HSM Challenge 12 - Finally a pair of mitts!

Hurray! I've done it. I have finished all challenges for the Historical Sew Monthly 2018, which means that I have 12 new items to wear. I will do a ful recap of my HSM projects later.

The last challenge was:

Neglected Challenge: Was there a challenge this year (or, if you’ve been doing the HSM for a while, in a previous year) you missed? Or didn’t create quite what you’d wanted for? This is your chance to make it up!

Having done all the challenges this year I wasn't sure what to do for this last challenge, and I didn't want to go through and look at all the old challenges that I have missed. I had one event left in December though, the traditional Christmas fair at Falu Gruva where I was going to do be outside in some historical clothes. An issue though is that all my historical costumes are done for the summer, I hardly have anything that would keep me warm. With that I decided to make a pair of 18th century mitts. A pair of mitts have been on my to do-list for a really long time, and going back I discovered that I had it on my HSM 2016 list under the challenge "Protection". I'm putting this project both under the neglected 2016 challenge, and under the "Hands and feet" challenge this year. I made a pair of hose for the challenge, but in January when I posted my HSM plans I wrote "gloves or mitts perhaps".  Having had mitts up for two challenges, I can definitely call them my "finally" pair.

I made these at our Craft Tuesday with Cosplay Dalarna. The downside was that I hadn't brought a pattern, so I had to wing it, and when I couldn't figure out the thumb I started sewing them together anyway, so I basically did them in a much more complicated order than I should have.

I started with pinning a muslin on my forearm to get a pattern for the main part of the mitt.

When I sewed them together I had to fit them more. I cut out the thumb hole, but it turned out too big. I think it stretched quite a lot while I was trying the mitts on before sewing. The smart thing is of course to attach the thumb first, and then sew the mitt together.

I couldn't figure out the shape of the thumb though, so that had to wait until I got home and could check the pattern in American Duchess guie to 18th century dressmaking. The thumb hole was too big when I attached the thumb and causes some wrinkling issues, but it's ok.

As an after thought I decided to add a silk flap lining. Since it was an afterthough I couldn't just trace the shape of the flap. Instead I cut out a rather large piece of silk and pinned it to the flap, sewed it on and then I cut away the excess fabric. The flap was turned to the inside, and I hemmed and attached the loose sides of the flap to the mitt.

The finished pair of mitts.

And I wore the mitts to the Christmas fair. They were really comfortable and nice to wear. Together with my muff they kept the hands nice and toasty.

Me and a colleague as Mr and Mrs. Harald Lybecker, hosts of the fair.

The Challenge: 12 - Neglected Challenges. (I had planned to make mitts both for the HSM 2016 challenge "Protection" and the 2018 challenge "Hands or feet"
Material: 0,5 m wool, 20 cm of silk taffeta 
Pattern:  My own,
Year:  General 18th century
Notions: waxed linen thread, silk thread
How historically accurate is it? The execution isn't perfect, but it's made with period materials and in material techniques, they are all handsewn. I would say 90%
Hours to complete: Two evenings, so maybe 4 hors
First worn: Falu Gruva's Christmas Fair, December 9
Total cost: Everything was from my stash, (the wool is a leftover from my 1520s gown and the silk is a leftover from my Gold Handmaiden costume)