Woodland Cree Gauntlet Mitts

My finished pair of mitts

you will need the following materials
1. straight edge. I don't really measure anything its just for making straight lines.
2. a good sharp pair of scissors
3. something to mark the fur, hide and lining with. I recommend a pen for the fur and hide and a sharpie for the lining
4. glovers needle for sewing the leather. I prefer a #4 or 5 for size but it does depend on the leather you are using.
5. strong nylon thread matching the leather/fur you are using
6. a thimble. leather can be tough to sew.
7. leather. the choice of leather is up to you where I live the choices are usually commercial deer, elk, or moose. Or if you are very lucky, as I was, traditional tanned moose hide
8. fur. I'm using beaver. For full fur mitts I would go with beaver, lynx, fox etc.
9. lining. the one in the picture is a little thin then what I'd normally use

and not pictured is
1. a blade or box cutter to cut the fur.
2. some denim or other heavy fabric to put on the back of your cuff
3. a strip of fur 1.5- 2 inches and long enough to go around the top of the cuff.

1. trace the hand of the person you are making the mitts for.
2. lay the hand on construction paper
3. mark out .5 inch above and below the hand.
4. mark a bit more then .5 inch on each side of the hand. (note i made mine a bit narrower compared to the tracing because I'm using a tracing of my dad's hand to make a pattern for my brother so I had to adjust a bit)
5. fold the pattern in half and trim any extra paper.
6. fold the pattern in half again.
7. mark then cut the pattern as shown in pic 3
8. unfold everything and it should look like picture 4.

1. mark off a quarter of the distance. from the center of the pattern to the edge.
2. cut up the center line and 1/4 line just a bit below where the thumb attaches. (picture 2)
3. this flap will be part of the thumb.
4. fold the thumb in half and trim the same way as you did the main part of the mitt (making it a bit shorter as marked in picture one.
5. now for the back part of the thumb. (this next part is hard to describe but here goes) fold a piece of paper half. the width at the bottom needs to be made in relation to the width of the thumb on the main part of the mitt. see pic 3
6. the pattern will come to a point where the thumb on the main piece ends. (this will also be about half the height of the thumb piece.
7. draw a shape like the one shown in the pictures (err on the side of too big)
8. cut the thumb out
9. line up the points with the base of the thumb on the main part. pic 5 the top part should be able to go around the thumb with some gathering.

I would cut out and sew the lining first because if the thumb isn't right you can take it out tinker with shape and size of thumb and you will only be out a bit of fleece lining and not fur and leather.

1. to make the cuff start by marking off how wide your mitts are on a piece of paper
2. on one side make a straight line slightly angled out. (this edge is the inside)
3. on the other side make another line but angled out a fair bit. (this side is the outside)
4. draw another line across the bottom to make the cuff as long as you want them.

Now you should have the pattern pieces shown in the picture.

The lining
1. 2 of piece #1
2. 2 of piece #2
3. 4 of piece #3

The mitts (Finish one lining before cutting leather and fur to make sure you don't have to change the pattern)
1. cut piece #1 in half down the center line creating 1a and 1b (you leave these together if you are making fur trimmed mitts instead of full fur mitts )
2. 2 of piece #1a from leather
3. 2 of piece #1b from fur
4. 2 of piece #2 from fur
5. 4 of piece #3 from fur

6. Also trace 4 pieces of #3 from denim/canvas/some other stiff fabric. this will be used to reinforce the cuff so it isn't floppy.

note for all steps trace half the pieces with the pattern right side up and half with the pattern right side down otherwise you will end up with two mitts for the same hand

it's not very exciting to start with the lining but if any adjustments to the pattern are needed it's a lot cheaper to get more lining then the fur or leather. Unless stated otherwise all stitches in the project are a simple whip stitch.

2. Tack the pointy parts of the thumb piece right side in to where the thumb part on the main mitt is attached.
3. tack the top centers of the thumb pieces together.
4. Sew from one of the pointy parts up to the center gathering as you go. you should have no extra fabric when you get to the top tack.
5. continue around the thumb gathering as you go until you reach the other pointy part.
6. continue down until you reach the bottom.
7. Sew the other side between the bottom and pointy part.
8. place the two pieces of the cuff right side together. Sew the less slanted side together.
9. place the narrow end of your cuff right side together against the bottom of your mitt. Sew them together.
10. fold the lining in half right side in and sew up the open side and around the top
**note that in my picture I did step 10 first. Then tried to attach the cuff. It's a lot harder that way.
three last three steps can be done by machine.

- try them on and check to make sure the fit around the thumb is good.
- you want some space between the tips of your fingers/thumb and the top of the mitt (the air space helps make the mitts warm)
- you want the thumb lose enough to allow good maneuverability.

repeat for other mitt

to assemble each mitt you need what you see in pic 1 and one of what is shown in pic 3
1. use fabric glue to attach the cloth reinforcement to the back of the cuff.
2. place the cuffs right side together. Sew up the less slanted side. set this piece aside (pic 2)

3. place the fur part of the hand fur side in to the leather 'palm' of the hand. Sew as much as indicated in picture 3
4. with the fur side facing in attach the thumb the same way you did in the lining. (pic 4)
5. Sew the narrow end of the cuff to the bottom of the mitt. (right side together). (pic 5)
6. finish sewing the mitts together (around the top and down the side)

almost done!

** Sewing fur to fur can be tricky because they slide over each other and the fur trends to get in the way of your sewing. I have found it helpful to track the pieces of fur together or clip them together with Bobby pins or hem clips

now for the final assembly.
While wearing one of linings put on the corresponding mitt.

now that you have a lining inside your mitt take the strip of leather.
1. Line it up inside the mitt with the fur facing into the lining.
2. Sew it to you mitt.
3. fold the fur strip over the seem you just made.
4. tack the fur strip down.