Tutorial: make your own gloves and recycle a dated cashmere sweater

Ok, so we all love cashmere and hate to think of tossing, even if it's a dated style, like this:

I know you're digging that baggy shape with a waistband circa 1993.  Well, this little ditty was $2 at the Salvation Army and I had just the project in mind for it when I bought it.
It's a ladies Small, 92% cashmere 8% wool.  oh so soft!  That $2 got me the lovely pair of cuffed gloves I'm about to show you, and I have probably 3/4 of the sweater left for more projects!

Step 1:  Cut off the turtle neck, waist band, or sleeve cuffs.  This is going to be for the wrist portion of your gloves.  The turtle neck is your best bet for nice long cuffs (and leaves the sleeves and waist in tact for another project), but any of these will work.




You will also want to just square off the cuff so the cut end is straight.  You could remove some length here, if desired.  I wanted to keep the cuffs as long as possible.

Step 2:  Cut the turtle neck that you just made in half.  These will soon become your cuffs.



cut the cuffs in half - go with the knitting



Step 3:  Lay the sweater out very flat, and use your hands to smooth out any wrinkles.  Trace your hand (fingers loosely together, thumb spread out a little) onto the sweater with chalk.  Cut through 2 layers at once to get 2 pieces that match = 1 glove.  Take those pieces and place them on top of the sweater in a new spot, and cut out 2 more for the other hand.  You could make a pattern on paper first but I was going for quick, easy, and avoiding wasted paper.

trace with chalk

cut a 2nd set

cut out

Step 4:  Start sewing.  I like to start with the cuffs.  Take 1 of your rectangles and fold it into your tube, with the wrong side out.  Sew up the seam.  I did a long straight stitch to ensure I had it lined up right, and then a tight zig-zag stitch to really secure it.  Trim all of your threads and any excess fabric beyond the stitches.

Step 5:  Sew the glove pieces together.  Take 2 glove pieces and put them together, wrong sides facing out.  Sew around the edges, staying as close to the edge as you can without missing both pieces.  You can trim any excess when you're finished but you don't want to take away so much that the gloves end up too small!


snip away any excess fabric after sewing together



turn it right side out and make sure there aren't any holes



glove right side out, cuff right side in



Step 6:  Attach cuffs to gloves.  Keep your gloves right side out.  Turn your cuffs inside out.  Put your fingers inside the cuff to spread it open, and use your other hand to place the glove inside the cuff, matching the edges as close as possible. 



careful to only sew through 2 layers at a time!

try it on and check to be sure seems are complete

go out in the cold and test them out!