Thrifty Thursday

Christmas is a week away!!!! But, there's still time to make up some very simple but lovely gifts, like mittens!
I found this free mitten pattern at www.fleecefun.com

There motto is rather cute, "Velvet is Pretentious, Fleece is Fun!" All of their patterns are free, and easy I might add, so be sure and take a look. You can find the mitten pattern HERE.
Here's the pair that I made. I used a lovely piece of wool fleece.

The pattern is VERY easy to download and there's even an instructional video on the website. So this would be great for anyone who is learning to sew. The pattern comes in a wide range of sizes from Child Small to Man Large, so you can cover everyone on your list. You will have 3 pattern pieces once you've downloaded the pattern. I used the Adult Woman pattern and I did have to tape a small portion on the mitten top pattern piece, but that was all the taping that was required.

I was able to achieve a very nice fit, but remember, my hands are very narrow and my wrists are quite small,

so I did need to do a little customizing to the pattern. But as you can see, it was quite easy to do. I just slipped the mitten on my hand and then pinned it in.

I did line mine with fleece, but a thinner piece of fleece. Worked out really well. When I walked the dogs last night, I decided to wear the mittens and give them a test run for warmth. Now keep in mind that I am always cold, so I am the perfect person to try things out for warmth. If I'm warm, everyone will be warm. The mittens passed the test!!!!

I plan to wear the mittens with one of my favorite coats. This is an old Claude Montana pattern. A friend gave the the lovely scarf, so I am all set!

One note about the mittens, they will not be good for driving as the fleece is quite slippery. But here's an idea. Notice that the palm of the pattern is in 2 pieces. You could do the top of the palm in a faux suede rather than the fleece and then you could actually use them as driving mitts.
As you can see, my Christmas sewing is not going so well, so far everything I've made I've kept for myself!!!! Oh well, Merry Christmas to me!!!!
Hope you can do a little Christmas sewing for yourself too :)
Rhonda