A Good Steward: the too-thin oven mitt

I repair many household objects, not because I can't afford to replace the items, but because fixing what I already have is much less wasteful, and that makes me feel good. Case in point, our oven mitts had become too thin for comfort in key spots. I only spent $1 each for these mitts (at Dollar Tree), so I know I could replace them cheaply. But I just don't want to throw an item away that could be repaired for free, and in just a little time.

I used some scraps of fleece fabric, leftover from making baby clothing 23 years ago, and assorted thread in colors as close to the sage green of the exterior of my oven mitts.

I turned each oven mitt inside out. I traced around the outside of the mitt on large scraps of fleece, then cut along those trace lines. Using my sewing machine, I sewed the fleece to the inside surface of the mitt, using a tight zig zag stitch along the original seam line of the mitt, sewing through the fleece and both parts of the mitt. I only stitched the sides and fingertip area of the mitt, leaving the opening edge free of stitching, at this point. Then, I turned the mitt right side out, and carefully stitched the fleece to the mitt, along the opening edge, attaching fleece to only one part of the mitt (so as not to close the mitt with stitching).

Due to the limited room inside the existing oven mitt, I only attached fleece to one half of the mitt. For the second mitt, I attached the fleece to the opposing side of the mitt, giving me a left and a right-handed oven mitt. My family now knows that to use these mitts they must put the palm of their hand against the new fleece lining, to get the benefit of additional lining between hand and hot baking dish.

It's not a perfect sewing job, but the mitts can now be used again.