Sewing Tips on doll gloves?

oh my gosh, been there, making gloves is a painstaking task, not to mention difficult, I had to make some gloves once (human-sized), which were for hunting, and the worst part is that they were for my father so the only reference I got was his traced hand in a paper sheet and that's that, we didn't live together and he trusted my sewing skill and I was confident at the time so I didn't ask him to stay around to make some testing first, and the fabric was something he brought me, very specific camouflage pattern, and there was just enough for one pair of gloves. It was a nightmare, and the pattern was something I took from google but also have to improvise a bit, and remove any delicate features, here is the guide: Exploring How to Make Gloves from Scratch - The Shapes of Fabric

Sewing the part of the fingers is the worst, I can't imagine how is going to be for those little fingers. I think you can use cross-stitch rings to expand the fabric, paste the pattern, and try to sew some parts

 

I made three or four pairs of gloves for my 62cm and 67cm dolls in the past, using a pattern meant for either 1:6 action figures or fashion dolls resized to fit the larger dolls, I found on a Japanese doll customizer's blog a million years ago. The pattern was for formal gloves similar to the ones you have up there, including fourchette and thumb pieces which I did make for the first pair but then skipped for the other pairs (because I am lazy, don't know how to sew and I suck at it!). I used black PVC for all of those. I did try making them for 1:6 figures and a 15" BJD, but I gave up; it was just plain torture (although, incredibly talented people do make them for 1:6 action figures, I own a few pairs of them; very well made and realistic for actual 1:6 figures and not 30cm toddler/baby BJD -- I just don't have the skill nor patience). My only recommendation as someone who sucks profusely as sewing is, thin fabrics that won't fray are your best bet for gloves. I would also recommend sewing, instead of gluing, if you want them to last any amount of time, rather than just for a few photoshoots. But that's just me, if I am bothered to torture myself sewing something when I suck at it, I want it to last for a while, even if it's terribly done. Rather than fall apart at the seams and do it the "quick and easy way." I'll try to find the pattern, in my files, but I doubt I still have it somewhere -- it's from at least twenty or more years ago. Hope that helps. (:

Here are some of the gloves I made. Very clear and easy to see the details because I clearly don't suck at photography and lighting as well as sewing:






If your doll is smaller, depending on its proportions you can try modifying 1:6 scale gloved hands for them to wear as well, here's my 15" BJD I mentioned above, that I gave up on making gloves for with 1:6 action figure hands:

 

Honestly I’d rather get a pair of spare hands and paint/sculpt on them…

 

Random thought on how to do this, try looking into cloth art dolls, I know that at first sounds odd. However I have gotten books on making cloth art dolls from my local library a few times. Many have patterns for making your own, and some of them are in 1/3rd scale and of those some have individual figures. You might be able to take and edit a pattern for a hand into a glove. Then with a little more work resize it to the hand of your doll. It's a thought anyway.

I looked up cloth dolls for a big BJD project of mine, I am making some of the characters from the Oz books, and like a dork I wanted the realism of making the Scarecrow and Patchwork Girl as actual cloth dolls. (The Scarecrow is done, Patches is in her name sake >.>)

 

*Looking at the reference photo* You want a strip going up and down both sides of each finger??? I was going to suggest using a centimeter tape measurer to aid you in drafting a front-back mirrored type of pattern (2 piece maximum) and maybe use a stretch fabric. But I don't know how to go about a super small multiple piece garment.

 

The two times I've done this my results were less than perfect, but passable imo. I traced out the hand onto the fabric-- white pantyhose for one pair I did long ago and a very thin shiny black stretch knit for the more recent pair. I did a front and back for the four fingers and a single piece to be folded to encompass the thumb.

Then I stitched them inside out, onto the hand, ever so slightly too large to accommodate the added bulk of the seam allowance once turned. Added benefit, you can carefully trim the excess fabric as you go if you found you cut the pieces too big.

They turned out just a little lumpy, mainly where the seam allowance doesn't know how to lie, but I also neglected to add darts like in your photo to reduce the volume in the back of hand area. I would have done either a blanket stitch (hope that's right) or what I think is called a back stitch to ensure the end result still had a bit of stretch. (Not going to take them off the doll's hands to look, turning them and scootching them onto his fingers was very fussy. )

As another option if it will work for you, I have seen several people buy jointed hands to give the appearance of gloves. Every time it was black, which is definitely more forgiving when it comes to spotting the joints or non-cloth texture, but with a flesh coloured wrist ball segment I think it works. Resinsoul I believe does colour requests and their jointed hands are very reasonably priced, but they do run small.

 

Another random project thought, if you have the money. As some have said buy extra hands, but instead of painting them glue fabric to them to fake the look of gloves.

 

Saving this thread. I've been trying with the idea of trying to make removable gloves, I just don't like the look of painted hands lol, but it's always intimidated me so much. Loads of ideas here that make it seem almost manageable!

 

For gloves like these, where the skin is entirely covered, I really like the suggestion above of buying extra hands and just glueing/sewing fabric on the outside. You could probably even make hands using wire and epoxy clay and then cover them with fabric.

Now, if you want them to fit on jointed hands so the fingers can move, that probably eliminates the "buying/making hands with permanent gloves" route. But honestly, if I were tackling this project, I would start by making them exactly like a human pair of gloves, and then see how I could improve from there. A fabric turning tool will probably be essential - I've seen them available at Amazon and elsewhere. That will help you pull the fingers right-side out after sewing.