Saturday, November 13, 2010

Raspberry Lemonade Mittens

Hey are you guys keeping up with Grosgrain's Embellish Your Knits Month? So awesome and she makes it look super easy. You might remember how I was having a hard time with some cardi refashions (and a unicorn)? WELL, I like to think I'm an adaptable sort of girl. I figure if life gives you lemons, then you make raspberry lemonade martinis. And then whine loudly.

So in the spirit of THAT I decided to use some sweater refashion leftovers (read "collateral damage") to make me a set of THESE:

Mitties!
They were super-simple, gratifying and ridiculously quick. AND these might be the girliest things I've ever made; even though this sweater used to belong to my sweetie, (yes it's pink, but he's plenty comfortable and confident enough to wear pink. And look super hot. Really. Yum.).

Anyhow, I think they'd make pretty good gifties. For guys too, if you made them out of a not-pink, rugged, marled, lumberjack/fisherman/bear-wrestling sweater and trimmed them in something manly? Like iron fillings and shark teeth maybe?

Either way, here's how you make them:
First you'll need a felted sweater (I just hacked the arms off of this one and stuck them in the hot wash and dry with some towels. Job done.) One with ribbing at the cuffs or the bottom works best but it's not essential.
Then you'll need to turn your sweater arms inside out and figure out the shape of your mitts. Like this:

Mark the length you want and the space between your pointy finger and your thumb.
(You can totally make them a tighter fit by drawing more closely around your wrist and sewing new seams instead of using the existing seams. I wanted mine pleated so I didn't.)

Your markings should look something like this:

Next you cut along the blue line there (but not along the red one).
Then you sew along the red lines. I reinforced the join of the "v" by sewing over it a few times.
Now you should have something that looks like this:

Next you carefully snip the V shape out (as far down as you can into the valley of the V).
If you're making new side seams it might be an idea to turn them right side out then try them on before you sew up the new shape.
Here's what that might look like:

If you're making a version for guys you could stop here. Or maybe finish off the tops with some manly manly blanket stitch or um, barbed wire or something.
I hand stitched a little pleat into mine. Then popped a button on the pleat. I also added a bit of dollar store cotton crochet lace, (same stuff I used on my duvet cover rehab). And voila, warm paws and girlyness.

28 comments:

  1. so cute! you're right, these are very girly... but it seems you got your unicorn back :)I'm also following grosgrain's embellished cardigans week and I already got a lot of ideas out of it... now I just need the cardigans to refashion :P

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  2. Very cute - I've been trying to knit some arm warmers but my knitting skills are pretty limited so I keep ripping them out. Might have to try these instead.

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  3. these are ADORABLE! come on over and link up to MMM :)

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  4. Those are beautiful. I love the look!
    :-)

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  5. This is what I have been looking for to make for my daughter. Thank you so much! I love the way you glammed them up. Very cute!

    Leslie S. in MN
    esclante at comcast dot net

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  6. I do love these! I am actually doing some refashions with sweaters at the moment and have a few left over sleeves. What a wonderful way to use them. It also means that my husband can have his mittens back.

    Thanks for sharing!

    @EddieDuckling

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  7. Hi sweetie
    those are so cute. What a good idea and that lovely sweater gets a whole new life.
    Love
    Mom

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  8. I HAD to add these to my "to make" list...but these might shoot to the top of the list with all the snow we're getting! Thanks for the inspiration.

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  9. Great TUTE!
    i love this, it's perfect for my old sweater

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  10. Fabulous! I have a too small (washed then dried in machine) cashmere sweater in a beautiful soft green, trimmed in crochet lace that would be perfect for this project. Thanks for sharing this great idea.

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  11. do u think u could use mens dress socks too?

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  12. This is much better and prettier! Our version was not as great, but it was doable at the time. On campus, the guys taught me how to make long mittens with socks as gloves. You just cut out the feet and wear them high up on your arms for extra warmth. It really helped us get by while struggling our first several years of college just to make ends meet. The funny thing was that some students literally thought we were trying to be stylish when we weren't. We were just trying to stay warm and get by.

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  13. I made mitten cuff extenders out of worn out men's socks 35+ years ago - learned it from my mother 55+ years ago. LOL! I also cut below the heel & across the tip of the heel to make a thumb hole. That goes on before the mitten or glove. Warm wrists!

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  14. I've seen then made with long tube socks. the kind that just have the elastic part just so far down and not all the way. They looked great. I may use this idea for Christmas. As my kids are in band and color guard and perform for the football games. The color guard especially gets cold in their outfits that usually only have spaghetti straps or thin straps and they don't get to change until 3rd quarter! Most of the woodwinds have the fingers of their gloves cut out to the second joint so they do not get their gloves caught in the keys.

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  15. i love this ideas! how simple, yet very cute. i bet if you get a smaller sweater for kids or something that might work too--

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  16. Oh wow - I love these! I'm making a cape coat for winter and need some long sleeve mittens to keep my arms warm from the miserable English weather LOL! x

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  17. A good way to be thrifty and special. Great idea!

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  18. I love these. How do you attach the lace to the sweater? With a machine, but do you top stitch it, or sew right sides together?

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  19. I think this is very cute. It looks really easy. I am a begginer and this looks likeeven something I can do. Thanks a lot.

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  20. I went to a store that is closing down and a person could get a large trash bag of all kinds of clothing for $5. You can guess what most of my picks was! Sweaters! In all colors. Yours is so pretty. I have patterns for crochet arm warmers that I want to try but this idea is wonderful. Thanks, Betty

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  21. Hello, I am a new member, however I have been browsing at work for a while, just made myself official today!!! Dumb not to do it sooner. Me and my sewing friends do a lot with teenage Girl Scouts. Trying to bring out the self sufficient side of them. It is very rewarding!! This will be a perfect item to add to our Snow Camp weekend coming up. We go the local Girl Scout camp and set up our sewing machines. When the girls get bogged down with too much information they bundle up and go outside and play in the snow!! When they come back in they are ready to dive in again. This item will be perfect for that very weekend.

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  22. What a cute refashion!
    I would love if you came and linked this project to my clothes upcycling project page. It has a long term linky, so your project would stay there for more than just the week of a usual linky. We have over 400 projects linked up now – some fantastic ideas.
    Do come and take a look!
    http://jembellish.blogspot.com/p/clothes-upcycling-projects.html

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  23. What do you mean by "felted" sweater?

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  24. fabulous way to design mittens. So cute and beautiful mittens for girls.

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  25. Hi Erin
    Thanks so much for this pic-tute. I pinned it to Pinterest Sewing Board making very sure YOUR web link is in the comments. Do you have any suggestions on how to use the rest of the sweater?
    Thanks again!
    Gramma Lu
    T'Rivers, WI

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  26. Tried and loved it!! Thanks for posting :)

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