Fleece lined mitts

Check this out. These were made using the mitt pattern from The Artisan’s Book of Fetishcraft, but with expansion panels and wider thumbs to accommodate…sheepskin fleece!

With an outer shell of buttery soft 1oz pebble grain garment leather and a shorn down Ikea sheepskin mat on the inside, these mitts are lush, toasty and unique outerwear.

Tools

• Sewing machine (leather needle)
• Glover’s needle and sailor’s palm
• Shears
• Drive punch
• Eyelet setter and anvil
• Cutting board
• Hammer
• Measuring tape
• Pencil and ruler
• Water pencil

Materials

• ~1oz Garment leather
• Matching thread
• Sheepskin or artificial fleece
• 2 x 200mm (8″) elastic cord
• 12 x medium eyelets
• Paper

Instructions

• Draft the pattern as shown. Use the value of A to determine the size of each grid cell, then construct a grid accordingly and sketch each panel. Place a hand over the palm/back panel to ensure a good fit, and adjust if necessary.
• Trace, mark and cut out all of the leather panels and gussets. For the first mitt, trace out the back panel with no thumb opening, then flip the pattern over for the palm panel and mark a thumb opening in this one. Then, for the second mitt, flip the panel over again, trace the other palm panel and include a thumb opening, then flip the pattern over a final time, trace the other back panel and omit the thumb opening. Repeat this process to cut four fleece panels to match the leather panels. Note that the fleece panels are cut 15mm shorter to allow for the leather hem fold (see the dashed line in the palm/back panel). Trace and cut out the fleece thumb panels.
• Trim the pile on the sheepskin fleece down to approximately 12mm (1/2″) using shears. Having a higher or lower pile may be possible or necessary depending on the skins and the fit. This can be adjusted after the mitts are assembled.
• Sew a gusset around each leather palm panel, starting and ending at the wrist hem, 5mm (3/16″) from the edge.
• Fold each leather thumb panel lengthwise, grain sides together. Sew from the folded edge up over the top and down to the point 5mm (3/16″) from the edge.
• Fold each fleece thumb panel lengthwise, fleece sides together. Sew from the folded edge up over the top and down to the point 5mm (3/16″) from the edge.
• Turn the leather thumb panels grain sides out, and insert each into a thumb opening in a mitt. Line the seam up with the marking on the thumb opening grain sides together, and baste each in place.
• Sew each thumb panel in place, 5mm (3/16″) from the edge.
• Remove the basting.
• Apply contact cement to the flesh side of the liner panels and place each one centered on a leather palm panel so that the bottom of the liner is 10mm (⅜”) above the bottom of the panel. Press firmly and let dry overnight.
• Sew each liner in place 3mm (⅛”) from the inside and outside edges.
• Pull the center of each liner away from the palm panel and make a cut in the palm panel to match the liner.
• Mark and punch three evenly spaced holes on both sides of each liner.
• Insert the top two eyelets in both sides of each liner and set in place.
• Sew each leather back panel to the corresponding gusset grain sides together 5mm (3/16″) from the edge, starting from the tip of each mitt going down to the wrist hem on each side.
• With a glover’s needle, sew each palm, back and thumb fleece panels to the seam allowance of each corresponding leather panel. For the thumb panels, first insert the fleece thumb into the leather thumb and baste the base of the thumb panels together on the palm panel opening’s seam allowance. Then, baste the thumb panels together along their length by running a needle through both thumb seams, from the inside of the thumb to the outside and back, never actually puncturing the leather, but going through the middle of both seams, pulling the leather thumb seam and the fleece thumb seam together.
• Trim the lower 20mm (¾”) of the seam allowances on each mitt down to 2mm (1/16″).
• Apply contact cement to the bottom 15mm (5/8″) of the flesh side of each mitt and make 10mm (⅜”) folds. Press firmly and let dry overnight.
• Sew each wrist hem from the top side, 7mm (¼”) from the edge.
• Punch through the bottom holes of each liner and insert and set the final eyelets.