Custom Convertible Mittens (AND How to Make Clothing Templates)

In this instructable I will show you how to make fabric patterns for any article of clothing you can think of! (this method can also be used to make armor patterns for any cos-players out there).

In the photos you will see me make templates for convertible fingerless mittens! I will add the download link for the template at the end :)

Materials required:
Cling wrap
Masking tape
Sharpy
Scissors
Whatever Fabric you are using for the article of clothing
Sewing machine to sew all the parts together

Step 1: Prepare the Limb

For the first step, prepare the part of your body that you will be making templates for.
This means remove any thick article of clothing leaving bare skin where you can

Step 2: Cover With Cling Wrap & Masking Tape

First wrap cling wrap around the limb, in this case the gloves I am making are mittens and so my fingers (index to pinky) are wrapped together in clingwrap while my thumb is wrapped individually. Best to put cling wrap on an area larger than the area you want the clothing to rest on.

Then wrap the area with masking tape, be sure to make as few folds in the tape as possible. Try to use strips of tape that are not excessively long as this is the main cause for having to fold tape over. Dont wrap the tape around tightly as you may have it on for a few minutes and you dont want to cut off blood circulation, gently wrap tape around the area.

*NOTE* due to using cling wrap the limb you are working on may get quite sweaty... just warning you!

Step 3: Draw on Seam Lines and Cut Along Them

You can now pick up your sharpie and draw on where you would like your seam lines to be. Because I am making a multi coloured piece of clothing it is useful to be able to separate areas with seams for the different colours. If your article of clothing is all one colour seam position isnt too important unless you will be making the seams obvious with something like piping.

once you are happy with your seam lines you can start to cut the masking tape off, this is why you wrapped cling wrap on first. Stopping the tape from sticking to your skin makes it much easier to cut off!

If once you have cut everything out your templates dont lie completely flat on a table you may need to cut the areas that fold to make another seam until all pieces of the templates lie flat.

*NOTE* you may want to put markings to show which pieces line up with what and where. 

Step 4: Transfer Templates

Use the masking tape templates and trace them onto card, be sure to leave at least a 1cm border around the templates for seam allowance. 

Cut out your shiny new card templates and transfer them to your fabric using white chalk! if you are making a mirror duplicate of the clothing, ie gloves trace each template twice flipping the template each time. 

cut out your fabric pieces!

Step 5: Sew It All Together + Glove Template Download Link

Sew everything together and you have your custom coloured/looking piece of clothing!

If you would like to have the templates I made for these gloves then click here
the templates are a pepakura file so that you can easily scale the templates to your hand size
you can download pepakura designer for free here 
be sure to size it slightly larger than your actual hand size for seam allowance! :)