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Make Your Own Touch-Screen Gloves

| Date posted: January 22nd, 2013

touch_screen_gloves

In the thick of winter, feeling the frosty wind nip at your nose, the last thing you want to do is take off your gloves to send a text or do a search on a smart phone. It’s so cold! Stores have started putting out an answer to the problem (gloves that are compatible with touch-screen devices) but, as is my philosophy with everything sewing, I’d rather make them myself!

What you need:
- A pair of gloves (whatever kind you want – I chose knit because it’s easier to sew through)
- Conductive thread (a good rule of thumb – pun intended! – Is 12″ per finger)
- Needle
- Needle threader (conductive thread likes to unravel, so a threader may save you a headache)

  1. Thread the needle so that you will be sewing with a single strand. Tie a knot about 1″ from the bottom end of the thread.
  2. Try on the glove and figure out where on your fingertip you should sew the thread. Start sewing from the inside of the glove so that the knot and tail end of the thread are on the inside. I remove my hand to do this, but you may keep your hand in the glove to start as long as you’re careful not to poke yourself!
  3. You can sew whatever shape you want, but threads that are sewn more condensed seem to work better.
  4. When you are finished with your design, turn the glove finger inside out and knot the thread as close as you can to the fabric. Then cut off the excess, leaving a small tail. Weave both tail ends under the stitches to tuck them away.
  5. Try them out! It is important that you’re finger is touching the thread on the inside. If there’s some conductivity error, you can always go back and sew some more stitches onto your original design.

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Amanda Kaufmann is a New York-based writer and editor. Since 2006, she has worked as a newspaper reporter, freelance columnist, book editor, website content editor, proofreader and fact-checker. She is constantly in the pursuit of...

Reader Comments

  • mimi jackson

    This has nothing to do with the photo, right? You are only sewing thread to existing gloves, with no contrasting fingertips, right?

  • http://www.facebook.com/misswild Denise Wild

    You’re right! We took a photo of gloves that already have contrasting touch-screen tips. The instructions above are to create something similar, and you can even use contrasting threads to make them look like what we’ve shown here. P.S. Make sure you put the conductive thread on the part of the glove where your finger will contact the screen. (Some people might touch the screen with the side of their thumb, rather than the tip.)

  • http://twitter.com/galfromdownunda Galfromdownunder

    Since some of these tech gloves cost $25-45+ this is a good move. (I guess we have to go Google “conductive thread” to get our hands on some). Also, the glove fingers need to be really securely fitting. My bought ones often don’t “register” because they’re a bit loose. One could add a few stitches to make make the fingertips tighter … and also add some extra conductive stitches to make them more responsive. Good to see you here, Amanda! Thanks for showing me how to do my skirt!