DIY 8mm wool liners for US flying mittens-made from a boil washed sweater.

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Teepee

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jan 15, 2010
4,115
5
Northamptonshire
For the 2 weeks in the arctic for the Jokkmokk meet, I'm going to be using leather palmed US Flying mittens (N48) with wool liners. The liners that come with them are quite thin and I wanted warmer inserts to boost their performance and provide a change of liners to dry out.

I had a really thick and soft Kickers pure wool jumper that had shrunk a little too much. It seemed an excellent donor if felted, so I brushed it and boil washed it in the machine. It came out 8mm thick and perfect for what I wanted :cool:
As I had the original wool liners, I could copy that pattern relatively easily.


So the project started;

Trace and cut out paper patterns;
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Make a pattern mittern from an old piece of cloth and tack together;
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Its didn't fit together quite right, so I made it again-this time it was spot on;
Now I knew the pattern was right, I could cut out the wool parts.:)


Pin patterns to felted wool;
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Cut out the parts;
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Tack the mitts together with white tacking thread;
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Hurrah! they fit together well :) Time to sew them up. I used an overlock stitch all round with No 69 polyester thread.

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The most difficult part- mating and sewing the thumb. Heres the original close up...;
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...and my effort. Not quite as neat but good.
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I then sewed up the hem (used the ribbed part from the sweater so it would take the curved hem better) and fixed press studs in it.
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Et voila!
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Fitted inside the mitts;
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The thick felt was a little tricky to stop the seams stretching as its was a tight fit under the foot of the machine and it squashed the wool a little too much, causing slight seam stretch. I ended up pushing the layers through the presser foot of the machine with scissors all the way round. Whilst they look a bit distorted, when seated inside the mitt they straighten up nicely though :cool:. The originals ware also distorted at the seams and are also fine.

Certainly much warmer than the original liners at 8mm thick and a successful project :approve:

Thanks for looking :)
 
Thanks Ian :) they do feel good. To be fair, the sweater was a good start-it was very soft and not itchy for pure wool.


Cheers bud :) 37 sleeps to go. :cool:
 
Thanks guys. :)

The mitts do have a unique look, can't wait to start filling them with spindrift and my dirty hands.
 

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