I have rather short fingers and pretty small hands overall. I found some stretchy fake leather fabric ($7 for half a metre) at my local sewing store so I decided to make gloves instead of trying to fit into kid's ones. Here's how that went, plus instructions.
Sometimes you just gotta have elbow length gloves. Sometimes you're in a hurry! Here's how to make gloves in two hours and eight steps. Perfect for various costumes (add some claws - Catwoman!) or performances.
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1. Draw your hands! But tuck your thumb under! Try to draw your pattern on thinner paper, 'cause you need to sew through the fabric and the paper together. I used some recycled gift wrap tissue.
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2. Pin the tissue paper pattern to your fabric (I got some weird stretchy stuff that kind of looks like leather) and sew through the three layers, making sure the two layers of fabric have the right (shiny) sides together.
Also, draw a bit of extra space around the tracing of your fingers, with a "u" rather than a "v" at the base of each finger. I didn't leave very much space in my pattern because I'm using a stretchy material and I want the gloves to be pretty tight. You can't really see the "u" shapes in the picture, but you should add them! (This was my first glove so I didn't know better, the second one has "u"s and the fingers turned out much nicer).
It helps if you turn the sewing machine by hand when you go around the fingers (spin the little wheel on the side) and lift up the machine foot (with the needle still in the material or else the thread will get pulled).
3. Cut around the sewn glove and rip the paper off! Messy! Fun!
4. There is no thumb, only Zool!
Turn the glove right side out and try it on for size. Line up the side seams where you want and mark where your thumb is.
5. Well, I sort of drew my thumb and the side of my hand, and then an oval about how big I thought the base of my thumb was. I didn't actually end up using the thumb oval, I just put the glove on and cut a hole where my thumb was. Give yourself some extra space around the pattern.
6. Sew the same way as the rest of the glove. Here's the thumb piece, right side out. Again, first try, so I cut out two pieces. What works better is putting the long flat side of the thumb pattern on a fold, so you don't get a seam on one side.
7. Cut out an oval about the same size as the base of your thumb. I just started with a slit and stuck my thumb through, then cut away the excess fabric until I could move my thumb freely. Turn the glove inside out and sew the thumb piece in the thumb opening. I did this part by hand 'cause it was a bit too fiddly to do by machine.
8. Hubba hubba! :)
All in all, a pretty easy and super fun project. I started making these two hours before dress rehearsal and the only thing I had to sew later was the top hem at the elbow. The material didn't fray, so that was just the finishing touch.
