Essential Oil Neck Wrap DIY

Happy Friday friends! Are you looking forward to the weekend? I have one son with a birthday this weekend, and my other son has a birthday next weekend. Mine happens to be the following weekend, but since that is the week before Christmas, nobody usually notices.

Today I am here to show you how you can make a luxury neck wrap for only a couple of dollars. Like Leslie's post yesterday, it fits our criteria. Fast, easy, and cheap! For this one you do have to have a sewing machine, but you don't need to have mad sewing skills. If you can do a straight (ish) line, you can make this wrap.

I got the idea a few weeks ago in a catalog I got in the mail. In it was a neck wrap in a pretty green that came packaged with a bottle of essential oil. I ordered one and have used it almost every day since I got it! I have made bags in the past that had rice in them, but the shape and size of this one makes it so versatile. It will lay across your shoulders around your neck, or you can lay it on your lap to take the chill out if you are watching a movie. I pop it in the microwave for one minute before I go to bed each night, and as I go through my bedroom to the bathroom, I throw it under the covers down where my feet go. By the time I get in bed, there is a warm spot at my feet. I LOVE this thing! I even took it with me today when I went to pick up my son from school as it was cold and rainy. I just laid it across my lap as I drove. I tried to pretend I was curled up in front of a fireplace.

My daughter and I went to Hobby Lobby yesterday with the mission of finding come cute fabrics. I think we ended up getting about thirteen different fabrics, because they had so many adorable choices. Since I was high on creativity I had no control and left the store with almost a hundred dollars of fabric. I figured I better get busy making some neck wraps to sell or else I'll be looking for a new place to live when my husband sees the bill. I'm just kidding. Tim is very generous, but sometimes I don't think he understands what happens to me when I am under the influence of fabric. Or ribbon. Or glitter. Or scrapbook paper even though I never scrapbook.

In addition to the size and shape of my new bag, I also like the fact that it has a cover that can be washed, so I decided that the ones I make should also have covers. If you have the supplies you can make one of these, start to finish, in under thirty minutes. My daughter and I set up an assembly line and made 25 of the covers in a little over an hour. One of us was at the sewing machine and one at the ironing board the whole time.

So, let's get started, shall we?

Here are the supplies:
45" wide cotton fabric for the cover (cut at 7")
45" cotton muslin fabric for the rice bag (cut at 6 1/2")
rice
sewing machine and thread

Let's start with the cover. You will use the entire width of the fabric. I didn't even cut off the selvage because I wanted the wrap to be as wide as possible. I always rip my fabric instead of cutting it since it is always straight and always with the grain so you don't have to worry about it twisting after it is washed. So, if you want to try it, snip the selvage about an inch in and rip it the entire length of the fabric. Sometimes it will tear off before you get to the end. If that happens, just snip an inch in from that and try again. Usually this cut will work. You now have a straight edge to work with. Now, measure 7" from the torn edge and snip the selvage again. Let 'er RIP! Isn't that fun? Who needs therapy? Since you are only using 7" strips, you can get five wraps out of one yard of fabric.

Now that you have your strip, fold over the selvage and iron, and then fold it over one more time and iron it again. Repeat on the opposite end. Stitch the hem down with your machine getting as close to the edge as you can.

Go back to the ironing board and press everything flat. With the right side up, fold each of the hemmed ends in so that they overlap slightly. The can overlap anywhere, but I tend to make them about a quarter of the way in from one end. Press lightly and pin once where the seams overlap going through all the layers.

You are ready to stitch up both of the long sides. These are the 'ripped' edges. I use the side of my sewing machine foot as the guide. It is somewhere between a 1/4 and 1/2"... I guess that makes it 3/8". All you have to do is turn it right side out and press it. Congratulations! You're done with the cover. This is the easiest part and probably the funnest part since it moves so quickly and you get to see your pretty fabric while you're working. But now we have to do the rice bag. Without it, there's not much point for our pretty little cover.

Oh, by the way, if you can make that cover, you can also make an envelope pillow cover like Leslie showed yesterday. The process is exactly the same, just alter the measurements to fit your pillow form.

To make the inner bag, you are going to start the same way you did for the cover. Snip the edge and rip the fabric until you get a straight edge. Then snip the selvage 6 1/2 inches in and rip. Fold in half, and sew up both of the long, ripped sides giving you a long tube that is open on one end. Turn it inside out to make the right side out. Does that even make sense? Turn it so that the raw edges are on the inside.

You want the bag to end up being 20" long with six compartments that are close to the same size. I am a lazy mathematician, so I marked the bags at the 20" mark, and in half at the 10" mark. Then I divided each of those in thirds. Here are where I put my marks.

3 1/2", 6 1/2", 10", 13 1/2", 16 1/2" and 20". I put a mark along the top and bottom edge at these measurements. It doesn't bother me a bit to have marks on this part of the bag, but if it bothers you, consider using a disappearing pen.

You are ready to put the rice in. I used a 1/3 cup measuring cup and did a level scoop for each section. Add your first scoop then sew a sorta kinda straight line from the 3 1/2" mark on the top to the one on the bottom. Don't worry if you get a little squirrely. It won't matter at all. Try to keep the rice out from under the sewing needle as it could cause your needle to break. Add another scoop of rice and sew a line connecting the 6 1/2" marks and repeat until you get to the end. When you do get to your last section you will need to cut straight across about a half inch above your last marks (the ones at 20") and fold the raw edge in and sew. I went across twice to make sure it was secure and I wasn't going to be sweeping up rice anytime soon.

That wasn't hard at all, was it? Now is the time to add a couple of drops of your favorite essential oil to your bag. You can't go wrong here, just pick your favorite. If you want something that is relaxing you can try lavender. If you are looking for something to pick you up try peppermint or any citrus oil.

I plan on giving several of these for gifts this year. I also have them listed in my Etsy shop if you like them but don't have a sewing machine or the time or patience to do it yourself. Click HERE to see them.

Last, but not least, I want to give one of these away to one of our readers. Please pin this page on Pinterest and then go to our Facebook page and comment below the link. I will choose a winner from the comments and post the winner over the weekend. I would also really appreciate it if you would share on Facebook the link to this post (or any of our posts). Leslie and I put a lot into our posts and would love to increase the number of readers. The best way for that to happen is if our current readers (YOU!) like and share our posts as often as possible. We also find that pinning to Pinterest brings new people to our page. We appreciate all of you who have shared kind words about how our website has helped you in one way or another. It is the reason we do what we are doing. We want to help others!