Cute Handmade Hand Warmers

Winter means three things here in Portland: Cold. Wet. Gray. So when I saw some adorable handmade microwavable handwarmers on Pinterest a few weeks ago, I became inspired to make some for friends and family for Valentine’s Day.

 

This is one of those instant gratification projects that is really fun to make. The time commitment is so minimal, and this project can be made with scraps from the fabric stash. Plus, they are totally customizable to suit your tastes (or the tastes of a loved one). This is the pair I made for myself:

I didn’t follow a pre-existing pattern or tutorial, but these instructions I found while writing up this post are great. If you want to add a bit of flair to your handwarmers like I did, just cut out a smaller heart from a cotton fabric print of your choice and stitch it to the front of each heart using a zigzag stitch before stitching the front and back flannel heart pieces together. If you want scented handwarmers, this tutorial explains how to add essential oils or dried herbs to the rice filling that will activate when heated in the microwave.

Lastly, in hopes that you will find it useful, I whipped up a downloadable pdf of the heart patterns I made for this project, and included a sweet little retro valentine-themed instruction sheet printable you can include with your handwarmers if you are giving them as a gift:

[Click on the image above if you want a free printable download of JUST the instruction sheets and NOT the heart patterns. This printable is handy if you want to make a bunch to give as gifts!]

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