Hand warmers to keep the cold out.
It can be hard to keep warm with the cold lingering on. These easy DIY hand warmers will help to keep the cold at a minimum.
One of the many craft projects I came along on Pinterest are hand warmers.
I love the sight of these colorful little pockets, and they are great for keeping you warm. Or, if you wish, to keep you cold. Most pocket or hand warmers can be heated up or thrown in the freezer to keep handy in case of small injuries.
So here follows my attempt to making them myself.
They really are not hard to make, but it can be easy to make mistakes as you will find out later on!
Getting started
Sorting fabric
I started with some pre-cut 5x5inch squares in a cotton blend. For the lining I used some left over fleece fabric.
Layering the fabric
After layering the fabric and matching up the designs in the way I liked, I was ready for sewing.
Sewing them together
An opening was left to enable the pouch to be turned in-side-out and to fill. Or so I thought. Can you guess what I did wrong?
I should be clear in the picture above, that when turning the pouch inside-out, the lining came on the outside!!!
Not my pretty fabric!
So I had to take them all apart, yes I has sewn all of them already, and start again…
Below shows how to layer your fabric correctly.
Ready to fill
“Cutting Corners”
Before turning them, make sure to snip the corners as in the following two pictures. You will be able to create nice, sharp corners this way.
Cutting corners
Cutting corners
Just be careful not to cut the thread.
Ready to fill
Filling your pouches
Ready to fill
There are different materials you can choose for filler. Some examples are: rice, wheat, flax and plastic beads.
Well I did not have enough rice in the house to fill all the pouches, and I was not going to town to buy some. So that left me with trying to find material that I had on hand. Living on a farm, raw material can be easy to come by. Wheat and flax are in abundance, so it made sense to use this for my fillers.
It all depends on your personal preference which filler is more suitable for you. Both wheat and flax will have a bit of an odor when heated up in the microwave. Essential oils can be added to the mixture if so desired. Because I wanted to sell this batch of hand warmers, I opted for not adding essential oils.
Filler material
Finishing up
After the pouches are about 2/3 filled, they can be sewn shut. Just shack all the filling to the bottom, it should not be a problem to sew them on the sewing machine.
In the end I had 4 sets filled with flax and 4 sets with wheat. And all but one set sold at the local craft sale!
For next fall, I plan to make another batch, and as per request, also will be making larger sizes.
Finished pouches
Are they not cute? O and they work great when cooled in the freezer for bumps etc.
Don’t be shy, leave a reply!
Related posts:
