UpCycle Wool Mittens Tutorial

With what is left of the sweater from the Wool Hat Tutorial I made matching mittens. I found the Pattern Here and enlarged it 330%. The pattern fits a womens large but could be adjusted to fit other sizes depending on how much you enlarge. I found the directions on the website with the pattern to be very helpful but there were two flaws in the pattern/directions. 1. one side of the thumb is bigger than the other and is very apparent when you match up your cut pieces so I just trimmed the larger one the same size as the smaller. 2. they also call for 4-1/2 inch pieces of elastic, I used 4 inch and liked the fit better.

Cut pieces out of felted sweater, making sure you have a right hand and a left hand. (ask me how I know this is important? you could end up with 2 gloves that fit one hand! not fun) I used pins and paper to identify each peice so this would not happen again. I also took advantage of the ribbing on this particular sweater and made sure that my cuff pieces butted up against it.

Cut 4 piece of elastic 4 inches long and zig zag stitch it to the wrist of the gloves. You will need to stretch it gently as you sew.

Stitch the top thumb/palm piece to the bottom thumb/palm piece

Stitch down the small palm seam.

1. Use a scrap piece of fabric 2-1/2 inch X 1-1/2 inch and fold in long edges 1/4 of the way then in half, it will look like quilt binding or bias tape. 2. Stitch around edges and fold in half. 3. Tack in place on finished side of glove at the elastic line, this will give the option of clipping the gloves together and also adds a touch of flare. 4. Stitch front and back together starting at the cuff and stopping at the thumb. Cut thread and start stitching on the other side of thumb finishing with the opposite side of the cuff. (not sure if that makes sense but that was the best way I could describe it)

There it is a nice cozy glove. You may notice that I added a lining to them in the very first photo, this was just for extra comfort, you make the exact thing from a soft stretchy fabric ( I use a cotten shirt) and insert into the glove stitching together at cuff.

UpCycle Wool Hat Tutorial

Cut the hood off of a felted wool hooded sweater. I found this one at the thrift store for .99 cents and felted it in my washer/dryer.

trim the cut side to match the uncut side like above

stitch together

Stitch each side of your seam down, this will give a nice finished look on the outside of the hat as well as making it less lumpy on the inside.

Use a piece of scrap fabric roughly 2 -1/2 inch by 1-1/2 inch and fold sides in 1/4 of the way, them fold in half (just like quilt binding or bias tape). Stitch around edges. Fold ends in 1/8 inch and stitch to hat, this leaves an opening so you can hang your hat on a hook as well as giving it a little flair.

and there you have it! One very cheap AND warm wooly winter hat.

Cheap Wool

I am exploring a new found love for wool, and the fact that I can find it cheap at second hand stores. I'm going to start collecting and felting wool sweaters for various projects. The older I get the colder my feet seem to be. I remember when I was younger being able to walk around the house in the winter in my bare feet and thinking nothing of it, I may have even ran out to the mailbox barefoot in the snow. NOT anymore! I have to have something on my feet all time. I found this pattern on MarthaStewart.com very simple and got the job done.

NightShade the Fox

Once again J. can't resist taking a pile of scraps and making something awsome. She has not yet submitted to the idea of using an existing pattern, so this was made completely off the cuff and from her imagination! I love seeing her ideas come to life.

Zebra Softy

I couldnt resist playing with the leftovers from the baby quilt that I just finished. I really wanted this to have ribbon tags for its mane and tail, but did not have the right color on hand so I used strips of the fabric from the backside of the quilt.

Baby Quilt

My daughters friend is expecting a baby soon, so we combined out skills and designed this quilt. Click here to see the last quilt we did together. We spent a total of $12.00 for the fabric, she wanted something "sassy" that both Mother and Baby could enjoy as well as gender neutral. I believe we achieved that!

Laptop Case

Another laptop case, my son just bought a laptop and requested a soft and sturdy case for it. He picked the camoflauge canvas fabric. I think I had about $7.00 worth of material and supplies into it with lots of leftovers for other projects.

Asphalt Canvas

I have gotten way behind on my pictures. These are from the end of summer, the girls were expressing themselves on the road in front of the house.