Child mittens - review of free PDF pattern

Bringing my grand-daughter home from nursery one winter's day, I realised she had left her gloves at home. I thought I'd try and make her a quick spare pair, which could stay attached to her coat. That way, they'd stay with her!

I found this free pattern on the internet from Fleece Fun. It comes in 3 child sizes, as well as two women's and two men's sizes. The smallest sizes is supposed to fit ages 4-6, so I thought it would be perfect. 

To find out how I got on, read on.

The pattern is free, and easy to print and use. I used the smallest pattern size, for 4-6 years. The pieces join quite easily. You make a separate lining and outer, and join them at the cuff inside out i.e. right sides together (leaving a gap to turn them the right way out). With this small size, this could have been tough, but I found the best way to ensure the thumb liner went into the thumb, and the hand part into the hand, was to use the wrong end of a wooden spoon, Having turned them, I oversewed the cuff edge with a zigzag stitch.

Following the Fleece Fun tutorial, you also put a piece of elastic in each one between the inner and outer side of the cuff  just below the thumb, to make the cuff fit cosily. I also joined each end of a long length of elastic to each mitten, so they could be threaded through Jane's winter jacket. This was some very cheap soft pink elastic about half an inch wide, and I measured Jane from cuff to cuff (the 'playing aeroplanes' measurement) and added a bit for ease and for getting them on and off her hands.

As I was not intending these to be ultra warm, just keep the chill off, I had made them with only one layer of fleece (inside) and a layer of stout printed cotton for the outer.

 

For this reason, I didn't find the problem so much as some other people commenting on the pattern, that ideally, you should make the inner layer a bit smaller than the outer because of the bulk. Most people seem to have got round this by just making smaller seams on the outer layer (so the finished size of this layer was larger.) For example, 1/2" seams on the inner layer and 1/4" seams on the outer.

However, overall, I found the pattern in this size was a bit too long and thin. Some of  those commenting found the same. I had to make it a bit wider. The other sizes may be better, but best to measure against the hand first. You do need some space around the hand to trap warm air, they don't want to be skin tight or hard to get on and off.

Overall, the pattern was fine, allowing for the fact I made it a little wider in the smallest size; and the tutorial was very easy to follow. As I mentioned, it comes in several sizes. So I'd say it is worth a go!

Among the comments on the Fleece Fun web site, I also found another blogger who had tried the pattern too, and her views were similar to mine. She also bound the cuffs (I'd guess with bias binding, wrong sides together so the seams were in between) rather than trying to turn them - I might try this in future, too. Check out her blog here.

And, though I've yet to try it, there is an alternative pattern and tutorial on the Sew Can Do website. I might give this a go next winter, and if I succeed, I'll write it up, too. However, it's only in one size, said to be ages 2-8 - quite a wide range - and also requires some fabrics I'm not sure I can get here, like PUL, and 'thermal batting' which I'd never heard of before. So, we'll see what happens. In the meantime, I'm happy to recommend the Fleece Fun pattern and tutorial, with the caveat that you might need to make them a bit wider.