DIY Gauntlet Gloves

Beloved Emcee and costume goddess Cora Vette, owner of Denver’s one stop burlesque shop VaVa Vette, gives us the lowdown on how to create your own custom fashions.

I am turning 40. There, I said it. I have to say, I feel pretty damn good about it! This is about the time when many women start lying about their age. I thought about it, and decided, damn, I’m fabulous and 40. Why would I not want people to know? A friend of mine put it this way: You spend your 20’s screwing up, your 30’s figuring out who you are, and by 40, you have arrived. If this is true, then, I guess I am a creative person who is just a bit crazy and I like it. So there, I will be 40.

I will be spending my 40th birthday at BurlyCon in Seattle. BurlyCon is an annual Burlesque Educational convention and we will there vending some ready to purchase VaVaVette creations all weekend. I figured, what better way to ring in a new decade of burlesque awesomeness than to spend it with fellow burlesquers?

To celebrate my birthday, I decided that I will spend the entire weekend at BurlyCon in leopard print. You know the poem “When I am an old woman I shall wear purple”? I decided that for me it will be “When I grow older I shall wear leopard”. It just seems a little more fun.

So, on to my latest D.I.Y. article: Gauntlet Gloves (leopard of course).

Gauntlet gloves are TONS easier than full fingered gloves and can be whipped up in under a half hour! All you need is some stretch fabric and a sewing machine with a zig zag stitch. For this D.I.Y I used a small scrap of leopard stretch fabric that I had left over from a dress.

Step 1) Fold your fabric, and (without cutting on the side that is folded) cut a rectangle about 17.5 inches long by 5.5 inches wide tapering to a point at around the 15 inch mark. You can actually make these any length, but I like 17.5 to start because it makes a nice over the elbow glove.

Step 2) Cut away a portion of the glove in an arc to narrow the pattern for the wrist area. Experiment with this to find what is best for your own personal fit.

Step 3) Unfold. Your raw piece should look something like this.

Step 4) On the wrong side of the fabric, turn under a hem on the top edge 3/8 inch and use a stretch stitch finish the top. My machine has a special stretch stitch, but any old zig zag will do.

Step 5) Do the same hem on the bottom of the glove. When you reach the middle, turn it again creating a point, pin it in place, and continue the rest of the seam.

Step 6) With the right sides together, stitch the length of the glove in a 5/8 inch seam, or more or less based on your needs.

Step 7) Trim the seam allowance and turn it right side out. Repeat these steps for the other glove. That’s it! You can leave the gloves as is, or, (as I do) sew a loop of elastic at the point to slip over your middle finger to hold it in place.

That’s it! Happy sewing and look for me in these at BurlyCon! I’ll be wearing leopard…

xoxo Cora Vette

www.CoraVette.com

Want more from Cora? See: DIY Shrug, DIY Shimmy Belt, DIY G-String, Buying Vintage Patterns, DIY Pencil Skirt

 

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