Does anything ever work out as planned in the sewing room? There were two issues with this and I refuse to take responsibility for the first one. The original design goes out to the edge of the shoulders which I did as well. Once my pattern was cut, I hung it on my dress stand only to find that there were "wings" that stuck out where the shoulders curve. How's the heated rice gonna do its job there? This required some darts which miraculously worked out. I am NOT good at this kind of sewing improvisation!
Here is that silly version in the photo below. No, it does not work. You don't make the weight any better by tying it on to the body, nor should you be walking around with this thing if you have some achy (is that spelled right?) issues. Carrying that weight may well exacerbate the aches and pains.
I took the ties off.
This is not a total failure, however. On the plus side:
- if you are sitting or lying down, it's great. In fact, you can even lie on your stomach and the freakin' weight presses down in a rather comforting way nicely pushing the heat down.
- sitting back in a chair, it's wonderful.
- I was trying to see how long it would hold the heat, but lost track after a half hour. Were I in school today, I would definitely have been diagnosed with ADHD. I will just say that it held the heat for a long, long time with the caveat that it took FIVE minutes to heat in the microwave.
- it induces gales of giggling from the moment people pick it up. No one expects a heating pad to have this kind of heft.