Power Rangers Gloves 2.0

A little over a year ago, I made some Power Rangers gloves. That Instructable is here. They turned out okay, but there was much room for improvement. I learned two things. First, I learned that I am not that great at making gloves from scratch. They fit a touch too small, and looked all wonky when they were not on my hands. Second, I learned that I should have sewn the cord panel to the inside of the glove, rather than the outside. I made a second pair, and this time, made a cuff in the proper length. Remember that, when following this guide, you will need to do everything twice (once for each glove).

• A pair of white leather (or faux leather) gloves with at least a little bit of a cuff on them.
• Package of 550 paracord in a color to match the gloves (about 4 yards - round shoelaces will also work).
• Leather or faux leather material as close to a match as you can get to your gloves in texture and color to match whichever version of ranger you are making gloves for (1 yard should be more than enough).
• A cotton material that matches the color of your cuff material (for lining - does not have to be expensive - 1 yard should be more than enough).
• A fairly stiff, but not super thick, sew-in interfacing (1 yard should be more than enough).
• 3/4 inch hook and loop tape (such as Velcro) - sew in, NOT SELF-STICK - in the same color as the cuff material (1 yard is more than enough).
• Thread to match the gloves and cuff (a spool and a bobbin appropriate to your machine).
• A heavy duty machine foot and a zipper foot for your machine.
• A seam ripper tool.
• Either scissors or a rotary cutter and mat.
• Straight pins.
• A ruler.
• A measuring tape.
• A pencil.
• Cardstock to make patterns.
• Permanent, self-stick vinyl in the color of the Ranger costume you are making the cuffs for (For MMPR - other series will require different decoration on the cuffs).
• A sewing machine.
• A cutting machine such as Cricut or Silhouette (optional).

Using a seam ripper tool, completely remove the cuff of the glove. Only open the side seam of the cuff about an inch on both sides. If the cuff does not have a tag that you can tell which side is the front and which is the back of the cuff, mark this somehow at this point. Open the seams of the glove part all the way to the base of the fingers. Turn the glove inside out.

Take a scrap piece of material from what you plan on using for your cuffs that is just a bit wider than the gloves and a bit shorter than the part of the glove below the fingers. For me, this was about 6 inches wide by 4 inches tall. Pin it in place on the INSIDE part of the glove (facing whichever way you feel is more comfortable on your hands - I chose the back of the material to touch my hands). Sew the material to the glove close to the bottom of the fingers. I recommend using a zipper foot for this, as you can get the needle closer to the edge of the cording when you need to.

Pin the paracord in place for the uppermost line. Make sure to get the cord as close to the stitch from sewing the backing to the glove. Stitch the paracord in place on the side overhang to keep it from moving while you are working on it. Stitch a line below the cord as close to the cord as you can. Loop the cord around, pushing it as close to the previous stitch as you can get it. Stitch a line below this, and continue this pattern until you have five lines of cord in place with a stitch under each of them. You can stitch the cord in place on the side overhangs as you go to keep the previous lines from moving if you like.

Turn the glove over so that you are looking at the sewn in back panel. Trim the excess part of the panel from under the bottom-most stitch as close to that stitch as you can without undoing any of the stitch. Turn the glove back over and trim the excess panel and cord from the sides, using the edge of the glove as a guide. DO NOT trim any of the glove, as you will need this overlap for your seam when you stitch the glove back together.

Fold down the edge of the cuff that should go to the back of the glove and pin to keep it out of the way. Pin the front side of the cuff to the front side of the glove, right side to right side. Stitch along the edge of the two pieces. unpin them and open up the fabric to assure the stitch is complete. Repeat the process to attach the back side of the cuff to the back side of the glove.

Pin the thumb out of the way and stitch the side of the glove that the thumb is on closed. Open the glove up to remove the pin, and ensure that the stitch is complete. Stitch the other side of the glove closed. Turn the glove right side out and test fit. Flex your fingers to make sure that there are no open seems and that the fingers still fit comfortably.

With a measuring tape - measure the circumference of your wrist, the circumference of your forearm where you want the cuff to end, and the distance between those two points on you arm. Find a cuff shaped pattern (you may use the one from here) and modify it to closely match those measurements. Print and cut out the pattern (or use a cutting machine if you have access to one). Using the pattern, cut the shape out of scrap material to test fit the cuff. Leave a little bit of extra, as the size will slightly decrease from your pattern in the next few steps. You will also need to leave enough space for the cuff to overlap itself about an inch (this will be taken in from the seam as well as the hook and loop fastener.)

Using the patterns you made - cut out two each of the leather or faux leather material for the shell of your cuff, the interfacing, and the lining material.

Lay out your cuff layers together in the following order: the shell material first (right side UP), then the lining material (right side DOWN), then the interfacing. Stitch these together on the top and bottom curves only. Flip the cuff right side out, and then topstitch the top and bottom curves.

Wrap the cuff around your forearm and figure out how much you will need to fold into the cuff (half on one side, half on the other). Remember to leave enough overhang for the hook and loop tape. Pin one side of the hook and loop tape to the TOP of the cuff on one side. Pin the opposite side of the tape on the BOTTOM of the other side of the cuff. This is a personal preference, and doesn't really matter which side goes where. Test fit with the tape pinned in place. Once the fit is good, stitch the hook and loop tape into place on both sides. Test fit one more time and you should be done with the construction of the cuffs. Now to decorate them.

Using cardstock, cut a pattern for your diamonds. I prefer to do this with a cutting machine for precision, but this can also be done by hand. The size of the diamonds is personal choice, and will vary based on length of the cuff. The important thing to remember is that you will need four diamonds. Cut one of the diamonds in half to go on the overhang. Line up your half diamond with the edge of the overhang and determine where the midpoint of the diamond will fall. Mark lightly with a pencil. Repeat this on the other side. Line the bottom edge of your cuff pattern with these two marks and lightly trace the edge of the pattern. This will give you a guide to line your diamonds up. Going inward, line each diamond up until you have five diamond pieces (for a total of four complete diamonds) on the cuff, and tape them in place. As you add pieces, lightly mark where the edge falls. A little bit of overlap is okay, but you may want to resize your diamonds to fit perfectly. Close the cuff up, and you will get some idea of what your cuff will look like completed.

This step will repeat most of the same process as the last step, which was intended to help determine what size your diamonds needed to be. Using the diamond patterns from your previous step (or digital pattern for your cutting machine), cut the appropriate size and number of pieces out of glossy, permanent adhesive vinyl in the color of your choice. Remember that you will need twice as many pieces out of this as you do the pattern pices as you are making two cuffs. You may chose to cut an extra diamond and test adhere it to a scrap piece of your outer cuff material. Line up your diamond pieces with he pencil markings made in the previous step, again going from the outside in. Use a brayer or even a credit card to smooth out the vinyl as best you can. Repeat the process for the other cuff and you are done. Great job!