18th century embroidered mitts
Patterns used:
- The mitt pattern located on this page.
Fabrics used:
- Outer fabric, gray (blue and peach shot) taffeta. Most likely not silk.
- Lining, white cotton.
Other materials used:
- White cotton DMC floss.
Machine sewing on the side seams, hand sewing to attach lining and outer fabric, hand sewing to attach thumbs. Hand embroidery.
I need to adjust my pattern for the next time I make a pair of mitts. The thumb piece I made does not work smoothly yet, but I didn’t have time to mess around trying to perfect it. Also, although my pattern would probably work as-is with most linens and wools that have a lot more stretch, I have to work to put on and take off the mitts more than I should. I tried to take that into account with the first mitt (left) — cutting on the bias, stitching into the seam allowance a little — but it wasn’t enough. The right mitt, I added a little extra, but didn’t want to have it look off. The right mitt fits a little better.
Since I was in a bit of a hurry, and the thumb pieces were annoying me, I skipped lining them. The mitts are lined, except for the thumbs.
I also know that I should look into buying nicer embroidery floss for future projects. No matter what I did, I didn’t get as smooth a line as I’d hoped on this fabric.
I forgot to clean the guidelines off the fabric before taking photos.
Photos:
The top of the mitts, showing the flap embroidery.
Although I love the design on the flap, I'll probably wear the mitts with the flaps turned back.
The embroidery design on the sides of the mitts. I wanted something that would go quickly, but look fancy. I like how the white stands out against the gray.
The first 18th century mitt marked on the fabric, ready for embroidering.
Embroidering the seed stitch in the middle of the heart on my first 18th century mitt.
A blurry (sorry about that!) in-progress photo of the first 18th century mitt getting embroidered.
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