Handmade Handwarmers Tutorial

 Hello and welcome to Thimbles and Thread, where today, I will be sharing a quick tutorial on a fun wintertime craft I enjoy making for family and friends. To start off, you will need to gather your supplies: Fun and festive fabric, rotary cutter, self-healing mat and quilting ruler, scissors, sewing machine, coordinating or matching thread, funnel and rice. I always like to have some Christmas music playing while I'm crafting, but that step is optional! Ha ha! 








 You will want to cut your squares to your desired width. This year I cut them into 4 1/2 inch squares. I've made them 4 inch squares in the past.






 The red warmers on top are 4 inches versus 4 1/2 inch warmers underneath. I thought I would show you both so you could choose which size you'd prefer. 4 inches is perfect size to clasp in your hand, but I ended up liking the bigger ones in the end.







Here you can see the difference between the 2 sizes before they are sewn.






 Once you have your squares cut, you will need to place them together, with right sides together and see around the entire square making sure to leave an opening large enough to funnel the rice in.






 This is the size you will want to make the opening. As you can see in this photo, I've made my seam allowance as wide as my presser foot. It's a little bit easier to sew the warmers closed once the rice is in having the larger allowance.








 You will need to clip your threads and corners as you can see here. Turn the warmer right side out and press.



 Once they have been pressed, you can move back to your machine to sew the "tuft" in the center of each warmer. I do this by lining it up in the center as best as I can eyeball. ;) I take two stitches forward and then two stitches back, repeating a few times to make sure it will stay. Clip your threads.






 Now is the fun part. Insert your funnel into the opening and fill with rice. I like to pour Mt rice into a big mixing bowl and add it to the funnel with a one half cup measuring cup. That is the perfect amount for the 4 1/2 inch size. I move the funnel to each side to make sure the rice gets around the tuft.


Once it's filled you can machine stitch the opening close and voilà! You're done! Remember to make two since you'll be giving a pair. The 4 inch warmers shouldn't be heated for more than 30 seconds, but every microwave is different, so start at 30 and work your way up in 5 second intervals until your warmers reach the desired temperature. Use this for the 4 1/2 inch warmers as well.I really like picking fabric that can work all winter long, yet is still festive. The fabric pictured today is all Riley Blake. I hope you enjoyed today's tutorial. Please leave a comment if you found this helpful.I do want to clarify, that I did not come up with the "handwarmer" idea. I saw the idea somewhere a few years ago and wanted to give them a try. This tutorial, however, was created by me and I hope you have fun making them.

Comments

karen said…
Thank you so much for the directions to make these. They are adorable and of course, functional, which makes them all the better.
Karen
happy stamper said…
how long do you microwave the rice? Thanks for the directions
Jeanne said…
Thanks so much for the detailed and easy to follow tutorial. I liked the idea of the sewing a bit in the center, too. Great job! :)
Kelly Lunceford said…
Marge, I edited my post with the information you were needing. Thank you for reminding me to include that. Thanks for your comment.
Kelly Lunceford said…
Thanks for your sweet comment.
Kelly Lunceford said…
Thank you so much! I hope you enjoy making them as much as I do! Merry Christmas!
jan metcalf said…
Thanks Kelly! Always enjoy your ideas and insights! Your projects are lovely! Will be trying this with some Buffalo plaid for the holidays.

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