While planning Christmas gifts for my loved ones, I came across a sewing pattern on Etsy that really inspired me: warm wooly mittens, made from upcycled sweaters. It really seemed like the perfect Christmas gift: a labor of love, something completely unique, created from scratch for someone special. This pattern in particular has lots of great reviews and is appropriate for all skill levels. The pattern I used is the "Upcycled Wool Sweater Mitten- pdf pattern" from FibersAndTwigs on Etsy.
I have some experience sewing, although I haven't completed a project like this in years. I began this at home for Thanksgiving break, but had to bring it back to campus to finish it. Thankfully, the Shapiro Design Lab has a sewing space available for free, since my alternative was looking to buy a used one off of Facebook Marketplace.
The Shapiro Design Lab staff were extremely helpful when I ran into an issue with the sewing machine, and made it so easy to complete my project in time to exchange gifts.
My advice for anyone looking to use the sewing machine in the SDL would be to make sure you are adjusting for the changes you make to a given pattern. Especially for beginners or those without sewing experience, a detailed pattern will make things so much easier. For my project, I ended up using a thicker fabric than what they wrote the pattern for. So, the machine kept jamming, since I didn't adjust my upper thread tension accordingly. Being sure to use the right settings on the machine will not only help your project, but also keep the machine working properly.
Thanks again to the SDL staff who helped me find and fix my issue, and thank you to the Shapiro Library for hosting this space that has exactly what I needed. My boyfriend loves the mittens and I'm so excited to get back into sewing now that I know it's so accessible on campus.