Quick Fleece Arm Warmers Tutorial & Pattern

Quick Fleece Arm Warmers

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These are so cozy and feel so good against your skin and it only takes about 20 minutes to whip up a pair.  You can adorn them however you wish with buttons, ribbons, appliques etc. Fleece comes in a huge variety of colors and patterns so you could literally have a wardrobe of arm warmers. I use them in the early winter mornings as I keep my house a bit cool. I almost don’t want to take them off when it warms up!

I sewed the sides on my sewing machine but I ended up sewing the hems by hand as I liked the look much better. Because you are working with fleece you don’t actually need to hem them as you can see in the example of the pink arm warmer below.  There is a free download of the pattern that also includes the instructions. blank.640x25

Materials Needed

  • Download the pattern provided below. This is for a normal size adult female arm. You can adjust it if needed.
  • 1/2 yard stretchy type fleece.
  • Buttons or anything else you’d like to adorn them with.
  • Scissors / Thread / Sewing Needle / Sewing Machine

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PATTERN DOWNLOAD
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Instructions

Image1Cut out your pattern. Tape the bottom part onto the top pattern. (You can make shorter ones if you prefer.)

Cut out 2 sets from your material. The pattern is made for a 1/3″ to 1/2″ seam allowance.  You can adjust if needed.

NOTE: As fleece is so cheap I actually made a test arm warmer  to make sure they would fit OK and see if I needed to adjust the pattern.

Sew the sides together and the area between the thumb and hand opening. Trim the inside seams to about 1/4″ to reduce bulk.

NOTE: When sewing the thumb opening you may want to make that one about 1/3″ and taper out as you sew down the sides. It’s a fairly close fit. You can always take in a little more if needed.

After sewing the sides and small area between thumb and hand opening turn the warmers inside out.

HEMMING: These can be hemmed by machine, by hand or left raw. I decided to hem mine by hand on the thumb, hand and arm opening.  I had tested doing one with the sewing machine and didn’t care for the look near as well as the hand hem.  You also have the option to not do a hem as fleece does not ravel. Just cut off about 1/2″ from all openings if you decide to keep the raw edge.

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 Visual Steps

NOTE: I’m not a seamstress by any stretch of the imagination. So you may know easier or more professional ways to do some of these things. Please adapt to your own skill level!

Tape pattern piece #2 onto the bottom of pattern piece #1. arm.warmers-2

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Layout your pattern on folded material and cut 2 sets out. arm.warmers-3

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Sew sides of arm warmers and also the little V shape area between the thumb and arm opening.

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Trim seams to about 1/4″ to reduce bulk.

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After sewing edges.

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You can hem the three openings in various ways or leave them raw as fleece does not ravel. I chose to hand hem mine as I preferred that look the best. Choose whatever method you like. (The thumb piece will be tricky to hem on a machine due to how small it is. Hemming it by hand was much easier.)

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 You can decorate these in a variety of fun ways. I left my black ones plain and added three buttons to the purple set. But use your imagination!  arm.warmer.variations

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Completed arm warmers.

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This shows one that I left the edges raw. Just make sure you cut them really straight for this method.

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This Article Featured At

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Hello Little Home

48 Comments

  1. Amy Cruce

    OH MY! I just discovered these and am head over heels in love with them! So far, I’ve made them for my daughter and myself, then I scaled it down and made a pair for my 3-year-old granddaughter who won’t take them off. I’m planning on making a whole bunch more for Christmas gifts this year. Thanks for sharing such a great pattern and idea!

    Reply
    1. Nancy Author

      There is no charge Mary. You may have clicked on an ad link rather than the download link I provided. We have ads on our site. But ALL my downloads are free and should just download. Click the GREEN BUTTON that says Download Now!

      Reply
  2. Terri Mitchell

    I love this idea. It would make a great inexpensive project for the kids to help with and give out to the shelters and any homeless people you may encounter this extremely cold winter. You could hem these before you sew the side seams so you wouldn’t have to worry about the tiny openings.

    Reply
    1. Cee Jay

      Hello Terri

      That’s a fantastic idea in general regarding the homeless people.

      As for your idea in sewing the hems before sewing the side seams I also thought of that idea as well. Two great sewing minds ;-).

      From
      Cee Jay

      Reply
  3. Cee Jay

    Hello, and Greetings from Britain!

    I have just downloaded and printed out your pattern (it didn’t say if it should be printed out ‘Normal Size’ or ‘Fit to Page’, so I chose ‘Fit to Page’).

    I’m definitely going to ‘play around’ with this and make a prototype first because I don’t think I’m going to need any or all of Pattern 2. I’ve worked out it will go up to my elbow and past a bit! Still – it will keep me warm ;-).

    I’ve got the fleece in mind and when I’ve made them I will try and show them to you when completed.

    Thank you for your time in designing the pattern and the tutorial.

    Have a great day.

    Cee Jay.

    Reply
    1. Nancy Author

      Hi Cee Jay! I’m so glad you enjoyed that post. I should probably put “fit to page” on there… most times it does not matter but it can in certain situations. Thanks so much for the kind post! Good luck!

      Reply
  4. Julie

    I love this pattern – thank you! This would be a fun girl’s night craft party as they are so easy to make, and so easy to decorate and make your own.

    Reply
  5. Mikayla McNaughton

    I play recreational volleyball and I find that the ball hits the bony part of my wrist when I do the arm passes and serves so I figured that these arm warmers would do the trick for easier play. I can make these the same way as above but do a layer of fleece, a layer of quilt batting and then another layer of fleece to add padding to the arm and hand area of the mitts to turn them into arm pads. I bought this red and white Canada fleece so I might make a pair of these arm warmers/pads so I can play volleyball with my dad at the downtown recreational centre.

    Reply
      1. Mikayla McNaughton

        I saw the high school’s volleyball coach in Kenora last Friday and told him about these mitts. He said that he will be coaching girls volleyball next semester so I plan on making about 20 pairs of padded arm pads for volleyball using your pattern.

        Reply
  6. so lovely!! thanks for sharing the free pattern. Thanks for sharing this at the Create link Inspire party. it’s being featured today at Nap-Time Creations… I’ve shared it all over my social meadia.. i’d love any reshares you could do, thanks! Emily

    Reply
    1. Nancy & Roy Author

      I so appreciate that Emily! When I’m featured I always put your link on the bottom of my post and I share it on my social media with a big thank you!

      Reply
  7. Patricia

    Very nice! Thanks for the free pattern, this will be a quick and easy project. I can make a pair for me and my daughter using the remainder of my fleece hoard from last winter.

    Reply

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