Pair of Gloves is Finished

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Here's my finished pair of gloves. Unfortunately, I can't take a photo of them both together unless I'm not wearing them. Here's the front and back of the second one below.

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You can compare this glove to the First Glove here.

I made a few changes in the way I did the second one, and I like the finger shape much better. After basting and stitching the thumb and the side seam, I basted the entire rest of the glove and then went back and backstitched each basted seam. This gave me a lot more control over how the finished glove would look. When I inserted the fourchettes, I took a deeper seam allowance than the 1/8" stated because I thought the fingers were a little large and not as graceful as they could have been. I also tapered the fourchettes to a point near the top on each side and then stitched the front and back of the finger together between them. I think one will have to be a little more cautious about the size of the fingers in a woven fabric, but I still think these would be too big around otherwise.

It's also really important to very carefully shape the edges where there's a fold. You're basically making a dart with hand stitching, so you need to taper very gently.
Here's a look at the inside of a finished glove. You can see the stitching, and the iron-on marks. I imagine they'll fade, but they don't show through to the front anyway, so I don't think it's a big problem.

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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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Back Again with Gloves

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Well, here I am again, and I'm so sorry not to have kept things up to date. I can only blame myself. I have been having a little pity party here and I think I've finally decided to just move along and do what I can. I'm still unable to get to my sewing room, and I am apparently more a creature of habit and familiar surroundings than I had thought. I find myself feeling that I can't do anything until I get to the "right place" to do it. Very silly and very limiting, but innate it seems.

The wisteria has bloomed beautifully. I was so disgusted with the birds who ate about half the buds before they ever came near to opening, and as you can see below, it was a nice show, but nothing like it should have been. This was actually several days ago, and by now it's rained and the wind has blown, and the flowers are looking rather faded besides which the leaves have definitely come forth. There will be flowers throughout the season, but the first bloom, before the vine leafs out completely is always the biggest and best show.


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Back to sewing. I'm still working, slowly, on my draped knit dress, and I am pretty happy with it so far. I don't have any photos yet, but I will remedy that soon I hope. I'm still sewing it all by hand, and it's slow going, yet I am enjoying it. I'm to the point of sewing the sleeve seams, which are at the top of the arm, continuing from the shoulder seams. I haven't cut off the extra sleeve length yet, and so have my options open. I think it's going to end up being long sleeves, and then I can push them up to 3/4 if I like, which I usually do.

I had a sudden flash the other night. I was considering what handwork I should be doing, besides the knitting that's coming along well, and I suddenly recalled the glove pattern from EvaDress that I got quite recently. It's meant to be hand-sewn, with 1/8" seam allowances. What could be more perfect for my present situation? I began to read the instructions, and noted that there are many, many markings that must be transferred accurately to the fabric, and that some of the cutting is done only after completing part of the stitching. This is to control ravelling. It also said that the original pattern was actually a hot iron transfer. I thought this sounded like just the ticket, and googled around until I found that Sulky makes hot iron transfer pens. I ordered from Joggles very late on Monday and received my order today! 3 day delivery is nothing to sneeze at. Here's my loot.
Photo Link Of course I couldn't stop at just the transfer pens. I got a brown and a white. (I had wanted yellow, but it wasn't available.) I also ordered some Iris pins, some milliner's needles for the Rucci 'worms', and a yard of heavyweight buckram to test for a few things I have in the back of my mind.

I am thinking of trying a knit fabric for my first pair of gloves (said with great confidence!) since jersey is one of the recommended fabrics, along with several woven fabrics. I think dispensing with the ravelling problem while trying the pattern might be helpful. The pattern notes that these are Dressmaker Gloves, and are meant to fit rather loosely. It should be interesting. I have a pair of vintage gloves in a transparent fabric that remind me of these, and they are a little loose fitting, so perhaps that's what they are too.