Set of Gloves #2

 The next set of gloves I examined is Italian, documented as early 17th century.  This set is 11 1/4 inches by 5 1/2 inches.

This set is made with green silk and gilt thread.  I’m not sure what was used to dye the silk green, but it’s a striking change from the typical ivory/gilt gloves.

On both gloves in this set, there’s a specific seam closing up the outside of the hand, hand sewn with linen thread instead of being knit in the round.  

For construction, the fingertips ended with a small decrease in the last half inch of the finger.  It looks like the tips themselves were sewn closed with the same linen thread.  Or possibly the tips were reinforced with the linen thread to handle wear and tear.

The thumb construction is fascinating to me.  Instead of typical (modern) glove construction which has a hole and stitches are picked up around the whole to create the thumb, this shows a distinct gusset for the base of the thumb, increasing in a wedge shape before picking up the inside stitches for the thumb column itself.

I also like the wrist decoration of the waves/dots.  I am curious if this design is something to indicate the locality for the bishop, possibly on the coast, or an ecclesiastical design I’m unaware of.

The director at the museum was willing to show me the inside of the glove and the wrist design shows how the threads were carried down the rows.  It’s very clean and tidy.

One picture I was thrilled to get was when the director handed me the loupe.  Being able to see how clearly there were two threads making up the gilt and three threads making up the silk was amazing.  The consistency of the tension of the stitches is clearly visible.

I know I need to do separate research into the gilt threads that would have been used.  I'm planning on reaching out to some embroidery folks I know for suggestions on which direction to head on locating sources.  Whether it's something that I can create or will need to purchase, it may take a bit to determine.