can anyone think of a craft use for old kid leather gloves?

apprentice_tycoon

I have quite a few antique/old kid gloves, they are VERY small sized and a bit grubby on the fingers (so can't really be sold as gloves) but because they are elbow length there is a good deal of butter-soft leather to do something with but I can't think what.
I know that doll makers use the leather for shoes etc because it's so thin and pliable but I'm stuck for more ideas. They are in white, cream and navy.

meadowcat

I used to make leather pencil cases for my kids from old pieces of leather - but your leather gloves sound far too lovely for that!

Could you maybe join them together to make a patchwork bag? Glasses case?

THIRZAH

I belong to a dolls house club - in the past we have used leather to make bags, footstools and to cover books. Hobbycraft do minature books made of wood which look very impressive covered with leather.

pol

I used some last year cut into diamond shapes and sewn onto a leather belt I had which was worn in patches. I customised a handbag to match and added glass beads in between the patches. Only trouble was I paid £2.50 for each piece 2 inches by 3 inches!

ChocClare

Have you got big enough pieces to cover pocket-diary size notebooks and make them into smart-looking leather acessories?! Or how about getting a couple of those small papier mache boxes, perhaps in different sizes, and covering them in the leather? My husband sells leather cases for PDAs, and as machines are discontinued, I get any spare cases he hasn't managed to offload. My Rainbows use them to make notecases for their dads as presents - cover some card with leather, fold it in half so it opens like a hinged box rather than a book (if you see what i mean), put some elastic or ribbon across the inside of the fold, hide the raw edges by lining it with paper. Then get a cheapo memo pad, "thread" the cardboard at the back of the memo pad through the ribbon or elastic so that the book is held in place and you have a leather-covered notebook which is refillable.

apprentice_tycoon

All of these suggestions are great :j you've steered me away from brain numbness and I'll have to get cracking with something now...I have one white pair that go right up to the armpits (they have pearl buttons at the wrist - think Queen...) so there's a lot of leather to play with there.

skintchick

You HAVE to make a lovely leather belt with a big pull-through buckle like the ones in the shops right now, that are worn round the waist cinched in. Will look FABULOUS!

Remember you can dye leather if it's different colours.

BUT - have you checked they are not worth money as they are? Bonhams or similar could tell you if it's worth putting them in a textiles auction.

Fay

On a dolls house theme again, I have used leather gloves to cover miniature prams in the past for my dolls house baby shop. However, I made a few too many as I became a little addicted, and people ended up buying them off me as ornaments. They really are very lovely when done. I also lined the insides with satin/silk to look like real prams.

The note book idea sounds great though, you could cover an address book to match...x-mas presents?

apprentice_tycoon

skintchick wrote:

You HAVE to make a lovely leather belt with a big pull-through buckle like the ones in the shops right now, that are worn round the waist cinched in. Will look FABULOUS!

Remember you can dye leather if it's different colours.

BUT - have you checked they are not worth money as they are? Bonhams or similar could tell you if it's worth putting them in a textiles auction.

No - they're worthless, I put them on ebay but without much expectation, they are very small, even my skinny 19 year old couldn't get them on, they're also quite grubby and worn on the fingers but the 'arms' are fine.

With them being kid it's from a very young animal (aaaah) so they are a bit too thin and delicate for a belt but they are sooooo soft pliable so I know that there is a use for them.

apprentice_tycoon

Fay wrote:

On a dolls house theme again, I have used leather gloves to cover miniature prams in the past for my dolls house baby shop. However, I made a few too many as I became a little addicted, and people ended up buying them off me as ornaments. They really are very lovely when done. I also lined the insides with satin/silk to look like real prams.

The note book idea sounds great though, you could cover an address book to match...x-mas presents?

The prams sound wonderful and I didn't know that dolls who live in dolls houses had baby shops to visit

Fay

apprentice_tycoon wrote:

The prams sound wonderful and I didn't know that dolls who live in dolls houses had baby shops to visit

Well my dolls (actually I don't put dolls in my houses hehe) have a baby shop, a hat shop, a butchers (complete with a butcher...he's not in a house!), a hardware store, an antiques emporium, a toy shop and a cake shop to go looking round hehe all for the occupants of only 2 houses...with no occupants! The prams are very easy to make, you buy ready made metal prams (approx £5 each) and I sold mine for £15-20 depending on the leather and the work involved.

I have one pram that I covered in my nan's gloves when she passed away, its very special to me