Dollar Store Microfiber Mitt Makeover

I love to walk through the Dollar Store for inspiration. There's always something there that I can play around with and the prices are fabulous! So I nearly squealed with joy on my last trip when I saw the "Store Closing Everything 20% - 60% Off" sign. (There are enough in the area that I wasn't crushed that this one is closing.)  It was awesome. I bought Christmas plates (3/$1) for the neighbor gifts at Christmas, a few pots for the garden, wrapping paper, some things for camping and my husband got some things too.

But these were my most random and most inspired find:

What is it you ask? It's a Microfiber Mitt! It practically jumped off the shelf into my cart. OK really what happened is it was a huge display and I was drawn to the color and texture. Who can help it. Those fuzzy fingers are just so intriguing and wacky. And you won't believe how incredibly soft they are! My 8 1/2 month old freaked out when he saw me holding it. Oh boy did he want it. So I bought a whole bunch. They were originally marked for $1.79 but I don't even think I was charged $1 for them.

So I got home with the plans to make a soft baby block out of a few of them. But then I thought the fingers reminded me of a Hedgehog. Can you see it?

I unpicked the entire mitt.

(Note how the fingers all lay in one direction - I made sure to cut out the body so that 

I searched for patterns and loosely based mine on this pattern from LollyChops. I made it smaller, and split up the head and back, using the front and back of the mitt. I also cut the back from one piece so I had less sewing to do. Here are the steps:

1. Cut the pattern out. You can download it here or click on the image below to download it.

2. Fold darts right sides together and sew. I cut the fingers that would be tucked inside the dart away to minimize bulk.

3. Fold the body right side together, again I trimmed away excess fingers, or just pulled them out to avoid bulk.  Sew everywhere but the opening for the head. Zig-zagg the raw edges. Clip and trim the rounded areas so they lay nicely. Pull it all right side out, push on the seams to make sure it was all smooth.

4. For the Head: Right sides together, sew all but the opening to the body. Clip seams, trim excess and turn right side out. Smooth seams.

5. Draw or apply eyes and smile. (Now is the best time in order to match up both sides.) I used a black Extra Fine Permawriter Permanent Marker. Next time I'm going to try making felt eyes.

6. Stuff the head and body almost full. I had to pull a little of the stuffing from the head and stuff it back in later.

7. Hand stitch the head to the body, filling it all the way once the head is almost completely on.

I handed this to my baby and he squealed in delight. The texture has him raptured. Then I took it away for a second to show my husband. Screams of protest ensued until his new Hedgehog was returned!

As if that's not enough, there was enough left-over fabric to make one of these. I'll post a picture later today.

AND there's still the left-over elastic band to use. I have an idea for this. But no time to make it yet as my nephew is visiting! I'll have to save this for another post!

It reminds me of a sports cuff, and it's the perfect size, so I could just wear it as is.

There's also the GREEN mitt to play around with. I'm going to try something like this.