Last week I stitched myself some wheat sacks to use {pregnancy = sore back in a major way} and I thought I would show you all how I made them. ^ ω ^
It is the first time I’ve had a chance to sit down at a sewing machine in months ~ and I must say it felt good! I do like sewing, and I cannot wait to expand my skills {especially to the point of being able to sew a straight line. I am thinking that would be good…. = __ =; }. 
I have plans to sew basic things for the house and myself; like cushion covers and curtains, pouches for my handbag and then I want to move onto circle skirts so I can expand my vintage styled wardrobe. But enough rambling; I am sure you just want me to get on with the tutorial, so here we go!
Note: These are easy to sew, but time consuming if you aren’t a practised seamstress. It took me around 3 hours to make two.
Gather your materials:
- Fabric {I used the flannelette on the right with the pandas on it ~ it was leftover in my stash from when I made my panda pants.}
- Measuring Tape
- Scissors
- Thread
- Velcro {or hook and eye tape as they called it! > . >}
- Decorations {I bought lace and the left-hand purple fabric to make pretty, girly wheat sacks. Unfortunately I did not have the time to sew them this week, I want to do them this Thursday. I’ll add pictures when they are done.}
- Sewing Machine {or you could do it by hand if you are really keen!}
- Iron & Ironing Board
Step 1: Measure out your wheat sacks. You can make them any size or shape you want {think hearts, flowers, etc..}. I just went with a basic square about 10 inches in diameter.
Step 2: Measure an extra piece of material for the velcro to attach to on one side of the square.
~ * ♥ Pattern of the wheat sacks ♥ * ~
Step 3: Iron your fabric; it makes it looks much more finished and professional if you iron EVERYTHING as you go. Iron, iron, iron!
Step 4: Cut your velcro to size. Cut it smaller than the width of your fabric ~ you do not want it going all the way to the edges as this will make the seams too bulky. I cut mine with about a 4cm gap on either side.
Step 5: Go back to the ironing board. Measure the edge you marked out for the velcro and fold the material over. As you can see I added 1.2 inches to my 10 inch square.
Step 6: Press the material as you measure the fold over. This will crease it and hold it in place so that you don’t have to worry about pins!
Plus it will give the material that nice clean edge.
Step 7: Pin your velcro in place.
Step 8: Sew the velcro down, removing your pins as you go. Just run a straight seam around every edge.
Step 9: Place the other piece of velcro on the other half of your wheat sack so that they line up. Pin & sew.
Step 10: Sew the three edges of your wheat sacks together with straight stitch.
This is what your wheat sack should look like after sewing the sides together.
Step 11: Over lock the raw edges of your material. Use a wide zigzag stitch and aim to have the stitches hit right on the edge of the material.
If the zigzag goes just off the edge, that’s even better, because you want the thread to ‘wrap’ around the raw edge for the best protection against fraying.
Step 12: At the top of the wheat sack you want to stitch a three-sided box crossing over your edge seam, going down the side of the velcro, and back across the edge seam. This is to stop any wheat/rice grains from falling out that gap up the top.
Step 13: Clip the bottom corners of your wheat sack on a diagonal, but be sure not to cut the straight seam!! Turn the right way around and iron.
~ * ♥ Finished wheat sacks! Fill with rice or wheat grains and enjoy. ♥ * ~
Well, that was a bit of a marathon! I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and if you have any questions at all, please let me know. Plus, I would love to see your own wheat sacks; I bet they are better than mine, so show me! : D
xox,
bonita
