1920-40s Short Gloves

Two years ago I received an enquiry asking if I could replicate some crochet short gloves from the early - mid 1900's as part of a period costume. I was early on in developing my business and had never really looked into the post WWI designs, but out of curiosity began to research black and white magazine photos to estimate how hard they would be to make. After about 20 minutes I became fascinated. The slightly blurry photos displayed stitches of a similar gauge to that used by Irish housewives for traditional doilies (0.6mm / 0.75mm for those who are interested in the hook size) but the form appeared youthful and elegant in a way I didn't associate with doilies. I accepted the commission and began ordering the tiniest hooks I'd ever seen.

Once I'd figured out what stitch I was looking at in those old photos, the gloves took hours of trying to get the tension even for each of the fingers. For about 3 weeks my living room had disembodied fingers lying about as I tried to get the measurements right! But I finished them to a level I was so proud of at the time. Years later I've managed to retain the bits of historical and technical information I picked up, and am certain I could make them to a far higher level of skill!

The customer (a really lovely woman attending the Royal School of Needlework in London) generously sent me photos of the finished product while wearing the dress she had made to go with them, some of which I've included in this Project listing.
Also included are photos of a real example of short gloves that happen to be heirlooms belonging to a good friend of mine, whose Great Great Great Aunt made them about a century ago. After I rattled on for an hour or so about the intricacies of these inherited gloves, the family collectively decided to gift them to me so I had the option of recreating the style from real thing, instead of squinting for hours at old black and white photos!