How To Clean Vintage White Gloves

While looking for more information on fitting, finding, and caring for vintage gloves I came across these wonderful photograph and a source of more information from Nicole Jenkins of Circa Vintage Clothing in Australia. Nicole writes extensively about The Joy of Gloves, explaining some past fashion history, telling how gloves were fitted, as I explained previously, to your shoe size, what length to wear with which dress style, how to clean them, etc. She also carries some new vintage style cloth gloves in her store in larger sizes so that ladies whose feet are larger than a size 8 can – luckily – find gloves that will fit! I am going to contact her right away to find out what she currently has in stock! I am always searching for real vintage gloves and nice modern ones with vintage style. * I did check out the store and she currently has 21 pairs of beautiful vintage gloves in stock! Just gorgeous and beautifully photographed too! go to Circa Vintage Clothing on the link above and search for gloves to view them.

My grandmother and my mother often wore cream or white leather gloves for special occasions and I distinctively remember them telling me how to put them on and how to care for them. You were to ease the glove on carefully like a second skin. At first it seemed a bit tight, but as it warmed to your body temperature it would stretch and mold to your hand to “fit like a kid glove.”

Refer to more articles:  How To Clean Weber Grill Gloves

If the glove became just the slightest bit soiled you were to change to another pair. You were advised to wash the soiled ones as soon as possible, while wearing them on your hands, as if you were washing your hands, in very gentle soap, in a basin of lukewarm water. Rinse thoroughly, remove from your hands with care and roll up in a clean dry white towel to absorb excess water. You could blow into them, as if blowing up a balloon, to puff them up a bit from the inside. Then you were to lay them out, flat, away from heat and sunlight, to dry. When almost dry, preferably not quite completely dry, you were to put them back on and ease them over your hand, smoothing out the fingers and lengthening them, to cover you hand comfortably. The gloves looked a bit wrinkly after hand washing, but looked fine and elegant again after a few minutes on the warm human hand had eased out the wrinkles. With proper hand washing and care a high quality pair would last a long time. I still have several pairs that have lasted 40 ~ 50 years and are in excellent condition. Of course colored gloves should always be washed and dried separately from white ones lest the dye run and inadvertently tint the white and cream ones! Washing directions from a 1940’s Woman’s Home companion will be posted on my blog tomorrow complete with photo illustrations.

Refer to more articles:  How Do People In Movies Type With Gloves On

In the Joy of Gloves Nicole Jenkins tells of collections of gloves she has come across when buying entire wardrobes for her shop. That must be fun! Reading this made me remember reading a biography of film actress Vivian Leigh. Miss Leigh loved white gloves and generally went through about three pairs a day, as she changed them regularly to keep them pristine. The most amazing thing was, that when she died, 500 pairs were found, neatly lined up in drawers in her dressing room!

I would absolutely love to have 500 pairs of vintage gloves arranged and ready to wear like that!

On that note I will end this post with Nicole Jenkin’s photo of her freshly laundered white gloves hung out to dry!

Tags: Fashion, Feminine Arts, History, Photography, Style, Textiles, Vintage, Vintage Gloves

This entry was posted on Friday, March 23rd, 2012 at 6:15 pm and is filed under Manton de Manila. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Related Posts

How To Clean Suede Ugg Gloves

Nothing says “comfy” like a pair of Uggs. The sheepskin boots are lined with the softest fleece, making them a must have for cold winter nights. If…

How To Make Butt Asshole Glove

The first time I heard about fisting, I thought: No. No, no, no. Never going to happen.You may be interested How To Make A Thanos Glove Template…

How Many Gloves Are In Slapbattles

Ever wondered just how many Glove Stands are in Slap Battles, the popular Roblox game? If you’re a fan, you’ll know that these special gloves can level…

How To Get Oven Gloves Clean

How To Get Oven Gloves Clean

Oven mittens are an essential part of cooking utensils. Maybe you are not considering oven mitts as the first required tool of the kitchen, but you can…

How To Open A Glove Box That Is Jammed

How To Open A Glove Box That Is Jammed

Do You Have A Stuck Glove Box?You may be interested How To Make Your Batting Gloves Soft How To Make Bell Gloves How To Discard Gloves How…

How To Get The Rage Glove In Slap Battles

How To Get The Rage Glove In Slap Battles

The Rage Glove gives you the chance to Frenzy against your enemies in Slap Battles. There’s always been something about taking all our anger out on our…