Occupational Reinforcements

Leather Palms, Skiing Mitts, Riding Gloves

We who knit feel sad when our kids and grandkids don’t think our efforts are good enough for them, or when one says, “I can’t use a mitten for riding, Nana. I have to have my fingers free.” Or, “I can’t use your mittens for skiing. They wear out where my poles rub.” Or grown-up relatives tell you, “I love the mittens you made me. Of course I can’t drive with them.” There are solutions, and they aren’t difficult — for you or for them.

Leather palms and the like

Real riding mittens and gloves, real driving gloves, real shooting gloves — that is, the ones you buy — have leather reinforcement at crucial points, and of course, that is something knitters haven’t a clue how to make, or so we think.

Leather reinforcement can make the difference between a functional garment and one simply for taking a walk on a cold day.

Leather is the usual material for palm and finger reinforcement, although some handmade cross-country skiing gloves have poplin or nylon duck palms. Do not use carwashing chamois, which is flaccid when wet, dries hard, and is too irregularly thick and thin.

Use soft, flexible leather — split calfskin, deerskin, goatskin, pigskin, or sheepskin — with the outside sur- face — the scarf skin — still on it. Plan on placing the scarf skin out, as it will wear better. If ordering from a dealer, explain that you’re making gloves to make clear the sort of skin you need.

What you need. Sewing leather to knitted socks or mittens is not hard, and you don’t have to buy pre-punched palms or soles. You do, however, have to have the right tools.

•Glover’s needle — a sharp needle with three flat sides that will pierce skin, including yours, as if it were soft butter.

•Thimble, preferably the Japanese kind that looks like a ring and fits down over the middle finger. (You can make yourself a functional leather sewing thimble from a piece of heavier leather. A little band a half-inch wide to fit over your middle finger is all you need. Sew it together with waxed carpet thread or another heavy, waxed thread.)

•Strong thread — dacron, nylon, or quilting cotton (but not monofilament fishing line!) all work well.

•Small chunk of beeswax, as waxed thread stays in place better on leather.

•Binder clips (4 or 5). You can’t pin leather together.

•Felt-tip pen. (You can’t pin paper patterns onto leather, but you can draw around the pattern directly on either side of the leather, then cut inside the line. Be sure your pattern is placed correctly

before you do this, however.

•Contact cement — the kind for paper works fine.

To sew. All reinforcements are sewn directly onto the mitten or glove with overhand stitch, using a glover’s needle. The leather is not punched. Don’t pin leather together, as pins leave indelible holes. Fasten the leather in place with binder clips if you find it slipping out of control. When sewing leather on leather, it’s okay to glue the piece in place with a little rubber cement. Use it sparingly, as it leaves a mark on leather.

Directions

Generally, you can trace around the hand, very closely, leaving rounded open areas between the fingers at tight corners. Some pieces, like the ring/little finger and index finger reinforcements on the riding gloves must be guessed at. These provide traction and protect the glove where the reins pass through the fingers, so imagine the hand in a rein-holding position and make the pieces wide enough and long enough to cover.

Cut out as many pattern pieces as you will have leather pieces. Leather can’t be folded for cutting. Spread the pattern pieces on your work surface and assemble the pieces for each hand, with thumbs pointing in the correct direction. Mark each piece “right” or “left” on top side. Be sure the top side is up when you place them on the skin.

Lay out all pattern pieces on the skin, choosing especially strong skin (close to the back, running lengthwise) for the palms and avoiding flaws on both sides of the skin. Cut out all pieces before starting to sew, and label each on the back with chalk, not marker.

Wax the thread before sewing by drawing it across beeswax several times. Waxed thread stays in place well on leather, imitating the qualities of sinew, long spun and used as sewing thread by our distant ancestors and today’s hunter/gatherers. Secure thread at both ends with a self knot (a knot tight to the stitching in the thread itself) and hide the end under the leather.

Driving gloves. Leather palms on driving gloves are for traction on the steering wheel, rather than reinforcement of the glove. Trace very closely around slightly open fingers onto paper, mark thumb crotch point, and trace heel of hand. Rotate hand on thumb crotch point until thumb points due south and trace thumb closely, ending in line with heel of hand. Cut out pattern with a quarter-inch space between fingers that ends in a semicircle at the crotch. Allow a space about a quarter-inch between palm and thumb and round off the end of this space, too.

Flatten glove or mitten, then clamp leather palm in place with binder clips. Be sure glove surface stays smooth underneath.

With glover’s needle and waxed thread, start sewing along index finger side. Leather seems to travel on knitted surfaces, so watch closely as you stitch, shifting binder clips as necessary.

Riding gloves/Riding mittens. Both riding gloves and riding mittens are doubly reinforced in places. These present the most complex sewing you will find in this book and ideally, as much as possible, should be sewn by machine, starting with sewing the thumb and palm pieces together and reinforcing them with lines of stitching across the palm. Depending on your leather, you may need a leather needle for your sewing machine. These are available at fabric stores and have the same three-sided point as a hand-stitching glover’s needle.

First, sew the palm and thumb pieces together. Sew these to the glove or mitten first. Then position, clamp or glue, and sew the index and little finger guards.

Be sure glove surface stays smooth underneath. Leather travels on knit fabric, so check frequently and adjust clips as necessary.