How to Make Leather Mittens
Leather mittens can keep your hands toasty warm on a cold day, and with a little bit of weather-proofing, can last for years to come. With the directions found here, you can create leather mittens to wear over your gloves, or add a removable lining. Either way, making your own leather mittens is easier than you might think, and definitely less expensive than buying them.
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Things You'll Need
- For mittens:
- Leather
- Rotary cutter
- Leather needle
- Thick polyester thread
- 1/4-inch wide elastic
- Marking pen
- For optional lining:
- Sheepskin fleece or other soft material, like felt or flannel
- Needle and thread
- Scissors
Instructions
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Making the Leather Mittens
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1
Fold your piece of leather in half, with the right sides together. Trace around your hand to create a mitten shape, adding about 1/4 inch if you aren't making a lining and about 1/2 inch if you will have a lining. If the mittens are for someone else, draw a mitten shape and estimate the correct size. Also, be sure to add about 2 inches to the length of the wrist.
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2
Use the rotary cutter to cut out the mitten shape, pressing hard to cut through both layers of leather.
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3
Lay one of the mitten shapes onto another piece of folded leather to create the other mitten, so that they are the same size.
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4
Take two of the mitten shapes and place them together, with the right sides facing. Use the leather needle and polyester thread to sew around the outside edges of the mitten, leaving the wrist open.
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5
Cut a small piece of elastic, enough to go around your wrist comfortably, and sew it around the wrist of your mitten on the inside, about 2 inches below the opening.
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6
Hem the wrist opening, and turn the mitten right-side out. One mitten is completed.
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7
Repeat Steps 4, 5 and 6 with the other two leather mitten shapes to create a pair of mittens.
Making the Lining
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8
Fold a piece of sheepskin fleece or other soft fabric in half, with the right sides facing. Trace around your hand, just as you did for the leather mittens, this time adding only 1/4 inch. Remember to add 2 inches to the wrist of this mitten shape as well.
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9
Cut out the mitten shape, being sure to cut through both layers of fabric.
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10
Use one of these mitten shapes to create the other mitten, cutting through both layers of fabric for the other mitten also.
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11
Sew two mitten shapes together along the outside edges, with the right sides of the mittens facing, leaving the wrist open.
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12
Hem the wrist opening. However, since this will be a lining, you do not need to turn the mitten inside out.
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13
Repeat Steps 4 and 5 for the other mitten. Then, insert the mitten linings into the leather mitten outsides. The linings can be removed to be washed.
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1
Tips & Warnings
Leather needles are very sharp, be careful!
Comments
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This advice will end you with a job you won't be happy with. The pattern is more complex than this simple "trace your hand" advice. There are special considerations to make the thumb work out right and the overall length too. I tried this my first time around and tried to make it better on my second attempt. Now I realize that there needs to be at least three, maybe four seperate pieces for each mitten. The more complex, the better the fit and the more time it takes and the more difficult it is to do by hand. It CAN be done though, just experiment first with some cheap materials. Save the expensive materials for the first actual attempt at perfection, or maybe the second!
