You know you have them.

. Those sweaters, lurking in the back of the closet that you just can not bring yourself to part with. The ones that have shrunk (one way or another), or whose style is simply out of fashion (but you love the color of), or are just simply too ragged for everyday wear, but you simply can not pass on to the thrift store.

I have a couple of those. One was from my younger days, and given in love by a friend. Now pink has never gone very well with red hair, but that has never stopped me from loving that color. And I wore that sweater until I ran it ragged. I am sure you have something similar hanging in your closet.

What if I told you there was a new life for that sweater?

What if I shared with you a simple way to turn that lovely sweater into a pair of warm, soft mittens?

Yep. Or how about even turning it into a  pair of mittens and matching hat?

We did it. You can do it to.

Just follow the pictures and before you know it, that beloved sweater is going to become your next favorite pair of mittens!

Welcome to our first installment of

MakeITYourselfMondayImage

Here we go!

*Take your sweater, and lay it flat on a flat stable surface.

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*Lay your hand on the sweater and, using the bottom hem of the sweater, or the cuff of the sleeve, to create a finished edge, trace a nice comfortable mitten shape around your hand. Use a sewing pin and carefully pin the mitten shape right in the middle so that it will not shift when you are cutting it out.

as you can see, I chose to use the sleeves on this sweater to maintain the cuff with its beads.

as you can see, I chose to use the sleeves on this sweater to maintain the cuff with its beads.

*Once you have one cut out, then flip it over and trace around it on the opposite side of the sweater. Repeat the pinning, and then cut it out as well.

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When I sewed the seam on these, I used a hand stitch due to the heavy cuff being too bulky for my sewing machine. I lined them with pink fleece, and they are very warm (and pretty!)

Now here is where you need to decide if you are going to stop with one layer or two. We live in a very harsh winter climate, so we always make ourselves double layer mittens. To do this, you simply trace out a double for each hand.

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I cut the mittens from the sleeve of the sweater, so one seam was already done for me. Then cut the hat from the middle of the sweater, using the bottom hem for a finished edge. See the next picture for the leftovers of the sweater.

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here you can see the sleeves are gone, and the hat was cut from the middle of the sweater, using the bottom hem. My Littles have lots of hair, so I made a slouch hat . Normally you would not go so deeply into the sweater.

*Now, while you can sew the seams by hand if you have no access to a sewing machine, using a whip stitch,  it is much faster to sew on a sewing machine.

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*Sew each layer separately, in other words, if you are doing a double layer mitten, sew four mittens. Here was my first attempt, and I sewed all the layers at same time, making a bulky seam inside the mitten. While it works fine, the other method is much more comfortable. Just wanted to show that we bloggers  make mistakes too. 🙂

*Then turn one right side out, and slip it over the one that is still inside out, and sew it together around the cuff. Repeat with the other two mittens.

Here you can see how I slipped the two mittens together, and will turn it inside out to sew the inside seam and finish the mitten. I did one mitten with two layers sewn at same time (made a seam on the inside) and then this way with seam hidden to the inside between layers. The second was much more comfortable.

Here you can see how I slipped the two mittens together, and will turn it inside out to sew the inside seam and finish the mitten. I did one mitten with two layers sewn at same time (made a seam on the inside) and then this way with seam hidden to the inside between layers. The second was much more comfortable.

This gives you a very comfortable, no inside seam, mittens, that are warm and sized exactly to fit your hands!

Here are two very happy little girls with their mittens (they had to share the hat). I made the second set from the fabric left above where I cut out the hat in the body of the sweater and hemmed the wrists. 🙂

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*heads up on this—using a thinner or ribbed knit sweater makes it twice as hard to make a good mitten shape, or keep its shape when sewn. Use a thicker knit, and avoid ribbed sweater knits. 🙂

Creative K Kids