Experimenting with Gloves

Yesterday I alluded to the fact that I have several projects that are not yet finished.  Here is one I've been wanting to share all summer but haven't quite finished yet.

Some of us don't react well to the sun, our skin taking damage, burning fairly easily, and for me this also means losing patches of pigment. It not dangerous but I'd prefer not to lose any more if I can. Every summer, even if I avoid the sun in general, I notice my hands get a lot of sun just from driving back & forth to work or running errands.  So I thought I'd make some gloves to remedy that.

 

I needed a pattern to start from and I had these old gloves that one of my grandmothers had given me years and years ago. They needed some tweaks to be able to fit better: deeper divisions between fingers, a little wider. The key for me though, was that the thumb fit really well.

I didn't want to be overwarm while protecting my skin from the sun's rays so I found this netting and cut my glove pattern out of that.

 

While the main body and fingers were easy enough to stitch up with the machine, I had to sew the thumb gusset on by hand as it is such an unusual shape.  I actually stitched it while wearing the glove to make sure to get the shape correct.

 

As you can see, it has enough give for me to comfortably make a fist and therefore I should be able to drive in them.

Now for the fun part :)

I cut scales out of a scrap of blackout fabric (like you use for curtains) and stitched them down to the netting.

 

At this point I actually have one glove 90% done, but I stopped work on it to prepare for GenCon and haven't had time to get back to it.  I love the technique, how it is turning out, and have some ideas for expanding on this idea for other items of clothing.

Hope your week is going well.