3 Classy Ways to Upgrade Leather Gloves
San Francisco’s Indian summer is finally on its way out (yes, October-November is our summer), so now we’re joining the rest of the country with days full of cold and rainy weather. As much as we love our sun-filled fall, it feels nice to finally take advantage of all the amazing boots, beanies, scarves, and other seasonal styles we’ve been writing about.
With that in mind, we decided to show our digits some love and add a dash of class to a simple pair of leather gloves. We’ve got three versions to share, all using some darling herringbone fabric. J.Crew eat your heart out!
FYI: You only need fabric, fabric scissors, and a hot glue kit for the first two DIYs. For the last project, you’ll need to add in the sewing machine, needle and thread, buttons, and iron. So grab what you need and lets get going!
Materials:
– faux leather gloves
– herringbone fabric
– buttons
Tools:
– hot glue gun + glue
– needle + thread
– fabric scissors
– sewing machine
– iron
For our first pair, we decided to get girly and add small bows to the wrists of the gloves. These would make perfect stocking stuffers for both classy ladies and stylish little ones, don’t you think? Either way, the bows are much easier to make than you would think.
Instructions:
1. Cut a rectangle of fabric and lay it out lengthwise.
2. Fold over each short end to meet in the middle and hot glue in place.
3. With the folded side up, pinch the middle section of material inward to make the bow shape and hot glue the center, holding the pinched fabric in place. Pro Tip: Turn over and add a bit of glue to the center to enhance your bow shape.
4. Cut a small strip of material to wrap around the center of the bow. Wrap it and hot glue in place.
5. Repeat these steps to make a second, then hot glue one bow to the wrist of each gloves.
Cut a rectangle out of the herringbone material and lay it out lengthwise. Now fold in both ends so that each side meets in the middle. Glue those suckers down by adding a thin strip of hot glue under the edge of each piece. Don’t cover the entire thing in glue because you’ll need some flexibility for the next step!
Holding the bow with the folded side up, pinch it right in the middle (the seam from the folds will be horizontal). Now glue your crimped fabric into place. Add another dollop of glue to the center of the front side to enhance your bow shape and pinch again. You’re almost there!
Now all that’s left to do is make the center of the bow look good. No pressure though! ;) Just cut out a thin strip of fabric and wrap it around the center. We put the glove on before adding the bow to the wrist to make sure we glued it to the right spot, which helped. Glue it in place and you’re done.
These little bows are so lovely. We love how when you get up close you can see the red thread popping through the grey herringbone. Way to keep it classy!
Instructions:
1. Cut a thin, long strip of material, then fold in half lengthwise and hot glue one end.
2. Starting at the glued end, roll material in on itself creating the center of your flower. Keeping the material folded, twist and wrap around the center of your bud.
3. Each time the material is flat, twist again. Repeat until your rose is the desired size, then cut and hot glue the end of the rosette.
4. Repeat these steps to make a second, then hot glue one rosette to the wrist of each gloves.
First off, cut a long thin piece of herringbone fabric. You’ll need to fold it in half lengthwise, so make sure it’s not too thin. Squirt a little bit of hot glue on the end of the strip and then fold it over.
Now roll the fabric to create the center of your bud. The flower will start growing right in your hand, just like magic! Continue rolling and twisting until your flower is the size you want. Cut off the end of the fabric and hot glue together, making sure it looks nice and round.
Once again, we put our gloves on to see exactly where we should glue the flowers. Cute as can be!
We’re smitten with how these rosettes turned out. They add great dimension to this pair of black leather gloves.
For our final pair, we added a cuff and button. Simple and pretty darn chic, eh?
Instructions:
1. Measure the opening of the glove by wrapping a long strip of fabric around the wrist of the glove.
2. Cut a thick strip of material to that measurement, keeping in mind that you will hem the edges and be sure to leave a little extra so that the material overlaps.
3. Iron all four edges and hem.
4. Hot glue the strip to the glove, wrapping and adding hot glue to the fabric until the cuff is in place.
5. Sew your button on the overlapping part of the material. Repeat these steps to make a second.
Once you’ve wrapped your fabric around the wrist of your glove to see how much material you need, cut the fabric to that length—make sure it’s wide enough to create a thick cuff, too. Since we’re adding a button, the cuff should overlap on the end. That way, it’ll look like the button is actually fastened through the material!
To make it look clean, hem all of the edges, though you could also fray them if you want more of a Chanel-like look. Either way, it’s super chic! After the cuff is finished, attach it to your glove with, you guessed it, hot glue. So easy!
Now add the final embellishment: a big black button. Just sew it onto the overlapping part of the cuff on the outer side of the wrist.
Each of these gloves are so effortlessly elegant, which is cool considering it didn’t take a ton of effort on our part to make all three! ;) Now toss on your favorite pair—we’re nuts about those buttoned cuffs!—bundle up the rest of you, and hit the snowy streets!
This herringbone fabric adds instant class to your outerwear, but you could use any other pattern you please! Plaid would work for the season, as well as a faux leather in a contrasting color. You know we’d never steer you away from color blocking! ;) Just remember the more classic the pattern, the more wear you’ll get.
How have you upgraded your winter accessories this season? Tell us in the comments below!
