Monday, March 24, 2014

Handmade Gloves

 
One of the Christmas presents I made this year was a pair of gloves for Marc. Marc has very large hands and has a hard time finding gloves to fit. I have a supply of grey fleece that I bought on clearance in the remnant rack at JoAnn which I thought would make nice warm gloves. Plus, if I screwed it up, it wouldn't be a big financial loss.
 
In my mind, gloves seemed simple enough - just trace the hand, cut two pieces and sew together. Well, that might work in a pinch, but to be really functional gloves need gussets between the fingers, and they're all different sizes.
 
 
I found this pattern online - Controlled Exposure Fleece Gloves - which was written by a man. I don't know why but I found that to be rather odd.  Apparently he is into mountain climbing and couldn't find gloves he liked so he designed his own.  The pattern was easy to follow. 


The first step is to measure the hand to determine which size to make. Then cut out all these odd-shaped pieces and try to make sense of them all. Then you pin like mad. It looked like a weird science project at that point. It's a bit tricky to manuever the small pieces through the sewing machine, and the seam allowance was only 1/8" - not much room for error.
 
Mid-way through the stitching I seriously considered throwing it all away. Then suddenly I was done and it was a functional glove. Yes I was surprised.  And then I had to make the second one.
 
They turned out soft and warm and machine washable. The fabric probably cost me all of $1.00. All in all, it was worth the trouble and I know I will make them again.