I was looking for a quick project yesterday for KCW. I had some client work to do, and my daughter is not in Nursery school on Tuesday and Thursdays – so it’s always a bit busier. I’ve used this mitten pattern from ikat bag a lot! I’ve made them several times in fleece and flannel, once or twice in rip-stop nylon – though it doesn’t work as well, even if it is waterproof. I reviewed the pattern last year here. And, believe it or not (likely you believe it!) I have had this pair in my project basket since I posted the last pair (see the previous same link for confirmation!).

I re-puroposed one of my daughter’s fleece sleepers for this project. I love the brown dotted fleece and it matches her fall coat really well. I’m hoping to use the rest of the sleeper to make a hat and some kind of neck warmer – though I am having difficulty finding anything safe besides this quick release scarf that I’m not sure she can manage on her own. And which, incidentally, I just pinned to my “For the Kids – Clothes” Pinterest board.

I used the cuffs from the sleeper as the cuffs on the new mittens. If you are curious how I cut it, I left the sleeper sleeves sewn together and lined up the pattern pieces with the ends of the cuffs. I cut the outer back piece from one side of the sleeve and the bottom palm piece from the other side of the same sleeve. Make sure, if you do this, that the sides line up. It should look something like the photo below when you are done cutting those two pieces. Now you can proceed as per the instructions, sewing only to the bottom of the open areas when directed to sew the sides.

I also figured out a way to keep the thumb lining inside the thumb – which is seriously exciting to me! It’s actually a small step, but it makes a big difference when your kids are expected to easily wear the final product. Take a look at the photo below (both lining and outer are inside out)…

1. Match up lining palm to outer palm to get the right orientation for the thumbs.
2. Now line up just the thumbs and zigzag over the seam allowance of both lining and outer thumb ends before turning the mittens inside out.
3. Turn them together using some kind of pointy object (I used a Sharpie) to push the outer thumb into the lining thumb while the outer is inside out.
4. Then turn the entire mitten so the lining is right side out (as per the directions to sew the casing).

Easy! I suppose you could also do this with the finger portion of the mittens… but I didn’t think of that last night!

On to KCW Day 3. What are you sewing?

Click on the button above to visit the KCW site. If you want to see my ikat bag Mittens on the KCW site you can go here.