More on Mittens
I posted a while back about making my grandson some mittens. mittens post He loved them but they wouldn’t stay on even when his coat sleeves were over them. I had thought that might be the case . Mittens are usually narrower at the wrist. You can’t do that with felt mittens, no stretch. To fix them I sewed on some bound ribbon. Threaded some elastic through and added a locking toggle. We tried them on and he tried to make them fall off but they stayed put. Success!
The Hardest part was finding the toggles. When I wasn’t looking for them, they were everywhere. I went to 2 craft stores, a sewing store, a Walmart and the big dollar chain store, in the end found them at the smaller chain Dollar World.
I made a pair of adult sized this week so I would have an adult size to show and do a different way of tightening the wrist. That part isn’t done yet. I need to find my sew on Velcro for that. Here my daughter is modeling them for me.
and a simple over lapping to close them.
The hardest part about writing the instructions is doing the measuring to get the resist the right size. I had to redo the drawing several time because I made mistakes and I wanted it to be neat.
The instructions are mostly doing the same thing over and over in all the different spots, but as you read it, it gets confusing. I need to figure out a different way of writing it. I may make it several diagrams, pull out the thumb and the angle from the thumb to another picture so there are not so many lines. Then write the instruction once and say repeat for all the lines. I will be there to explain so it will be easier. I would like to get them clear enough to make a kit. I am going to see if I can get my son to draw the mitten using his fancy drawing program so I can easily manipulate it electronically using layers. I will have to find that free “photoshop” drawing program, I can’t remember the name of it at the moment.
19 thoughts on “More on Mittens”
Both pairs of mittens are great. I like how you solved the problem with your grandson’s mittens with the toggles. We would be able to buy those toggles from an outdoor shop.
Thanks Tracy, I didn’t think to try the outdoor store. I like the toggles better than the Velcro option.
That’s a really neat way of keeping mittens on – the toggles are easy to use too.
Thanks Lyn. I think I like it better then making a space with a resist. You can get it in exactly the right place and I like the way it looks.
I have been successful shaping the wrist by playing with the direction of the wool (opposite idea to making ruffled scarf is the easiest way to describe it) and also making resist narrower at the wrist. You do have to be careful though to have it large enough for the hand to go in but tight enough to hold on hand.
Thanks, but there in lies the problem guessing what will be ther right width if you don’t have the hand handy. Without stretch I find this is a better option.
I buy sweaters at the thrift store and cut off the wrist section and sew it to my mittens. It has stretch to stay on well and you can make it as wide as you want to cover more of the arm. Those of you who are knitters could knit a cuff. The remainder of the sweater goes in my fabric bin to be used with other projects.
Yes, knit mittens work because of the stretch. If you knit, knitting a cuff is an option. Unfortunately I don’t knit.
Ann, these look great and I love the ribbon and toggle method. I think I would put the velcro on the inner side of the wrist so it wouldn’t show as much but perhaps that would limit your wrist and hand functions when wearing them. If you’d like, I would be glad to review your instructions and give suggestions. Just email them to me.
Thanks Ruth. the ribbon and toggle is my choice too. I thought about doing the underside of the mitt but thought it might be easier to do the second one with a mitt still on if it was on the back. I had a friend that doesn’t felt look at them and she finds them confusing. we are going to talk about it. If we draw a blank I will take you up on your offer.
Ann, there’s a free Photoshop-like software called GIMP. (Had thought that it was called Picasa, but that seems to be retired). Have not used either myself. However, if either one is what you’re after.
I think your drawstring/toggle method would be the most practical and comfortable. Velcro is scratchy and catches lots of fuzz. I do admire Jill C’s clever method of using charity shop sweaters for the bands. That might be good for berets, too!
Thanks Juliane. I think it was Gimp I was trying to remember. sometimes I wish I could knit but no when ever I try I am always adding stiches and making holes.
The mittens look great Ann and the toggles work well. It wouldn’t have occurred to me that the wrist would be a problem but there seems to be several options for overcoming it which is good.
thanks, Felt not stretching can be a problem when designing.
The toggles look great, Ann. I like toggles. I always cut/save things from old bags etc, so have quite a few spare toggles! There’s some kind of drawing thingie for copying and enlarging, we used to have a kids version, it looked like an expandable ruler/set square type thing … looked it up-Pantograph: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantograph I like the roses on your new mittens 🙂
Thanks, I took a picture of the start and finished drawing and added the numbers on the computer. It would just be easier as a digital line drawing. I remember those copy things. They were fun when they worked.
I remember trying to copy a horse, it looked about the same as if I’d tried to draw it myself (very bad!)
Great save with the toggles. The nice part is that they will last longer for him not being too tight a size and flexible. The pink mittens are darling. So cheery for winter!
Thanks Marilyn He really likes them.