By Daisy Luther
When I was one of the lucky bloggers chosen to receive a package from Andover’s Little House on the Prairie-inspired fabrics, my daughter couldn’t have been happier. Look how gorgeous this fabric line is!
A long-time fan of the series of Little House books, as well as the television show, she insisted that the craft we use the gorgeous new fabrics for be something Laura herself might have used. (By the way, you can win your own goodie bag from Andover – see the details at the end of this post!)
Since we used to live in Canada, the books that always seemed the most relatable to my children were the ones in which Laura described the long, cold winters of her childhood. In Little House in the Big Woods and The Long Winter, the Ingalls family used a variety of methods to keep their hands warm, including putting baked potatoes in their pockets and stuffing heated, fabric-wrapped rocks into their hand-muffs.
With the first frost hitting our part of California, Rosie decided that the perfect Little House on the Prairie craft would be hand warmers from the beautiful, vintage-looking fabric. As a homeschool mom, I decided this would be a perfect learning experience for school credit. After all, it combined literature (the Little House books), Home Ec (a part of our curriculum that most public schools don’t teach anymore), and technology, since Rosie would be putting together the tutorial, a first appearance for her on the website.
Using two of the fabrics, she stitched little pillows that she then stuffed with rice. These can be heated up in the microwave if you use one, or they can be placed near the woodstove in a heat-resistant ceramic crock so they always stay warm. Another alternative is to place them in a clay flower pot on a heat vent in your home. (Be sure not to block the entire vent with this.) Use your own judgment (and check with an adult). Please don’t set your house on fire.
Place a warmer in each of your mittens or in your coat pockets to keep your fingers toasty, no matter how cold the weather is outside.
How to Make Old-Fashioned Hand Warmers
by Rosie Luther
This is a great craft for those who are just learning to sew. There’s no pattern, just a set of directions that you can modify to meet your needs and to use your available fabric. A larger version could be made to use as a heating pad for sore necks.
1.) Decide what size you’d like your handwarmer to be, then cut a rectangle of fabric twice that size.
2.) Fold the fabric over, double. then iron it to make clean edges.
3.) Hem the edges of the fabric, then turn it wrong side out and sew two sides closed. For the third side, leave an opening that you can fill with rice.
4.) Turn your little pillow right side out. Then, use a funnel to fill the pillow with rice.
5.) Hand sew the opening closed.
Heat your handwarmers, then go outside for a walk in the snow!
How to win a HUGE gift package from Little House on the Prairie and Andover Fabrics
Would you like to win your own goodie bag full of these fabrics, books, and other Little House awesomeness worth nearly $400? Andover has paired with the Little House on the Prairie website to make this happen! Enter here:
And if you don’t win, do not despair. GO HERE to find a store selling the Andover Fabrics Little House on the Prairie line.
Comment below and let me know what you’d make with these lovely vintage-style fabrics!
Dog clothes and accessories.
Rosie,
Great instructions and I like your choice of fabric and design. I would use fabric like that in unexpected ways. Such as piping on monotone pieces or as a faux wrap tunic top that’s paired with a business suite. But my favorite would be a sundress, for big and little girls, cowboy boots optional.
I would use the fabric to make some pillows for my granddaughters room (at my house) and to make her and her doll matching dresses.