Thread & Finishing Recommendations: Pastel Plaid Mittens
These little mittens are beyond cute- but their cuteness doesn't fully come alive until they are finished into adorable little mittens connected with a string! They're truly adorable and something you can display all winter long- not just at Christmas.
Growing up, my mom always had separate "Christmas" decorations and "winter" decorations. She says that she doesn't like how sad the house looks when the Christmas decorations come down, so once the tree comes down and with it her boxes of Christmas decor... up go the "winter" decor... a flurry of snowflakes and snowmen! One of my favorite pieces of her "winter" decor are these sweet little painted wooden mittens that she displays on each side of the front door. Those wooden mittens became my inspiration for our Sails & Spools mitten canvases!
Currently, we have two different designs- our pastel plaid ones & our bow ones. I love them both- especially all the colors. Most recently, I was able to stitch up our pastel plaid ones and they turned out even cuter than I could've imagined! Here's a breakdown of threads & how I finished them, to give you a little inspiration.
Thread Recommendations:
For threads for this canvas, I used DMC Embroidery Floss to stitch the main part of the mittens, coupled with Fuzzy Stuff for the cuff, to add some easy texture! What is great about stitching with DMC Embroidery Floss is that you can easily find it at Michael's or Hobby Lobby and it's very affordable. I did all of the stitching in basketweave and tent stitches just to keep it simple- I used the full 6 strands of embroidery floss, but some people prefer only using 4 strands- it's just a preference. Because the plaid pattern can be a little harder to stitch and is full of detail, making tent stitches the way to go! You could totally go fancier with how you do the cuff, but I thought simple basketweave worked well. Make sure to grab two skeins of each of the floss colors- they're inexpensive anyways and it's better to have too much than not enough!
Finishing:
Something I love about this canvas is that it's like two in one! You can totally stitch it up as two separate canvases- one to keep and one to share! Or, you can do what I did and stitch them as two canvases attached by a little mitten string. If you can finish an irregular shaped ornament, you can totally finish these mittens. Any ornament finisher would also be able to do it to- but maybe help them out by sharing a picture of it.
For my backing fabric, I used a piece of beautiful hand-dyed velvet from Abigail Cecile Needlepoint in a pretty shade of coral pink. Abigail Cecile Needlepoint has a plethora of the most lovely colors to choose from- I'm sure you'll find just the one you need! I love that they are sold in swatch sizes so you don't have to worry about having lots of excess fabric.
To finish, before you sew your two cookies together, attach a length of cording to the interior of the backing fabric of each set of mittens. Then, go ahead and stitch your cookies together with your clear thread. Finally, add separate pieces of cording to each mitten, like you would for a ornament, just without a loop! Don't hesitate to reach out with any questions too!
I hope you have so much fun stitching up your mittens this winter- cozy up with a blanket, a good movie, and a nice hot cup of cocoa and enjoy it!
Happy Stitching & Sailing,
Paige
