Tutorial: How to Make Gloves (and fingerless) for Anime Costumes

Making gloves from non-stretch fabric is difficult because you need to take the thickness of your hand and fingers into account. The fabric is not going to be able to stretch around your hand.

It took me three tries to get this pattern correct. I recommend testing this with a cheap fabric (such as muslin) before making your final gloves. In the final section, I’ll explain the slight changes you need to make the fingerless gloves, which is actually a little easier than making the full glove.

In addition to your woven fabric, you will also need velcro for this tutorial. You can also use other types of attachments, such as a zipper or snaps.

Step 1: Make your pattern pieces

Making your glove pattern is the most important step in this tutorial. If you get this part wrong, the glove will not fit right. I’ve included numbered illustrations to help you get this part right, so be sure to follow along as best you can.

1. Trace your hand
2. Add an extra ¼ inch to the outside edges of the pointer and pinky fingers.
   1. We’re adding extra pieces (gussets) to the inner fingers, so only the outer two fingers need extra padding to fit.
3. Draw a curve from the inner joint of the thumb to the center of the wrist
4. Add an extra ¼ inch around the sides of the thumb.
   1. The front thumb piece (palm side of the hand) will connect to the front of the glove along the curved line. The back thumb piece will connect to the glove along the straight line on the side of the glove.
5. Add another ¼ inch to the bottom section of the outer wrist.
   1. This part will not be sewn together so that you can still get the  glove over your hand.
6. Trace the front and back glove pieces and the front and back thumb pieces to a separate sheet. 
7. Flip over the back glove and thumb pieces.
   1. If you don’t these will be backward when you cut them out of the fabric.
8. Measure the inner length of the space between your fingers, and the width of your fingers.
9. Create 3 rectangles with tapered ends using your measurements in the previous step.
   1. These are the gussets that go in-between the fingers.
10. Measure your wrist and add 2 inches.
11. Create a rectangle using this length to create your wrist piece. You can use whatever width you want for the wrist band.
12. Add a ¼ inch seam allowance to all of your pieces.
13. You should end with a front and a back glove piece, a front and a back thumb piece, three gussets for between the fingers, and one wrist band.

Step 2: Cut your pattern pieces from the fabric

To reiterate, once you have finished your pattern you should have:

• A front glove piece
• A back glove piece
• A front thumb piece
• A back thumb piece
• 3 gussets for between the fingers
• A wrist piece

When cutting your front and back glove pieces, make sure to cut them all the way down to the point between your fingers. If you cut it too short, the glove fingers will not be long enough for your hand.

You only need one of each piece, so you can cut out the pattern pieces from a single layer of fabric. However, if you cut it from a folded layer of fabric you’ll have the pieces for both the left and the right gloves.

Step 3: Sew the outside pinky seam

Put the front and back glove pieces right sides together and sew the pinky seam. Do NOT sew together the tab we created on the outer wrist. If you do, you won’t be able to get the glove over your hand later, so we’ll hem this section in step 6.

Step 4: Sew in the gussets between the fingers

Now you want to take your three gussets and sew them between the fingers. Make sure to put the correct piece in the correct spot. For example, the gusset piece between my pinky and index finger is an inch shorter than the one between my index and middle finger, so the glove won’t work if I mix up these pieces.

Sewing this part is tricky, so if you’re not great with a sewing machine yet, I recommend hand sewing the gussets. 

Step 5: Sew the thumb pieces to the glove

Start by sewing the front thumb piece to the front of the glove, and the back thumb piece to the back of the glove. Then pin the thumbs together and sew along the edge of the thumb and up the pointer finger.

With this, the basic glove is finished, and all that’s left is attaching the wrist piece. It’s a good idea to try your glove on at this point to make sure everything fits correctly.

Step 6: Sew the tab on the outer side of the glove

Now that the most difficult part is finished, let’s go back to the tabs on the pinky side of the glove. Fold these over and hem them. You want the edge of the hemmed piece to line up with the outer edge of the glove.

Step 7: Trim the excess seams and turn your glove right side out

So that the seams aren’t too bulky on the inside, it’s a good idea to trim them as close to the seam as you can without snipping the thread. Do this all along the fingers and thumb.

When you’re done, turn the glove right side out and make sure everything fits properly.

Step 8: Hem the length of the wrist piece and the two short edges

Now move to that rectangle that you cut out for your wrist. Fold over and hem the two short edges and one of the long edges of the fabric piece.

Step 9: Attach the wrist piece to the glove

Pin the unhemmed side of the wrist piece to the rest of your glove. Start with the wrist piece lined up with the edge of the outer wrist on the front side of the glove (the palm side). Then sew all the way around to the outer edge of the wrist on the back.

There will be an extra couple of inches that we added to the pattern in step 1 part 10. You’ll want to hem the rest of this so that you have a nice and neat extra tab of fabric on the wrist section.

Step 10: Add velcro

Now all you have to do is add velcro to the top of the wrist and bottom of the wrist tab and your glove will be finished. Now all you have to do is repeat the process with the second glove.

What to change for fingerless (half-finger) gloves

Fingerless gloves are slightly easier than full-fingered gloves because it doesn’t matter as much if you get the length of the fingers wrong. However, you still need to make sure the fabric fits around the width of the fingers.

There are two changes to keep in mind when creating the pattern in step one:

• The length of the fingers. You want to cut off the glove pattern at your knuckles. Then add a ¼ to ½ an inch of extra length to the fingers because you will need to hem them later on.
• In Step 1 part 8, instead of measuring your fingers for the gussets, measure the lines of your pattern. Measure from the edge of the pinky to the edge of the index, then the edge of the index to the middle, and middle to pointer. You do not need to taper the ends of the gusset pieces.

When putting the glove together, continue to follow the directions exactly as they are for full-fingered gloves until Step 5. Just be sure to keep the tips of the fingers open, of course.

After Step 5, you’ll need to fold over the top of each finger and hem them. Since woven fabrics fray, this step is necessary for keeping your gloves from falling apart.

After hemming the fingers you can continue with Step 6 and attach the wrist piece to your glove.