DIY Fur Mittens

Heres a pretty simple way to make yourself a good sturdy pair of fur mittens. Otter and beaver is a great combo. This otter has a snare burn and the beaver has some rubs but plenty of nice fur for 2 -3 pairs of mittens.

First get some deerskin chopper shells with the seam on the outside. That is what you whip stitch the otter onto. Beef hide shells are cheaper but deerskin is so much nicer.

Trace the outline of each mitt for a pattern. Doesnt have to be perfect, just good and close. Cut the otter shorter than the whole mitten length to leave room for the strip of beaver for the cuff.

Use a glovers needle and dental floss or braided fishing line. Glovers needles have a sharp, triangular point for cutting through the tough leather.

Use fleece or wool liners and you've got some nice warm sturdy fur mittens.

Merry Christmas!

Very nice Drasselt-merry Christmas.

Cool! Been wanting to do something like that for a while

I decided to block the beaver so I wet it down and split out the leg holes, stretched it some, and pinned it down to dry. That will make cutting strips for the cuffs easier plus it will make it easier to work around the rubs. Once I stretched it the marks from the round knife at the tannery became apparent.
The otter I decided to split up each side in order to leave the silvery belly whole and the darker back intact so the fur on each mitten matches better. Otter leather is heavy enough and tough enough that there is no problem using the belly straight up. Of course a lot of critter the belly leather is too thin to hold a stitch reliably without tearing out. I'll block the otter as well.

Many thanks Drasselt. That looks almost foolproof. Should be relegated to the archives so idiots like me can find it next year (or tomorrow).

Jack

Tom,

I sure concur about using deer skin instead of cow hide for the choppers.

After it gets wet. the cow hide dries as hard as a rock. Deer skin is easy to re-soften.

Sure, there is a cost difference. But it is well worth it. Be it choppers or just gloves. It's no contest...

Pete

Pete, Absolutely!

A good way to get the pattern for the otter fur for the backs; use wax paper, plastic or some other transparent material to trace the outline. Cut the outline and staple onto some card stock (cereal box material etc). The card stock gives a stiff edge when tracing the pattern onto the otter leather with a ball point pen. Cut the leather from the inside, never the fur side, with a razor blade.

Find the centerlines by folding lengthwise. Mark the center end point on mitten and fur with ink.

A pretty good rule of thumb is allow at least twice the length in thread (floss) as the length of work being stitched together.

Line up the end center marks and get busy.

Stitch leather to leather. Make sure you get enough leather (not too close to the edge) so the stitch won't tear-out. Keep fur out of the stitch. Tight and even is the goal each stitch between maybe 1/16" to 1/8" apart.

If it's tough to get the needle through, then get it started and push it through against something like top picture.

Stitch all the way down one side then with another length of floss go back to the center starting point and stitch down the other side.

Being right handed, working down the right side is a breeze while stitching down the left side is more of a battle.

You want to work from the top center down both sides to make any unevenness come out at the bottom where it will be covered by the longer beaver fur cuffs.

I really appreciate this thread.

Thanks Jack Originally I hadn't planned to get so detailed but I'ii see it through now.

Since the beaver had some rubs that I don't want on the mittens I need to work around them so I poked through the leather with the pin from the fur side where I could see the rub.

Pictures should be self explanatory.

Of course now I can mark out the cuffs on the beaver leather and avoid the rubs.

Do you put anything on the thumbs? That's what gets cold for me on the snogo, especially the thumb on the go button.

This is great, can you show how you stitch the cuffs ? I think I know but do you stitch the beaver thru it's self on the part that butts up to the otter? How do you keep the fur out of the stitches?

Thank you for taking the time to do this tutorial and answering our questions. I've got the tanned fur to do this so I need to order the choppers and get after it.

Might be a day or 2 before I get to it.

No fur on the thumbs with these. Of course it's not as cold down here as it is up there . One of my machines, the thumb warmer works great, the other it';s kinda hit and miss; low can be too low hot too hot sometimes. My throttle thumb can cramp up when riding due to extended use even when it's not cold. Generally I'll wear gloves while tending sets then at the end of the day, when looking at a long dark cold ride back, put on the thick warm mittens and it's nice!

I deleted the correction post it wasn't necessary.

OK this is how to join two pieces. This is muskrat for a hat but the method is the same as would be used for joining the base of the otter backing with the beaver cuff. Tuck the fur down with a pencil or something and clip it with bobby pins, paper clips etc..

As you stitch pull the clips as you get to them.

For lighter skins like mink.muskrat, marten, ermine, fox etc the beading needle and beading floss are better than the glovers needles and dental floss used on the heavier leather. This applies to sewing holes in raw skins as well. The light floss and small needle hole makes for a clean repair.

Here I've marked the cuff strip out on the beaver skin. In this case it is 21/2 inches wide which is a lot wider than I normally make them. Stitch it to the otter.

This strip is cut longer than needed so I don't have to think too hard to not short myself. Carefully measure and mark the line where you want to stitch it down

Use a straight edge with a right angle when ready to trim of excess then stitch them together. Sewn like this that seam is mostly hidden once the cuff is folded over. These stitches are a bit over 1/8" but less than 1/4" for sure.

Clip then stitch.

Now we're getting somewhere! Last thing on this one is whip stitch the back end of the strip to the cuff.

Got both pairs done with a day to spare! I can't lie, it's takes some doing, but results in a nice product.

Merry Christmas!

Looking good drasselt! Seeing your thread makes me want to sew another pair up again. Those are good looking products.

Thank you so much drasselt, you've answered all my questions with your pictures. They sure look nice, whoever receives a pair of them will be very happy. I will be trying my hand at this.
Thanks again for taking the time to do this tutorial.

Bucksin chopper shell prices are all over the map and mostly high!
This is as good a price as I think you'll find. Sizes run small so go up a size anyhow.
A good roomy xl is usually a good fit for me, but with this brand a 2xl is about right. Remember you need room for a good liner.

https://deerskingloves.com

You're welcome

Thank you so much Drasselt! Very interesting. The older I get the more I appreciate stuff like this..... ANd the finished product too maybe even more so!

Getting ready to start this project. But I'm looking for the mittens that have a liner that your fingers are in separate spaces, kind of like having gloves in them. I'm not having a success finding them. Any suggestions?

Great thread, thank you drasselt. I have already used your bobby pin trick on a fur hat I am working on. Makes holding the fur in place much easier.

Yes the bobby pins are good.

upland pointer I'm not familiar with what you're looking for. I've always just used unlined choppers and fleece or wool gloves or mittens to go inside. That way you can separate them to dry.

What size Glovers needle would you suggest?

The one I like for this is pretty big. I;'m not sure the size but it's 1 3/4" long

I generally prefer the Size 4 for most leather sewing, including furs for projects like this. If the leather is thin enough, like muskrat, I will use the thinner size 8's. I purchase mine from Crazy Crow Trading Post, crazycrow.com

I also use the imitation sinew instead of waxed dental floss. If you don't want the heavily waxed thread, I would suggest nylon beading thread and use a little beeswax on it to help straighten it out. I generally double the thread when sewing.

Thanks drasselt for a great tutorial.

Thank you for the great tutorial drasselt. Just ordered a couple pairs of gloves and am going to give it a go next week.