I Heart DIY Hand Warmers

By Angela Sellari

January has been such a cold month. You might find yourself wrapping your hands around a warm cup of tea or coffee to keep warm, or thrusting them into your pockets while outdoors.

With Valentine’s Day just a few weeks away, I thought it would be fun to make some DIY Heart Hand Warmers to give as gifts. These soft fabric hand warmers are perfect for chilly days, and are sure to be appreciated by the lucky friends who receive these as gifts.

This Valentine craft project is great for using up bits of scrap fabric or felt. You could even upcycle an old pair of flannel pajamas. I think a well insulated fabric such as felt works great for this. Plus, this is what I happened to have on hand.

You can make a lot of these with just a small amount of fabric. For a variety of colors and prints, you could pick up a bunch of different fat quarters for quilting.

I filled my heart hand warmers with rice, but you could alternately use dried beans. To use the hand warmer, you simply pop it into the microwave for about 30 seconds to warm the rice or beans, and place it into your pocket until you are ready to use it.

You will be amazed by how well these hand warmers work. They are perfect for when you are taking the dogs for a walk or spending an afternoon at the park with the kids.

You can make these in one solid color, or embellish them a bit using thread or additional scraps of fabric. For some of them, I cut smaller hearts in contrasting colors and hand stitched them onto the top.

DIY Heart Hand Warmers

Supplies Needed:
scraps of fabric or felt
fabric pen or pencil
scissors
needle and thread
straight pins
rice (or beans)
funnel

1. Make your heart shaped pattern. There are a couple of different methods you can use. The first option is to fold a sheet of paper in half, cut out a half heart around the seam, and open to reveal a complete heart. Optionally, you can trace around a heart shaped cookie cutter. The latter is the method that I used. You will need to pieces of fabric per warmer, in equal shapes/sizes. Keep it at a size that will fit well into the palm of the hand.

2. With a hand stitch, sew around the perimeter of your heart, keeping the stitch small so that your rice doesn’t fall out. You can optionally use a sewing machine to do this, but hand sewing takes no time at all. Leave about a 1 inch opening, to fill the heart with rice.

3. Use a funnel to fill the heart with rice, and then stitch the opening closed. If you don’t have a funnel, simply make a cone from a sheet of paper.

To use, warm up in the microwave for 20-30 seconds, but make sure they aren’t too hot before handing over to little hands! If giving these as gifts, be sure to include a note with warming instructions.

I love a simple project like this. My mom, Laura, and I made up a bunch of these while watching television the other night. I hope you enjoyed this project!