Gloves - The beginning

About 2 1/2 years ago I decided I needed to make gloves.  Period gloves.  Elizabethan period gloves.

Now gloves have been around since, almost, the beginning of time.  Man (and women) having been making coverings to protect their hands from harsh work, the elements, to be decorative, to indicate authority, etc. Gloves have been found in the tombs of the Pharaohs.  The Ice Man, found in a Swiss Glacier, was wearing gloves.  So bottom line these are not anything new.

So what makes an Elizabethan period glove different.  First, Queen Elizabeth I have very long graceful fingers.  She inherited these from her mother Anne Boleyn.  The gloves made by her Master of the Wardrobe (who made all her gloves it is said) had very long.  It was said that during an audience she was seen taking here gloves on an off over 100 times, showing off her fingers.  (personally I figure she was bored and did this to keep herself occupied and not yell "off with their heads" , but then I am a synic) I found a beautiful pair of Elizabeth I's gloves in QEWU (Queen Elizabeth Wardrobe Unlocked).  It was only a small, tiny picture of a pair with a cuff of blackwork.  This I wanted to duplicate.  I looked everywhere for a larger picture.  I knew form QEWU that they were in the V&A.  But multiple searches thru the V&A on line inventory I could not find them.  Frustration!!!   It was several month later Looking thru my most reasoned acquisition of a V&A book, and boom there they were.  Not only a pictures but several pages of: how they were made, stitches used, repairs done to them, and even x-rays of them.  Well what I thought was something special or unique was now common, but still I needed to recreate them, so.....

First I had to learn How to Make Gloves.  Looked easy enough, but the Learning is in the making.