Regency: Mitts!

Mitts are neat.  After making the crocheted fingerless gloves last week, I decided I needed some longer, fabric ones.  You see them a lot in 18th and early 19th century costumes; they show up again later at various points in the Victorian ages, and are popular even now as crocheted and knitted "wrist warmers."  I’ve seen several Regency sets around the internet on museum site and on other blogs, and Fanny Dashwood wears black mitts to the wedding with her gorgeous half-mourning lavender outfit in Sense & Sensibility: 

Here are some extant mitts I found on various museum websites: 

Blue leather mitts, late 18th century or early 19th, Boston MFA

Embroidered/bejeweled mitts, early 19th century, MMOA

The first pair I made are a little wonky. I used the remainder of the green embroidered (polyester) taffeta fabric that I used for my green reticule. The fabric is very stiff, so they don’t conform well to my hands (even though they were cut on the bias), and the edges stand out a bit. I made these entirely by hand the other day when my power was out due to the ice storms: 

My second pair is made of cotton voile, very light and sheer, and they hug my hand very well. They were also cut on the bias, and this time I made them as tight as I dared. I made these a little longer, and re-shaped the hand and elbows a bit to correct those protruding edges. I sewed these on the machine with little tiny French seams, because of the way this fabric frays; and finished them by hand. I love the sheerness of the fabric here; I’m always secretly pleased when you can see my tattoos through my frilly white Regency things, hehe. 

You’ll notice I didn’t put any actual thumbs into this pattern  I admit to being a little afraid of them. Working with such tiny pieces and tight spaces is hard for my hands, and to be honest, I’m okay with just thumb holes. 

Because it cracks me up, I’d like to show you the paper pattern I made for these once I had them fitted properly: 

Don’t worry, there are no Cowboys fans in this house,  or even any football fans. I bought this paper as a gag to wrap a birthday gift in for a friend who hates the Cowboys, many years ago, and as I am currently out of pattern paper, well, you see what happened.  Wrapping paper is *horrible* for patterning, as it rips very easily and wants to curl, but you gotta make do where you can sometimes.