Let’s Make Fingerless Gloves!

In this post, I provide three sets of instructions for making Fingerless Gloves. 1) Made with socks, 2) Made with upcycled sweaters, 3) Made with material. I have also included a pattern for you to download and a You Tube video showing the construction of the gloves made from socks. Scroll to the bottom to view each set of Instructions.

One of my favorite things to do is reuse materials in my projects & crafts. Lately, I have been working with previously used sweaters and t-shirts from the thrift store and my serger. I happen to have a love/fear relationship with my serger.

I learned to sew as a young teenager from my mom and also in Home Ec class in high school. I have loved the ability to create something out of basically nothing! My mom was a seamstress and made many of the clothes that my 3 sisters and I wore as children. She used to create matching outfits for us; she even sewed our swimsuits and some of our undies! She bought her Singer sewing machine in 1959. I learned to sew on it & it still sews perfectly! Mom never owned a serger so I did not learn how to use one.

For my current project, since it involves stretchy material, I needed to use a serger. I bought my serger 2nd hand from a gal who had upgraded to a newer one. She didn’t have the manual but I found one online. I was a bit shocked at the price of $35 but I have used it a lot so it has definitely paid for itself! Do you have a serger? They are sooooo tricky to thread! My serger has been sitting on a shelf for a long time….so long that is was all dusty when I moved it to my work table.

Like I said, I have a bit of fear when it comes to using it. Most of that fear comes from not really understanding how it works and how to use it correctly. To fix that situation, I finally took some training via You Tube! I now have the knowledge I needed to gain some comfort in using my serger. After many, many thread breakages from having threaded it incorrectly, I do feel like I have mastered it!

With my new knowledge and somewhat of a comfort level, it was time to get started on creating some fingerless gloves. If you work in an office, you are probably well aware of the heating & cooling problems. I have worked in several buildings and all of them have the same issue – part of the office feels like the arctic and the rest like the desert. Many of my coworkers have complained that their hands get cold. I figured fingerless gloves would be just the ticket to help that problem!

As I said earlier, I love to make things from previously used material. I had several pieces of sweaters left over from other projects but not enough of a variety for these gloves so off to the Goodwill I went. I also wanted to make some of the gloves from sock and material. I have a lot of material but needed some new socks which I found while at the Goodwill.

Fingerless Gloves made with socks

These gloves are quick to make. To start, I cut off the toe of the sock then removed the heel by cutting on either side of it. The part of the sock that goes around the ankle & leg becomes the part of the glove that goes on the arm; the foot section is used for what will be the part that goes around the palm. The first step after cutting the pieces is to cut the foot section down to about 2 1/2″ then serge the three raw edges – the top of the main section & each of the edges from the foot section.

As you come to the end of your serging, leave a ‘tail’ of serged thread so you can thread that piece back through the stitching to prevent it from fraying. You can also cut it off and add a drop of Fray Check if you prefer. Refer to the You Tube video below the Instructions to see how this is done.

Once the edges are serged, turn the palm piece inside out and insert it into the arm piece. You will be serging these two pieces together, leaving a space of about 1″ between the beginning and end of your stitching – this will be the hole for the thumb.

Once you have serged the two pieces together, thread the end piece back through the stitching to secure the thread. Pull the palm piece out of the arm piece – your glove is complete!

Supplies

• One pair socks
• Serger & thread
• Scissors
• Needle with large eye
• Fray Check (optional)

Instructions

• Cut off the toe section of the sock from the foot section
• Cut the foot section from the heel – this will become the palm part of the glove
• Cut this section into a 2 1/2″ length
• Cut the leg section from the heel – this will be the arm part of the glove
• Serge the three raw edges
  • The top of the main section & each of the edges from the foot section
• As you come to the end of your serging, leave a ‘tail’ of serged thread so you can weave that piece back through the stitching to prevent it from fraying. You can also cut it off and add a drop of Fray Check
• Once the edges are serged, turn the palm piece inside out and insert it into the arm piece so the wrong sides are together
• Serge these two pieces together, leaving a space of about 1″ between the beginning and end of your stitching – this will be the hole for the thumb
• Using a needle with a large eye, weave the end piece of serged thread back through the stitching to secure the thread
• Pull the palm piece out of the arm piece – your glove is complete!
• Follow instructions for the 2nd glove

You Tube Video

Fingerless Gloves made with sweaters

To make the fingerless gloves using sweaters, I found it easiest to use the wrist portion of the sleeves of the sweater to create the palm and wrist section of the gloves. I used 4 wrist pieces for this part of the glove – two for each glove. The reason these made it easier is that the edge of the wrist on a sweater is already clean-finished so it does not fray AND the wrists are already in a circle. By placing the two finished edges wrong sides together then serging all but about an 1″ around the circles, the thumb opening is already a finished edge. To create the rest of the glove, you can either serge each strip together, then sew together the raw edge or make a circle out of each of the strips then sew each circle to the next. Be sure to serge the raw edge closest to the elbow. You can make these gloves as long or as short as you wish.

Supplies

• Used sweaters
• Serger & thread
• Scissors
• Needle with large eye
• Fray Check (optional)

Instructions

• Cut off the wrist piece from 2 sleeves – these will be your palm & wrist pieces
• Cut 4 strips of sweater 3″ wide & the circumfrance of the largest part of your arm, usually 7″ to 8″ – these will become the arm piece
  • The width of the strips and how many you use depends on the look you like & how long you want the gloves to be
• Serge the raw edge of one of the wrist pieces to make the top of the palm piece
• As you come to the end of your serging, leave a ‘tail’ of serged thread so you can weave that piece back through the stitching to prevent it from fraying. You can also cut it off and add a drop of Fray Check
• Turn the palm piece that has been serged inside out and insert it into the 2nd wrist piece so they are wrong sides together
• Serge these two pieces together, leaving a space of about 1″ between the beginning and end of your stitching – this will be the hole for the thumb
• Weave both end pieces of serged thread back through the stitching to secure the thread
• Pull the palm piece out of the wrist piece
• To make the arm section
  • Sew together the short ends on each strip of sweater material to make a circle
  • One at a time, sew each circle together with wrong sides together, securing the end of the serged thread as described above
  • Serge the raw edge of the last circle that will be closest to the elbow to prevent fraying. You could always use another sweater sleeve wrist section for this piece
  • Attach the arm piece to the hand piece – your glove is complete!
• Follow instructions for the 2nd glove

Fingerless Gloves made with material

To make these gloves with material, I used a pair that my daughter in law gave to me and created a pattern. For one pair, I used the sleeves of a t-shirt, taking advantage of the wrist section. I also used the pattern to make a couple of pair from some polar fleece.

I used the pattern to cut two pieces of material – one for each glove. To clean finish the thumb area, I used the serger. Once the thumb area was done, I sewed the seam from the top of the pattern to the thumb hole then from the bottom of the thumb hole to the bottom of the glove – right sides together for the t-shirt and wrong sides together for the polar fleece. For both the t-shirt and polar fleece, I serged the raw edges.

You can access the printable pattern here

Supplies

• Long sleeve t-shirt, polar fleece, any other stretchy material
• Serger & thread
• Scissors
• Needle with large eye
• Fray Check (optional)

Instructions

• Using the pattern, cut two pieces of material
• Serge the raw edge of the thumb sections
• Sew raw edges together (either wrong or right sides together depending on your preference)
  • From the top of the glove to the thumb hole
  • From the thumb hole along the arm section
• Using a needle with a large eye, weave the end piece of serged thread back through the stitching to secure the thread
• If your fabric might fray, serge the raw edge closest to the elbow – your glove is complete!
• Follow instructions for the 2nd glove

Fingerless Glove Pattern

I hope you try this project! I think you’ll find the gloves easy to make. They are great to have on hand for gift giving. Leave a COMMENT below and let me know if you plan to make some!

Completed gloves

If you need supplies click on the picture

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