Fleece Muff

It's a fleece muff that can double as a clutch purse.

I think it's pretty darn awesome.  My husband, on the other hand, had zero idea what it was.  After I finished making it, I got all decked out in my winter gear and then paraded around the apartment showing off the muff.

I marched up my beloved, lifted my newest creation up for his inspection, and said "Look what I made!"

He looked at it.  Then looked at me.  Puzzled.  "What is it?"

"It's a muff" I say.

"It's a what?  A muff???"

I'm not going to repeat everything he said after that.  Suffice to say, it was the kind of monologue I'm expecting to hear from my boys in a few years when they hit their obnoxious teenage years.  But I will admit to being immature enough to crack up plenty over his commentaries and suggestions for titles for this post.

So, just in case there's anyone else reading this who doesn't know what a muff is....

A muff is simply a tube made from warm material for covering the hands.

I was at the fabric store searching for a thin polar fleece to use to line my knit hats.  Instead, I happened upon this super thick and fluffy charcoal fleece.  I couldn't resist.  Had to buy some.

Way too nice to use for lining.  I decided it would make a fantastic muff instead.  It would be the perfect thing too keep my hands warm during all those freezing cold afternoons in the park that I have to endure while my kids run off some of their energy.

To make it even more functional, I added a hidden zippered pocket big enough to hold my phone, keys & wallet.

Now, lucky for me, I had my sewing instructor-extraordinaire (Nasya) to walk me through this project.  But if you'd like to try this yourself, here's the link to the muff tutorial we referred to.

I used the fleece for both the exterior and the lining of the muff.  I also put in 2 layers of polyester batting and sandwiched a zippered pouch in the middle.  I will tell you straight up that sewing the invisible zipper in was scary.  Had to use a special invisible zipper foot which is not the same as the standard zipper foot.  Sewing any kind of zipper in still makes me break out in a cold sweat.  But I think invisible zippers are my current nemesis.  So the hidden pocket part was a little tricky.  As was sewing through all those thick layers.  But the rest of the project was fairly straightforward.

Used the new fleece muff at the park yesterday.  It was still freezing out there.  But at least my hands were cozier. 

By the way, I'm not finished with making muffs yet.  While I was sewing mine in fleece, Nasya was making one with faux fur.  Talk about cool.  You know I'll have to try that out next... stay tuned...