How to Make a Muff / Handwarmer

I had never really thought of making one of these before, but somewhere during the holiday season my daughter came across a vintage image of women caroling and wearing a muff and she liked the idea of a muff and asked if she could have one. I thought this would relatively easy to make and I knew just the fabric I was going to use, a fuzzy fabric she picked on a previous trip to JoAnn fabric that she thought would make a cozy hat out of.


The fabric wasn't the easiest to stitch on, but I think it turned out cute. My daughter couldn't wait to wear it.

The sewing and cutting were all straight lines. I first measured out the size of my fabric piece. My measurements were based on a 6 year old girl wearing it with light gloves on .

I cut one folded piece of fabric with the dimensions of 11"x14" (the overall dimensions would be 11"x28").

Next I stitched a 1/2" across the (long) sides and non-folded side. I left a space of about 2" open with no stitching. Next I pulled through the fabric so that all the seams were on the inside. My fabric did not have wrong sides and right sides, if yours does you will need to remember to have right sides facing in before you begin stitching.

Next you will need to close up that opening. You can do that either by hand-stitching a blind stitch or if you are lucky enough to have fabric that I did that was fluffy/fuzzy enough that it hid a machine stitch.

The next step is to create the circular muff by joining the two short sides together. Do a straight stitch across the two sides, joining them with a 1/2" seam. The next step is to turn your muff so that the seam facing inward. You have not created the muff part and will need to create a strap to hang it from.

The strap could be as simple as a ribbon that you handstitch on either side of the top. The find the top of your muff, have the seam facing where the muff will though the body. Arrange it so that seam is in the center; this will keep the seam from being seen. You will attach your strap at the very top. Once attached your muff will stay in the correct position when it is worn.

I made my strap by using a Knifty Knitter 4-1/2 Inch X8-1/2 Inch Spool Loom and creating a long knitted strap. I then hand stitched my knit strap to the top of the muff.

This post does contain an affiliate link, which in no way affects the purchase price of the reader.