Hand-Stitched Oven Mitt

Well, after listing all the hand-stitching projects I had going, I've been focusing on a couple in particular, and lo and behold, I have a finish! 

After taking a Hand Stitched Oven Mitt workshop with Aaron Sanders Head and Tatter late last week, I was pretty excited to keep working on my mitt. I'd made good progress in class, but still had more stitching to do (read: enjoy) before construction began.

My main fabric was EssexHomespun in Scarlet, stitched with Wonderfil #8 perle cotton. I was a bit concerned about piecing the mitt by hand, considering all those layers, but it worked wonderfully. The embroidered stars are my favorite, though it was fun to try the tortoiseshell stitch as well on the back of the mitt. Aaron said it was important to do at least some stitching on both sides of the mitt to keep the layers from shifting.

And then it was time to stitch the two halves together! I was most concerned about this part! With the exterior fabric plus a layer each of batting and Insul-Brite, it was pretty thick!

But it all worked out great! And when I turned it right-side-out, the area between the thumb and fingers turned out pretty smooth, which was another concern. The mitt is lined, and I finished it all off with a running stitch to keep the main mitt and the lining in place. All in all, this was a really fun project, and don't be surprised if one of these days, I make another.