Pick up shears at the store & follow this adorable idea

Winter can be a magical time of traditions, moments with loved ones and chances to make memories. One downside, however, is the cold temperatures. A few minutes outside, and your fingers may be chilled to the bone, aching and dry, begging for some love. Mittens have long been the solution for many cold-weather lovers, and now you can have a set of beautiful, hand-crafted wool mittens.

For these mittens, we show you how to create your own pattern pieces specific to your hands. When picking your wool fabric, try to find a tight weave to keep your mittens warm and save the edges from fraying. We also recommend using pinking shears along the edges after you sew the fabric pieces together to further reduce fraying along your seams.

Materials
- Paper and pencil
- Paper scissors
- Wool fabric
- Marking tool
- Ruler
- Fabric scissors
- Straight pins
- Sewing machine
- Pinking shears

Instructions
1. Lay out the paper, and place your hand in a natural position with the palm down. Trace the general shape of your hand, and make a mark at the top of the thumb. Also, outline down your wrist a couple of inches.

2. Cut out the outline you drew twice, so you have two paper pattern pieces. Be sure to transfer the thumb mark to the opposite side, so you have a corresponding mark for each hand.

3. On one of your cutouts, place your hand palm down, lining up the top of your thumb with the mark you previously made. Then, trace around the tip of your thumb.

4. Draw a line from the middle of the outline that connects to the tracing of your thumb. Cut along this line, creating two pieces.

5. On the second tracing, use the bottom piece you cut out to trace the same line going through the mitten. Then, turn the piece upside down so the thumb is pointed toward the wrist. Cut along the line on the second tracing. These will be the pattern pieces for the palm side of each mitten.

6. You will now use your paper cutouts as patterns to cut your fabric. Lay out your fabric in two layers. Place your hand tracing and both thumb pieces on the fabric, spacing the pieces out.

7. Use a fabric marking tool and a ruler to trace the pattern pieces. With the ruler, you can measure an even seam allowance around the pieces — 1/4 to 1/2 inch is a safe amount of seam allowance.

8. Cut out your fabric pieces using fabric scissors.

9. Pin the top and bottom thumb pieces together using straight pins so you have two sets of a top and bottom thumb piece. Remember, these pieces sewn together will create a place for your thumb on each hand.

10. With a sewing machine, sew along the middle line where your thumb pieces are pinned. Trim the edge above the stitching with pinking shears, being careful to not cut the line you just sewed. Repeat with the other pinned thumb pieces.

11. With the thumb facing out, attach the back piece to the palm piece with straight pins. Sew around, watching to keep from sewing the thumb pocket along with it and leaving an opening at the bottom. Trim along the edge with pinking shears.

12. Turn your mitten right-side out. Fold up the bottom opening twice and pin. Sew around the bottom opening fold. Complete this process with the other pieces for a beautiful set of warm and cozy mittens.