Tuesday's Tute: Mittens with Elastic

What is worse than cold and snowy wrists? Growing up I tried so hard to keep my mittens tucked into my coat, but they rarely ever stayed in. I'd try to dig into the snow only to have my mittens come un-tucked and my wrists end up in the snow and my mittens full of snow, too.

We've created the solution. Mittens with extra long "cuffs" that are certain to stay tucked in. And, elastic to hold the mitten close to the wrist.



We lined our mittens with knit to keep little hands dry and warm a bit longer.

Materials:

Fabric for outter mitten (fleece or sweater knit is good)

Fabric for linning (we like knit with a nice stretch)

Paper and Pen for the pattern

1/4" or 3/8" elastic to sew through

Sewing supplies

Directions:

1. Trace your pattern. Trace around the wearers hand. Make sure to leave at least 1" space around the hand. If you want a looser fitting mitten, we do, leave 1 1/2".

Mark the place you'd like your elastic to be.

Notice that we made a long "cuff" by extending the mitten pattern up the arm.

You can also trace a pair of good fitting mittens. Leave 1/2" seam allowance for this method and lengthen the cuff accordingly.

2. Pin the pattern to the fabric and cut. Cut 2 of outter fabric and lining. Flip pattern over and cut 2 more of the outter fabric and lining.

Mark the elastic placement line onto the right side of the lining pieces.

3. Attach elastic. Place the outter fabric, wrong side up, with the knit on top, right side up.

Lay the elastic on top of the marked line. Stitch, pulling the elastic gently, with a 2 x 3 zigzag stitch. You'll need to hold the back of the mitten while pulling gently from the front so that the mitten moves thought the machine nicely.

4. Now you have 4 mitten pieces. Two for each hand.

5. Make a "hand" sandwich. Mitten piece right side up, mitten piece right side down.

Stitch, 1/4" seam, with a 3 x 3 zigzag around the entire mitten. Leave the cuff edge open. You can pin this together if you like. I like to stitch slowly making sure the pieces are lined up as I go. Fleece likes to crawl away from me even with pins.

Remove the mitten from the machine and check to see that all four layers are caught and sew more if necessary to catch any loose parts.

6. Trim the edges to about an 1/8".

Turn your mittens right side out and enjoy.

Next week we'll share a tutorial on an easy way to make a hat to match these mittens.

We'll be launching two new patterns this weekend...keep watching.

Scroll down to see who won the Follow Me Giveaway.

Happy Sewing,

Debbie @ SquigglyTwigs Designs