My husband wears holes in the elbows of all of his sweaters, and I patch them up, but it’s only so long before the sweaters are just too worn for him to wear anymore. I hate to just toss them, so the last time he wore through his elbow patches, I decided to upcycle the sweater into sweater mittens! Today I’m going to share with you the absolute easiest way to make sweater mittens; it will take you less than ten minutes to turn an old sweater into a pair of mittens!
All you need for this project is an old sweater and some sewing supplies! If you live somewhere extremely cold, you can also make fleece-lined sweater mittens for added warmth.
The Easiest Way To Make Sweater Mittens
- Time spent doing stuff: 10 minutes
- Time spent waiting around: 0 minutes
- Total project time: 10 minutes
Tools
- sewing machine
- fabric scissors
- sewing pins
- marker
Materials
- an old sweater
- a piece of paper
Instructions
Make a pattern for your sweater mittens by tracing your hand (or the hand of whoever the mittens are for). Trace around your hand in a mitten shape, leaving half an inch or more for seam allowance, and so your hand has room to move inside the mitten. Make sure you leave enough room at the wrist to put the mittens on and pull them off!
Cut out the pattern.
Turn your old sweater inside out and lay it down, lining up the bottom hems with each other. Place your pattern on the sweater, lining up the wrist with the bottom hem of the sweater. Trace the pattern with a marker.
Cut out the sweater mittens using fabric scissors. Make sure to cut through both the front and back layers of your sweater!
Once the mitten is cut out, pin the front and back pieces together.
Sew around the mitten leaving a 1/4” seam allowance.
Remove the pins, trim any loose threads, and trim any extra fabric from the seams so there isn’t too much bulk inside the sweater mittens.
Turn the mittens right side out, and you’re good to go! Repeat the steps to make a second mitten, and you’re ready for the cold weather!
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Susan says
I’ve seen this idea for a while but never really bothered to read the steps. Thanks for the clear tutorial. I have a mountain of old sweaters that need to be either donated or crafted into something new.
Susan says
I love making mittens from sweaters and have been doing it for years. I even got compliments from my teen daughters on our sweater mittens (and we all know that teen daughters are the toughest graders on earth!).
Jessi Wohlwend says
Those are awesome Susan, I love them! (https://organized31.com/more-repurposed-sweater-mittens-2/)