Demonstrations>Accessories:Western European>Gloves

From pattern to hand -

The most difficult part of making gloves is not in the

construction. Nor is it in the drafting of the pattern (although
there are some surprises there). Nope... the most difficult part
of making gloves lies in choosing the proper materials and
preparing those materials. I can hear you saying to yourself,
"wait a minute... that's always been the easy part!". Well,
normally, it is. But not this time. Why, do you ask? Read on, O
Adventurous Costumer as we enter the mysterious land of the
Glover's Art. Many travelers have been lost here, so stick close!

Before we begin, I would encourage you to read through this

website: www.glove.org . This is a fantastic site put together by
Franchesca Havas. It's probably the best site on the web for
beginning and intermediate glove makers and contains great
information as well as some nice examples. In particular, she
has examples from the book Le Gant, which are historical
patterns for gloves. This can be found by clicking here.
Normally, I do not link so heavily to other websites for my
demos, preferring instead to offer you illustrations and
examples in the body of the demo itself. One of the reasons I
am doing it this time is that my search for the book, Le Gant,
has been very unsuccessful. I will get my hands on it eventually but alas, not in time for this
demo.

Brief History -

Gloves are defined in the Columbia Encyclopedia as "covering(s) for the hand with separate
sections for the fingers and the thumb, usually extending over the wrist or part of the arm".
Linen gloves were found in the tomb of Tutankhamen in Egypt and there are several instances
in the archeological record of the Bronze age that indicate that the concept of gloves was
understood and practiced. Several extant pieces have separate sheaths for fingers but these
are not well fitted.

Gloves as we know them date from approximately the 11th century. Gloves in Europe were
often richly jeweled and ornamented and were worn as a badge of distinction by royalty and by
church dignitaries. In the 12th century gloves became a definite part of fashionable dress for
the wealthy. Scented gloves, a custom that lasted until the 18th century, came into vogue at
about this time. The 16th and 17th century saw extravagantly ornamented gloves; made of
leather, linen, silk, or lace. They were often jeweled, embroidered, or ornamented with lace,
bullion, and fringe. Catherine de Médicis, queen consort of Henry II of France, made gloves for
women fashionable. Many portraits of the time show the wealthy with their gloves, either worn
or held in hand. In the Great Wardrobe of Robes of Queen Elizabeth I, there are several entries
of gifts of gloves to the Queen.
 Guilds of glove makers first made their appearance in the 12th
century. The first recorded instance of glove maker was in
Perth, Scotland, around 1165, although it is highly likely that
other glove makers existed elsewhere and probably earlier. A
guild of glove makers was incorporated in France in 1190, and
one in London around 1600.

The emphasis on gloves during the late 16th century was less
on proper fit and more on the item as an ornamental accessory.
In some ways this really surprised me but made sense. One of
my theories on clothing construction in the late sixteenth century is that the techniques for
fitting around such a dynamic portion of the body had not been completely discovered yet.
Tailors at this time are still having problems with sleeve heads and understanding as well as
using bias. In other words, don't be discouraged if your first set of gloves doesn't fit all that
well. Additionally, I would encourage you to buy some yardage of polyester felt or wool felt
(which ever you can lay hand to) and make a mockup from that material first, before cutting
into your leather/silk/linen. I found it extremely helpful to make a set of gloves from felt (it has
stretch and non-stretch properties) and I got a real sense of where trouble spots would occur.
It doesn't take all that long to make up a glove - I can make up one in about three hours...
completely hand sewn (remember that I loath hand sewing). Speaking of hand sewing... this
demo is done entirely by hand. There will be areas that you will probably see opportunity to use
a machine; go for it. Do whatever works for you.

Choosing The Materials -

Leather, Silk, Linen or Velvet... Oh, the agony of choice! I made

my mockup out of wool felt and it was really fun. It went
together like a dream. Felt behaves rather like leather, which
was why I choose felt with which to make the mockup.
However, when it comes to accessories, I like decadence. And
nothing says decadence like velvet... which is what I choose to
make the gloves for this demo. Nothing ravels or behaves as
badly as velvet either. While I did not ultimately make a set of leather gloves for this demo, I
will describe the process - which is a bit different from fabric. I will also describe the thought
and work process for various types of fabric. In the end, if you are at all trepidatious, leather is
easier to work with. If you're even close to the edge of insanity, go for the velvet! If you're not
feeling all that adventurous, go for leather.

When choosing a leather, look for something with a smooth, even grain that is somewhat thin.
When choosing a fabric, look for a fabric with a tight, even weave to it. If you are like me, and
absolutely must have velvet, choose instead a velveteen that is tightly woven. The expense is
really worth it. Gloves don't take a great deal of fabric so don't be tempted to cut corners by
getting cheap fabric... you'll regret it.

Preparing The Materials -

Leather requires some working *before* you cut out your gloves. Leather has a grain and the
greatest amount of stretch in leather is across this grain. Therefore, the grain line should run
parallel with the fingers so that the stretch is across the knuckles, where it is most required.
The next most critical step in using leather is to determine if it needs stretching *prior* to use.
This is really important. If you have very stretchy leather and make your gloves from it without
stretching it out beforehand, you'll end up with gloves that are baggy after being worn for a bit.
Stretch is desirable. Controlling that stretch is the trick. The best way to do this is to take the
leather in hand and tug at it. Observe how stretchy it is and if it bounces back after you stretch
it out or not. If it is particularly stretchy, you'll need to do some prep work with it. Get it wet
and then stretch it first with the grain. Stretch until it will not stretch any more. Let it dry. Wet
it down again and stretch it this time across the grain but do not stretch it completely out. It
does need a bit of stretch here. Let it dry again and proceed with cutting out your glove
pattern.

Fabric, especially even weave fabric, has very little stretch to it - either with or across grain.
There is very little prep work required here except to pre-wash. It is really important to pre-
wash if you intend to ever wash your gloves. Gloves fit tight. Any little bit of shrinkage and your
gloves will not fit at all.

Making The Pattern -

This is the part that I found particularly fascinating. I have included a somewhat modified
'period' pattern and a modern pattern. The gloves for this demo are made from a period pattern
but my mockup was made using a modern pattern. There is not too much difference between
the two but I wanted to get comfortable with a pattern I knew would work before jumping into
a pattern that I did not know much about. In this instance, I advise approaching this as I did -
start with a modern pattern and then, after one or two sets of gloves, tackle the period pattern.
Additionally, and I cannot stress this enough, make at least one mockup of both!

Please pay special attention to the differences in the period

thumb pattern and the modern one. It's subtle but it's there.
The period thumb is somewhat lopsided and this is done on
purpose! My first thumb was symmetrical and when I inserted
it, I had an unsightly wrinkle on the top of the thumb where it
meats the hand.

If you are using leather, use the size pattern that you have
determined is needed. If you are using fabric, go up one size.
The reason for this is that you'll be needing a somewhat larger
seam allowance for fabric. More on that below.

Finding a good modern pattern can be somewhat difficult.

There are a number of places on the internet that can be useful
but be careful when choosing a pattern. Make sure that it is a
dress glove pattern, not a work glove pattern.

Finding a good period pattern is impossible. Making your own

pattern can be fun, however...
The first thing you want to do is put your hand down on a piece of paper as shown above. Trace
around it but do not trace tightly. Hold the pencil or pen straight up and down as you trace so
that you don't run your tracing line under your fingers or hand. Once this is done, take a ruler
or straight edge and true up the lines. Make sure that your finger slits are running exactly
parallel with the edge of the paper.

Now make a mirror image of your pattern on another piece of paper and tape the two together.
At this point there is no front or back. This piece is called the 'trank'. Once you have done all of
the above, take your straight edge or ruler and run a line down the middle of the index finger of
one side. On this same side, mark where your wrist line is. Now it is time to measure out where
your thumb hole should be.

In the photo to the right, place your hand back down on the
pattern and put dots to indicate where your thumb base, web
and knuckle are. Notice that the line down the center of the
index finger is used at a point of reference. Once you have
those three dots, move your and and make a corresponding
fourth dot directly across from the knuckle dot.

Draw an oval using the dots as points of reference. Draw in the

thumb gusset and make it no longer or shorter than the center
of the oval. This gusset is fairly important as it makes it
possible for the thumb to have much greater mobility. At this
point, your pattern should look similar to the one on the left.

Making the thumb piece pattern is a bit tricky. To start, fold a piece of paper in half and put
your thumb on the fold making sure that the fold runs parallel to the side of the index finger
and to the wrist. Draw around your thumb. Open up the paper and draw a mirror image of your
pattern on the other side. Remember to hold the pencil straight up and down while tracing and
give yourself a little bit of room.

Once you've done the above, your pattern should look similar
to the photo to the right. Also, please notice that I have shaved
off just a little bit on one side of the thumb base. The reason I
have done this is that, when I made my mockup, my thumb
pattern was symmetrical. When I set it into the hole, there was
a bulge of fabric on the top of the hand where the thumb seam
joined to it. I determined that the thumb pattern should have
just a little less fabric on this edge. After looking at a few
period gloves and at the modern pattern, I found that this was
also done in both modern and period thumb pieces.

This is where it becomes crucial to make a mockup to test the fit of this thumb piece into the
trank of the glove. Mathematically, there is a way to match these up on a paper pattern but I
am not mathematically inclined. For me it is much, much easier to simply make a mockup and
test the fit on that.
 After the thumb piece comes what is known as the 'forechettes'
or lengthwise pieces for between the fingers. This piece is
pretty easy to make. Fold a piece of paper again and put it
between the index finger and middle finger as shown in the
photo to the left. It is crucial to make sure that the fold of the
paper is riding directly on the webbing between the fingers.
Notice the angle that it is sitting on. This is also an important
part of making the forechette. Once you have it where it needs
to be, simply trace around the index finger and add just a little
bit at the top to make the forechette as long as the middle
finger. Take a pair of scissors and cut out the pattern while the piece of paper is still folded.

Viola! Your forechette pattern. In looking at the modern

pattern, the angle is pretty much the same. Modern
forechettes, however, are all cut separately and sewn together
on that angle before being sewn into the trank. In looking at
period gloves, there appears to be a considerable difference in
the shape of forechettes from time period to time period and
from country to country.

Now, one last little thing... but it's important!. Going back to your trank pattern, you will notice
that your palm side slits for the fingers and the back of the hand slits for the fingers are the
same length. Take your forechette and fold it back together. Using the folded angle, measure
and lengthen the back of the hand slits for the fingers. This serves to accommodate the knuckle
and webbing that we just measured the forechettes to accommodate.

Because I am paranoid, I measured these just a little less than

the actual length of the fold. If they are too short, I can always
cut them a bit more later, while sewing. If I cut them too long,
I will find out during the sewing in of the forechettes and that is
a bit too late. Measure out and lengthen all the slits on the back
of the hand side of the trank.

Lastly, I found it interesting to compare and contrast a modern

pattern with a period one.

Cutting Out -

Here's where you'll get bogged down a bit if you chose fabric instead of leather. In order to
prep the fabric so that it will not fray to pieces at the first wearing, you will need to stop that
fraying before it starts. In period, this was done through the use of Gum Arabic. I've got some,
have used it, and it's good stuff. But it does wash out. So I advise either Fray-Chec or Fray-No-
More. Fray-Chec is found at most huge fabric stores. It's a clear liquid and goes on easily. If
you can't find Fray-No-More, it's the next best thing but it does make the edges of the fabric
'crunchy' and somewhat unpleasant to have next to the skin. As long as your gloves are not
super tight, this should be ok. Fray-No-More can be found at Fred Meyer's (a one-stop shopping
store here in the Northwest US). It looks more like a white glue and behaves much more like
Gum Arabic. It does not leave the edge of the fabric as 'crunchy' as Fray-Chec.
Once you've got all your pieces cut out, you'll need to run Fray-Chec or Fray-No-More or Gum
Arabic around every single edge and let it dry before moving on. I really hated this part; I've
got no patience. Also, as a word of caution, whether you are using leather or fabrics - DO NOT
cut between the fingers yet. The biggest reason for this is that, as you are sewing along, all
those dangly fingers will be hard to work around. If you are using fabric, this gives them a
chance to start fraying.

Pay special attention to the method of cutting out forechettes from fabric. Since fabric does not
have the stretch qualities across grain that leather does, that stretch has to come from
somewhere! I chose to cut my forechettes on the bias, to accommodate this need for stretch.
Leather forechettes are cut on grain. To cut the forechettes, the fold of the forechette is placed
on the straight of grain if the glove is being made in fabric or leather. This means that the
forechettes will be cut on the bias of the fabric which is important for that stretch.

Construction -

I actually enjoyed hand sewing these gloves together. I would

advise, however, if you are thinking of embellishing your gloves
at all, to do so before you sew them together. This is to
facilitate the embellishment by allowing the glove to lay flat
and open while you are working on it. The photo to the left
shows the trank and thumb piece, already treated with Fray-
No-More and ready to be sewn together. The cuff has been
lined and the edges bound so that the back of the embroidery
won't show.

The first thing to go together is the thumb piece. In modern gloves, the thumb is set into the
hole first and then sewn up to the tip. I found this method awkward in a period pattern and
chose to sew from the top down and then set the thumb in to the hole. The photo directly
below shows the gusset of the trank inserted into the thumb piece.

Once you've got the thumb in, it's time to move on to the
fingers. At this point, you can cut out between the index finger
and the middle finger - but leave the others for later. Insert the
forechette on the palm side first - meaning that you will sew
the forechette to the palm side slit first and then to the back
side of the trank. Start from the tip of the index finger, sew
down along the palm side slit and back up to the tip of the
middle finger and then around the back side slit. Once this is
accomplished, you can move on to the next slit and so forth,
cutting each as needed until you are finished. You may need to
cut down the forechettes for the other two sets of fingers
because the forechette was made to the measure of your two
biggest fingers. What I did was to match the forechette to the slit, starting at the bottom and if
it needed clipping, I did that before starting the sewing.

Because I used velvet and decided to have the seams to the inside, I had to turn the fingers. In
order to make things easy at the end, I decided to turn each finger as it was completed. With
leather, if you decide to have seams on the outside, this is not an issue. If you decide to lap the
edges one over the other as is often done with fine modern gloves, this is also not an issue.

If you decided to use a modern pattern, you will need to sew

your sets of forechettes together prior to inserting them. With a
period pattern, the forechettes are cut as one.

After all the fingers are done, you can sew down the side and
finish the glove.

The size of your stitches is pretty important. Make them small

and even and make sure to give yourself the required amount
of seam allowance so that things done ravel from stress. If you are making these gloves up in
leather, you may want to do some practice stitching first to get the length of stitch and
evenness of the stitch down. Leather, once punctured, does not heal! Fabric, at least, is a little
more forgiving in this regard. The photo to the left shows the stitching on the thumb piece
where it has been set into the trank.

Embellishment -

Gloves in period were embellished in the same ways and means

as other pieces of clothing. Embroidery, lace, and fringe are all
found on period examples. Some of the best examples and
close-up pictures of them can be found in Fashion in Detail. I
took the embellishment pattern for my velvet gloves straight
from a set found in this book. Pictures of a couple of the gloves
in this book, including the one I took my inspiration from, can
be found by clicking here. This particular site is courtesy of Nicole Kipar and it's got some great
photos on it. The photo to the right shows the embellishment on my cuff before I started
sewing the glove together. For even more ideas on period embellishment, I highly recommend
visiting the website of the Costume Museum of Bath. They currently have a collection of gloves on
loan from the Worshipful Company of Glovers of London.

Annotated Bibliography -

For further reading and glove making fun I suggest the following:

Threads Magazine, No. 19, Oct./Nov. 1988. "Handmaking

Leather Gloves" by Jan Faulkner-Wagoner.
(This is the best article on making modern gloves that I've
found so far)

Making Your Own Gloves, by Gwen Emlyn-Jones. Charles

Scribner's Sons, NY 1974

The Art of Sewing; Novel Materials, Time-Life Books, 1974

http://www.glove.org by Franchesca Havas