Thursday, January 6, 2011

Felted fleece-lined mittens for Christmas

I've had the hand-drawn pattern for these mittens for awhile but finally got around to making a pair late last month -- Christmas morning, in fact.  Actually, I cut out the pieces on Christmas Eve so I wasn't as late as I could have been in making this present.  But I was tired and put off the sewing part till after DS (and DH and I) checked out our stockings early Christmas morning.  Then I had to rush because we were due at my mom's for our usual family gathering complete with a late-morning Christmas breakfast and opening lots of packages piled high under the tree.

With just three pattern pieces plus cuffs, it only took a turn on the sewing machine for the outer mitten (cut from two wool sweaters previously felted in the wringer washer) with a repeat for the fleece lining cut from yardage, then sewing the cuffs to the lining and turning the wool mittens right-side out and the fleece-lining wrong-side out so they fit together correctly -- they were almost finished.  A quick search through my buttons produced a couple suitable for attaching to the rolled cuffs so the mittens and their lining stay connected and I was done. 
Now I know what I'll be making for a few presents next Christmas...  Here's a link to the pattern I started with in case you're tempted to make your own.  If you think you'd like them, don't put off as long as I did before trying a pair -- they really are very easy and even fun to make.  I'm making a pair for myself right now.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I used this pattern this week for felted mittens....unfortunately, the mittens turned out "small", similar to what a 10-12 yr. old child might wear? Not what I expected, so I was a little disappointed. The thumb was also longer then anticipated and I adjusted this by 1/4 " before I even cut the pattern out. Maybe putting a suggested size on the pattern might help future sewers????

Carolyn at Walnut Spinney said...

How unfortunate that the size was smaller than you expected! Hope you were able to find someone who will be able to wear them. I did adjust the size when making DH's (by tracing his hand and adding perhaps a half-inch overall) but the others mittens I made fit everyone pretty well otherwise.

Since this pattern came from an outside link to another website, I can't add to the pdf file but hopefully your comment here will give other users who find the link thru this post the idea to measure the pattern against the hands they want to cover. Thanks for the heads up!