to help with the seam stitching later as shown here.

I measured one cup of rice and one-quarter of a cup of fresh, dried and very recently harvested lavender heads. The Spotty One and I had enjoyed a quiet sunny afternoon in the garden stripping a couple of plants of their glory; who knew you can buy lavender here if you have none and if you have your own and it is not smelling quite as strong as you would like, you can always add a few drop of lavender essential oil. I use this one.

I mixed the two ingredients together in a glass bowl and added to one of the three compartments in the bag. I then repeated the process twice more for the remaining two compartments.

None of the three compartments in my lavender rice bag is over full. Infact each is possibly under full by another’s standards. And there is a very good reason for this. Any lavender rice bag I have owned previously is, in my opinion, overstuffed meaning it does not sit comfortably around my neck and shoulders. And if I move around with any of my other bags they simply fall off or I need to scrunch up my shoulders in order to keep them in place. Meaning of course they defeat the object of their purpose as I hurt my neck or shoulder further still. Once happy with the amount of my filling, I simply pinned the two ironed pieces of fabric together and again sewed a continuous line of running stitch until the entire bag was sealed. No mysterious trails shall be left behind from this lavender rice bag. Although I am guessing even I could work out what dried rice was on the floor.

Now hopefully you can see what I mean about separate compartments and not over filling. This bespoke lavender rice bag has been created for my own personal comfort; you can of course fill and stitch however you please.

And as with many of my crafts the possibilities for scented rice bags are endless. You could choose cool cottons or warm fleeces for your fabrics. Maybe you’ll use peppermint or eucalyptus essential oils for your chosen fragrance. At this time of year cinnamon or a more earthy patchouli oil could offer seasonal comfort and warmth. A plethora of scented rice bags awaits the crafty ones among you. And quite frankly if like me, you are not particularly at ease with a sewing machine, this is the perfect beginners craft to try.

A note for safety. When you heat your scented rice bags in the microwave you should always add a glass of water too which I understand rehydrates the contents of the bag and reduces the risk of overheating its contents and burning oneself. My lavender rice bag takes approximately two minutes in my 800 watt microwave to warm to my liking; you should test your own using the countless advice offered on various websites or perhaps even in a good old book. I recently read that warming a scented rice bag on a radiator is a possibility, although clearly that requires thinking ahead of the game. I am sure the home would smell just wonderful in the process though.

Strictly speaking my forthcoming mini series My hand made gifts for friends hasn’t yet started; I do think however any one of these scented rice bag ideas would make a lovely gift for friends and loved ones don’t you? Not mine though. My lavender rice bag is wrapped quite snugly round my neck and shoulders as I type this story and rather comforting it is too. If you try making one of your own, be sure to let me know how it goes and with luck, I’ll see you back here next week for a blog with a difference…until then have a wonderful week, however you spend your days x