How to Make Hand Warmers

Winter is coming! This is a great way to keep your hands cozy when you are outside!

It is the worst when your toes or fingers become frozen while you are outside in the winter time! I feel like sometimes it can make or break the activity! Especially, if you have little kids! This step by step post on How to Make Hand Warmers will help keep all those toes and fingers nice and toasty!

I plan on using them on the extra chilly ski days to keep my hands nice and warm in the lift line and on the lift!

They are microwavable with just rice in them! So I think they are super convenient to use even when you are taking them on the go or just using them in the house!

Another great way to use them is on small aches and pains that you want to try and warm up! Especially if you don’t want to have to pull out a large heating bag!

List of what you will need for this post “How to Make Hand Warmers”

• Thread – I used cotton thread
• Fabric – such as an old sweater or fleece
• Pins
• Fabric Scissors
• Sewing Machine

Material

I am trying hard to cut down on what I am buying and be aware of what I am using so I can be more environmentally conscious. As well as lessen my material foot print. So when I was thinking about making these I didn’t really want to go out and buy new fabric just to create small scraps that would end up in the garbage. I decided to look in and around my home before I bought anything to see what I could use! Laying around was a bag meant for the thrift store that had an old sweater in it that I actually had previously thrifted so I thought that it would be a great choice! It also ended up having some paint marks on it which I realize the thrift store might not want anyways!

Before I decided to go for the sweater I scoped it out to make sure it would fit the bill! I wanted to make sure the sweater was big enough with a large enough area that doesn’t have a design on it so that I could cut out big enough squares!

An important point here is if your used material has a design on it that looks to have been stuck on with heat it could end up coming off in the microwave. I would consider using other parts of the sweater to ensure this doesn’t happen!

If you don’t have an old sweater to use you can most definitely just buy some fleece from a local fabric shop!

I would just make sure to wash it before you go to sew it! This just makes sure that the material is clean and preshrunken before using it!

Now that we know what to use as material and what you will need lets’ jump into it!

How to Make Hand Warmers out of a Sweater

If you are using a sweater these are the tips for you! If you are using fleece you will want to scrolls just a bit farther down!

1. First you are going to cut the trim off the bottom. You won’t need that so you can lay it to the side!

2. Now this is where you are going to cut your squares. If you have a design on the front of the sweater flip it over to cut from the back!

You are going to want to cut two 5inch H by 6inch W squares.

How I cut out my squares was by cutting a strip right across the sweater and then measuring out my squares! I found this to be an easy and quicker method!

3. Now you are going to cut off any extra seams! If you cut it like I did you might have seams on the side that need to be chopped off! Just be sure that when you are cutting the seams off you are not disrupting the size of the squares!

4. You should have 4 squares. Two for each warmer. You are going to pin the sides you want facing outwards when it is complete inwards ( I know it makes no sense now but it will soon enough, I promise!). When pinning I suggesting making a noticeable pin on where to stop sewing to leave a gap. This gap will be to pour the rice in later!

5. Now you are going to sew the square together! Make sure that it is still inside out and you leave a large enough hole to poor the rice inside!

6. Turn them right way round by using the hole to push the material threw! Then take a pin to help pull out the corners!

7. Time to poor the rice in! You can put in as much or as little as you would like however make sure the rice isn’t busting the seems or it will be real hard to sew the hole up! Also make sure there is enough rice in it to cover all the spots of the warmer when laying flat!

8. Time to sew up the hole! take it back to your machine and sew the tiny hole up with as little room as possible! Basically make sure to sew the hole close to the top so you cannot see the stitching as easily!

9. You are all done!

How to Make Hand Warmers out of Regular Fabric

1. Cut out rectangles that are 5inches H and 6inches W

2. You should have 4 squares. Two for each warmer. You are going to pin the sides you want facing outwards when it is complete inwards ( I know it makes no sense now but it will soon enough, I promise!). When pinning I suggesting making a noticeable pin on where to stop sewing to leave a gap. This gap will be to pour the rice in later!

3. Now you are going to sew the square together! Make sure that it is still inside out and you leave a large enough hole to poor the rice inside!

4. Turn them right way round by using the hole to push the material threw! Then take a pin to help pull out the corners!

5. Time to poor the rice in! You can put in as much or as little as you would like however make sure the rice isn’t busting the seems or it will be real hard to sew the hole up! Also make sure there is enough rice in it to cover all the spots of the warmer when laying flat!

6. Time to sew up the hole! take it back to your machine and sew the tiny hole up with as little room as possible! Basically make sure to sew the hole close to the top so you cannot see the stitching as easily!

7. Congratulations, you are done!

Your DIY Hand Warmers can go into the microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Adjust to how you like them! Every microwave is different so just be careful when pulling them out the first time that they don’t burn you!

I would love to hear in the comments how you plan to use these Microwavable Hand Warmers this winter!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed this read!

If you are looking for more sewing posts check them out here