Sunday, August 29, 2010

Refashion: Fleece gloves to handwarmers

(originally published November 20, 2007)

It's getting cold in my studio/workshop/garage. Even if the fog burns off and the day warms up, unless it gets really hot, my workshop stays pretty cool. Which isn't so bad, but my hands get cold and I can't stand cold hands!

I've been coveting a pair of knit handwarmers since last winter and I've got all sorts of fabulous favorites over at Etsy, but I haven't found exactly what I'm looking for in terms of color and style. Then Erin went and knit up a whole batch a couple of weeks ago, and that really put me over the edge! I want to knit some too! I think that project will have to wait, as I am fully consumed by the never-ending knit scarf (which I still love!), and definitely don't have the skills yet for that sort of project.

But as I was thinking about my cold hands, and coveting (as I do), I remembered a pair of Old Navy fleece gloves that I had crammed into a drawer in my dresser. I hardly ever wore them, and I thought I might be able to make them at least partially cute.



I started by cutting off the fingers and thumb.



Then I whipstitched around the cut openings.



I used ordinary embroidery floss...simple.



That was easy, but I still thought they were a bit boring. Initially, I started to embroider little flowers on the top, but my flowers didn't quite turn out the way I visualized, and you can't really draw or trace on fleece, so I had to think of something else.



I cut out little flowers from ivory felt and stitched them to the tops.



And added little faux-pearl beads to the centers, and a little running stitch for the stem...



That's better.



Even toastier with some hot chai! Mmmmm. Perfect!



I think I have a matching fleece scarf crammed into another drawer somewhere...

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