How to make vintage-inspired mittens (aka your new fave winter accessory)

Feeling cute during the fall and winter can be a challenge. Multiple layers and chilly temperatures don’t necessarily lend themselves to high fashion. Luckily, cold-weather accessories can be beyond adorable—think pom-pom topped hats, knit scarves and cozy mittens.

Get ready for cooler weather with this week’s DIY: a darling pair of vintage-inspired wool mittens. The classic shape and thick felt will keep your hands toasty, and the appliquéd hearts adds an extra touch of sweetness to the style.

Materials:

• Gray wool felt
• Red wool felt
• Gray thread
• Red embroidery floss
• Two small shank buttons (the type with a loop on the back)
• Embroidery needle
• Scissors
• Measuring tape
• Straight pins
• Piece of paper
• Ballpoint pen
• Optional: sewing machine

Craft away:

• Trace your hand onto the paper to make a mitten shape, spreading your fingers slightly to make sure you’ll have plenty of room in your finished mittens. Draw a 1-inch cuff at the bottom. Add an extra 1/2-inch all the way around the shape, excluding the cuff, and cut it out.
• Fold a piece of the remaining paper in half, and draw a 1-inch, half-heart shape along the fold. Cut out the heart.

• Trace the mitten shape four times onto the gray felt. Cut out all four shapes.
• Trace the hart shape twice onto the red felt. Cut out both shapes.

• Pin each heart to one of the mitten pieces. Make sure to pin them on pieces facing the opposite way (one with the thumb on the right, one with the thumb on the left).
• Measure out a few feet of embroidery floss and cut it, then thread the needle and knot one end of the floss.
• Stitch the hearts to the mitten pieces. Use looping stitches placed close together to give the look of a solid line.

• Place each gray piece with a heart on top of a gray piece without a heart, with right sides touching (the hearts will be facing in). Pin the pieces together.

• Stitch each pair of pieces together using the needle and gray thread or a sewing machine. Keep your stitches 1/2-inch from the edge of the felt. Leave a 1-inch stretch of felt unstitched, right beneath the thumb.
• Carefully flip the mittens right side out.
• Place each button onto a mitten, putting it on the back corner of the cuff near the unstitched edge of the felt (it will be on the opposite side of the heart). Sew both buttons in place.

• Wrap the opposite side of each cuff over each button, and snip a small buttonhole.
• Slip on your mittens, button them in place, and face the winter in style!