Easy Glove Tutorial

This is a tutorial for anyone afraid of sewing costume gloves for the first time or just looking for a fast, easy way to make gloves that don't need to be so seam-intensive. This tutorial is not the best way to make gloves, just the fastest. I use this method in a lot of costumes and think the simplicity lends itself just fine to comic characters. Best fabrics to use are 4-way stretch knits (spandex, vinyl), definitely not wovens.

TUTORIAL:

Did I say easy? Yes, I meant it.

1. Trace your hand onto some paper.

Do yourself a favor and spread them out a bit more than I did in the picture below, you'll want a bit more room than that. After tracing it, draw around that line a bit wider, you are 3-dimensional after all.

Here I didn't want a seam on the outside of my wrist so I adjusted the pattern so it could be cut on the fold. This is entirely optional, but if you want to do it, just slash at the wrist and move the paper until you achieve a straight line, then tape it down.

2. Cut a large rectangle of fabric. Cut 2 for each glove, one if you are using the modified pattern.

3. Iron-on tear-away! That stuff I use in every stretch tutorial. Iron it onto the wrong side of each piece of fabric. Put your fabric together, right sides facing, sandwiched in between the tear away.

4. Trace pattern onto the tear away with a pencil.

5. Sew on the line. Don't close the wrist.

6. Peel off all the tear-away!

7. Trim the rectangle of fabric into small seam allowance along the sewn line.

Reminder: spread your fingers open more than I did in the picture! Why? These are vinyl and do not stretch as much as spandex, but even still you want to give yourself a bit more room & not cut off circulation to your fingers.

I've had some problems with vinyl gloves tearing at seams so I stabilize the areas under the most pressure with some fabric glue. This doesn't happen as much in spandex, as long as you aren't too careless with your gloves.