18th Century Wool Mitts

[atherleisure]

Just before the George Washington Ball in Williamsburg this year, I decided that I really wished my knit mitts would be finished in time to wear to the ball and, even more importantly, the next day in the historic district. Since I knew the probability of my being able to finish them in time approached zero, I didn’t even try, but I thought of the blue wool that was supposed to become a mid-19th century under-petticoat and decided to steal a bit of that and make some sewn mitts.



Materials:
3/8 yd light blue medium weight wool (from Denver Fabrics)
3/8 yd blue china silk (remnants of an old skirt)

Patterns:
I thought I had the pattern from Costume Close-Up, which is currently lost, on my computer but could not find it. I guess I wasn’t that interested in mitts the last time I had it in hand. Instead I found a Beth Gilgun pattern online for mitts that looked very much like what I remembered the Costume Close-Up pattern looking like. (It can be found here.)

I had to take them in quite a bit and move the thumb hole down a lot. I also had to shorten the point that goes over the hand. Luckily, I was able to do my mocking up with the paper pattern and didn’t have to do a ton of muslins.

Construction:
The mitts are made of a medium-weight wool layer and lined with china silk. They are completely hand-sewn. Actually, it would have been impossible to sew anything but the seam up the outer arm with the machine.

The four thumbs are set in the four hand/arm pieces. Then one silk and one wool piece were folded and sewn up the outer arm seam following the same method of seaming sleeves with linings that is presented in The Workwoman’s Guide. Yes, I know that’s 1838, not the eighteenth century, but koshka_the_cat uses that method on eighteenth century dresses. If she does it, it’s probably good enough for me. Besides, I didn’t have tons of time for this project, and it’s marginally faster than sewing together three layers and whipping a fourth on top. Finally, the hems at top, bottom, and thumb are turned in and stitched using the ever-popular and lovely, albeit time-consuming, point a rabbatre sous le main.

For what it’s worth, I meant to make these a bit longer. When I cut off the bottom end of the pattern in order to move the thumb hole down, I forgot to add fabric back to the top so that the net length didn’t change. They aren’t horribly short, but they’re not as long as I’d like them to be either. If I make any more, I’ll add a couple of inches onto the top.


Thoughts after wearing:
I’m really not thrilled with these mitts. They’re baggy around the wrist, which I expected and I believe to be an accurate fit, but it’s not the most flattering. I’m looking forward to finishing the knit mitts, which I think will be much nicer. At the same time, these were a very quick little project and served their purpose. I’m sure I’ll get some use out of them. We didn’t end up going to the historic district in the end so I only wore them to the ball, but between them and my muff, I didn’t have cold hands on the way there or back.

Comments

[mandie-rw.livejournal.com]

Mitts of woven fabric are basically evil - good on you for finishing them! (I've had green wool ones without thumbs in the UFO bin for, um, two years.) Love the color.

[atherleisure.livejournal.com]

Fortunately, they only took a couple of hours to put together. The knit ones are way better, though I still need to wear them around to see whether they really fit.