Oh, HELLO THERE.

I heard you wanted to make some split mittens!

How very coincidental, because that's what we're talking about today.

I ought to preface this post with: I have no idea if this technique is period or not. I went on a mitten making kick some years ago, and made like forty pairs in one sitting, and that's when I developed this pattern style. If you have documentation for or against, I'd be happy to see it.

HOKAY! Here we go:

Get some paper. Fold that paper in half.



BAM! Slam you hand down on that paper. Trace around your hand, and mark the top and bottom of the thumb meat.

You'll notice I have moved my hand about a centimetre in from the edge. That is so it will wrap comfortably around your hand there. Make sure you have enough there for the thickness of your hand.



Take your hand away. You'll need your hand for other things.



Add a seam allowance, and enough space to wrap comfortably around your hand and fingers. This pattern ended up being fairly snug on me. If you want a looser mitten, or are using a thicker material (I used crepe wool, which is quite forgiving), make sure you make the pattern a little bit bigger.



Measure the beef of your hand. The beefiest part of the beef. Aww yeah, you got beefy mitts. By mitts I mean hands. To go in mitts.

I'm getting confused.

ANYWAY. This is to make sure you'll be able to get your hand in your mitt, so don't skip this step!



Use that measurement to gauge the minimum wrist width. Draw a fancy flared cuff. Or don't. Do a straight one if you want. It's more period, anyway. But I'm fancy, so I put on a slightly flared cuff. DON'T MAKE THE WRIST NARROWER THAN YOUR BEEF MEASUREMENT. Trust me. You will not be able to squish your hand in, even if you think you have dainty lady-like hands.

Because you don't. You do not have dainty lady-like hands. Trust me. (Sorry.)



Cut out your pattern. If you are uncomfortable with scissors, ask an adult to do it.



Flatten that sucker out. Let's do the thumb!



Look at your thumb. You see how your thumb meat is slightly oval in shape? And how it is more-or-less under your pointer finger? This is why we're going to do the thumb in the following way, and not sticking out the side of the mitten like some kind of deformed tree branch.



Using the marks we made earlier as a guide, draw an oval the approximate size and shape of your thumb meat, directly under your pointer finger. Don't forget the oval will end up slightly larger, as some of it will disappear into seam allowance.

That wedge at the top of your thumb hole is important. It will make the thumb fit more comfortably, particularly for the webbing of your thumb. Don't make the wedge longer than half the length of the oval.

Now cut out the thumb oval! Keep that little piece. We're going to use it to make the thumb pattern.

At this point you can also dry fit the paper pattern to your hand. If you need more space on your fingers, or you need to adjust the height of the thumb hole, now is the time.



Fold a piece of paper! Slam your hand down on it. Notice the gap between my thumb and the fold.

Trace around your thumb. Mark the top and bottom of your thumb meat.



To get the right curve, use the thumb hole oval you've cut out.




Add your seam allowance*!

*I should note here that after making one thumb from this pattern, I discovered it was a bit too snug for comfort. I ended up re-drafting this pattern, and added an extra 5mm to the top half of the pattern. The thumb meat curve remained the same.

Oh, did I hear you say you're making these for yourself or someone you love equally? You want to make them super comfy, and add that extra something?

Okay! Here we go! (If you secretly hate the person you're making these for, skip ahead to the sewing bits.)



Fold another piece of paper in half, and slip it between your ring and middle finger. Make sure the fold is resting snug up against the webbing of your hand. This will undoubtedly mean your paper is angled, like mine is above.

Trace around your middle finger, then flip your hand over and trace around your ring finger.




Point the tip (because otherwise the fingertip of your mitten will look hella ugly). Add a seam allowance.



Unfolded, your pattern piece will look something like this. Notice one finger (my middle) is slightly longer than the other. That is a-okay.



If you're making mittens for someone you hate, your pattern pieces will be as such.



If you're making mittens for someone you love, your pattern pieces will be as such.



Hate.



Love.



Chalk that shit out and cut it out. Awwww yeah.



As you have probably noticed (you clever person you), your angled inner finger piece will be longer on the back of the hand, than the front. The front will be the correct size, but we need to snip an extra bit on the back. Use your inner finger piece as a guide.



Stitch your inner finger piece to the mitten first. Make sure it is the right way around, and the longer finger is in the correct direction. I trust you know how to sew, so I'm not going to linger here.

If you've gone the hate route, obviously skip this step, and go directly on to:

Sew around the perimeter of the glove.



This is what your glove should look like now. One very cold thumb.

If you have decided not to do the inner finger piece, you'll just have sewn straight around the perimeter of the glove.

Stitch the other glove. Make sure it is the right way around, and you haven't just sewn another right hand glove.

You just sewed another right hand glove, didn't you?

Ugh. Go get the seam ripper. Rip out the seam, and flip it around. Sew it correct this time.



Sew the thumb. Don't go right to the end, because we still need to sew in the wedge. It's always better to sew slightly less than you think, because you can always stitch it up with you install the thumb.



So these are the pieces you have now. Are they? I hope they are. Otherwise you might not actually be making mittens anymore.

Time to do the thumb!



Turn one thumb right way in. Insert it into the thumb hole.



Pin it in! I hope it fits nicely. Sometimes if you've been enthusiastic with the curve of the thumb pattern, it'll be too much. You can trim some off if you need.

If you are super confident, you can stitch it in with your machine. I, however, am a cowardly lion, and I prefer to install my thumbs by hand.



Stitch the wedge up the thumb. Make it sit reeeeal nice.



This is what your mitten should look like now.

If you don't want to line it, then hem the cuff, trim any loose threads, and turn it right-side-out.

And voila, you're finished!

Or are you, you slacker?

Hells no. Let's line it!

Use your pattern to make another pair, exactly the same, but in a lighter weight fabric. My outer layer is wool crepe, and my inner layer is linen.



Turn your liner right-side-out, and slide it inside your wool layer. Make sure they're nice and snug together.



Sew around the cuff. Leave 3-5cm gap so you can turn it.

Turn it! Swear at it when you realise you made the gap a wee bit small. Force it through anyway.






































Stitch the gap closed. I used an invisible stitch here. You could also do a top stitch around the cuff and that would be fine, and add a nice structure to the cuff.



ET VOILA! Tu est fini.

Now you're the coolest kid on the block.

No lies.

(PS, Are you uncomfortable with how many times I said 'thumb meat'? Because it made ME pretty uncomfortable, too. Sorry.)