Wristwarmers: a Tutorial

 I designed a simple wristwarmers pattern to go with the Hat Attack! hats we made in Sewing Club.  I find mittens too complicated for first-time sewers, and wristies have proven to be not only functional, but also very very stylish!

So, here goes a quick tutorial to get you whipping up your own wristwarmers.

Materials Needed:  Fleece, needle and thread, chalk, scissors, any embellishments

 Step 1:  Make sure the cuff end of your pattern is on the stretchy side of the fleece or they will be too tight.  Trace your pattern 2 times onto fleece ( more about sizing at the end of this post).

 Step 2:  Mark the thumb hole with chalk.  The thumb is about 1-1/2 inches wide about 1-1/2 inches down from the top.

 Step 3.  Cut out along chalk lines.

 Step 4:  Fold fabric in half.   You want the thumb hole marks to show.  Note - after sewing with several young kids, we decided that having them make the thumb hole marks at this point might make more sense to them.

 Step 5:  Sew from the top to the first thumb hole mark.  Knot thread cut.  Note:  A whipstich works best here, but a running stitch can also be used.

 Step 6:  Sew from the 2nd thumb hole mark to the bottom.  Knot thread and cut.  Note:  We discovered that with some kids, sewing from the bottom up worked better for some reason.

Step 7.  Fringe along the bottom if you want.  Embellishing is also fun - small buttons and monograms were popular at Sewing Club.

Sizing - I made 3 sizes for our students who range from kindergarten to 4th grade.
Small - 7-1/2 x 6 (this fit kindergarten and small 1st graders)
Medium - 8x7 (this fit larger 1st grade-3rd grade)
Large - 8-1/2 x 7-1/2 (this fit 4th and up, including myself)

If you are making wristwarmers for just one or a few, you can easily make your own pattern.  This is how I did it.  Fold the fleece a little larger than the width of your hand.  Make sure the stretchy side is at the bottom. 

Now, the top of the wristwarmer should be just a little above the thumb, about halfway up the fingers.  I used this mark as my cutting line.

For the thumb hole, measure 1-1/2 inch from the top of the wristwarmer, and make a mark.  Then, measure down 1-1/2 inch more.  Make another mark.  The thumb hole is between the 2 marks.  Hopefully the pictures above will give you a better idea of what I mean here.

I have to say that this project was popular with both boys and girls.  Everyone had success.  Most kids made a set in an hour, but some only got 1 wristwarmer sewn.  That was OK.  The next day, kids all around school were sporting just a single wristwarmer - who knew?

Yes, these can also be made super fast using old sweaters - see how I did that here.

Ed note:  I received a comment from a company that asked me to change the original name of the project because it was copyrighted.  They told me that it was not "cool" of me to use it and you know me, I don't want to be uncool.