First Glove is Done

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Here's my first glove, and I think it's not bad for a very first try. I used an opaque plaid knit. I placed it on the bias, as you would for a woven fabric. It would have been fine either way, but I thought the plaid would look nicer on the bias. There are definitely some changes and refinements I will make in future, beyond what I already did.

The finger length has to be customized naturally, and one thing I've learned from this is that I have fairly small hands. My sister has such tiny little hands and wrists that I've always thought of mine as large, but apparently not when compared to the average. I had to shorten all the fingers, but the little finger was shortened a lot. I think I will shorten the length between the base of the fingers and the top of the thumb if there is a next pair. This intrigues me since I also have to shorten bodices between the shoulder and the bottom of the armscye. It seems somehow symmetrically related, although I'm not sure it really is.

This was View D, which is the plainest of the 6 views in this vintage pattern. The only difference is in the cuffs. These are just a cut-on cuff, which is nice, and I saw no reason to fuss when I was mainly doing this pair as a test.

There is a lot of handsewing in these. That may seem obvious since they're completely handsewn, but they advise you to baste the seams, then stitch them with a backstitch, then trim the seam allowances and hand overcast. I didn't overcast on these since it's a non-ravelling fabric, but it's still a lot of stitching. It really goes quite quickly though, since the seams are so short.

I'm not completely happy with the shape of the fingertips. This is a tricky part, as you're joining the front and back of the fingers as well as the fourchettes between the fingers. Just now while typing this, I realized what I need to do to make them work much better, and it's not really in the instructions. They're very vague at the point of finger closure. I have some really wonderful Italian leather gloves that are unlined, and beautifully fitted, and the fourchettes are very tapered at the top, and the front and back come together at the top by themselves. I believe I will try this method on the next one, and probably come back and change these. Live and learn.

Here's the palm side.

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Here's the inside of the glove after the thumb has been attached and the nips stitched on the back of the hand. You can see the transfer marks and the fact that the fingers have not been individually cut yet.

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