Apart from their fashionable uses, leather gloves have become a necessary part of the winter outfit. They help to keep you warm during the cold weather, especially when you are outdoors. The leather gloves also help to protect you from coming in firsthand contact with dirt and germs.
Have you purchased leather gloves that are just a teeny weeny bit too tight for your comfort? Or they are your size but still don’t fit 100% or you’ve had them since last winter and your fingers kinda grew an inch or so longer. Not to worry, here are ways out of what looks to you like a problem.
There are several ways to stretch leather gloves to make them fit perfectly. Read through to find out which one is your most preferred method or the most convenient method for you.
Methods Used For Stretching Leather Gloves.
Method 1: Soak Them In Water, Put Them On, And Let Them Dry On Your Hands.
- You can get them wet by placing them under a running faucet or a hose or you could soak them in a bowl of water, submerging the gloves for a while.
- Once you are sure they are wet, pull them out and gently wring them, removing excess water.
- Put them on damp and allow them to dry on your hands. Work with them for 2-3 hours or until they dry up. This allows the leather to stretch over your hands.
Method 2: Wet Them And Stuff Them Up
- Wet the outside of your gloves with a little water. Do this under a low-pressure stream of running water or preferably, you could try dabbing your leather gloves with a wet cloth instead.
- Soak up a few sheets of old newspaper in water for a few minutes, say 10 minutes (you don’t want to use a current paper for this, unless, of course, you’ve read it).
- After 10 minutes, remove the newspaper and squeeze out the excess water.
- Tear up the newspaper into sizable bits and roll them up into long narrow cylindrical forms to fit into the fingers of the gloves.
- Push them into the fingers of the gloves and also the palm of the gloves. Check to make sure they aren’t dripping wet.
- Keep the stuffed gloves in a cool and dry place for a day or two to dry. Always check regularly to see if they are dry.
- Once they get dry, remove the newspaper you stuffed them with, and then try the gloves on to see if they fit. If they don’t fit, you can repeat the process until they do.
It is important to use a leather conditioner to treat your leather gloves after this above process to ensure your leather gloves remain in good condition.
Method 3: Soften The Leather
You can soften leather using rubbing alcohol/ isopropyl or a leather conditioner.
Using Rubbing Alcohol/ Isopropyl
- Apply a drop of rubbing alcohol to a rag or napkin and use it to rub the outside of your leather gloves. If the quantity of rubbing alcohol is not enough, you can pour some onto the gloves and allow the alcohol to soften the gloves. Alcohol helps to soften leather, making it flexible and easy to stretch.
- You should leave them to air dry for a while before putting them on.
Using Leather Conditioner
With a leather conditioner, you should just go along with the instructions given on the container. Leather conditioner helps to keep your leather soft, flexible and it helps it to stretch easily. You should condition your leather at least twice a year to ensure it is in good condition and lasts longer.
Method 4: Wearing It Regularly
Wearing your leather gloves regularly has to be the simplest method by which you can stretch them. To stretch the fingers of your gloves, you should lace your fingers and squeeze them as tight as possible. Do this carefully to avoid damaging the gloves. With constant usage, you can be sure that your leather gloves would stretch easily.
Method 5: Stretch With Isopropyl And Water
This method is very simple.
- All you have to do is mix isopropyl, which is rubbing alcohol, with some water. Make sure there is more water than isopropyl, as the only job of the isopropyl is just to make the water dry faster.
- Put the mixture into a spray bottle and spray both the inside and outside of the gloves.
- After doing this, wear it until dries up.
Method 6: Using Ice
- Fill up your leather gloves with water and tie up the armhole with a band or a piece of clothing.
- Put it in a plastic bag and make sure it is properly sealed to prevent the water from spilling out.
- Put this plastic bag into another sealable plastic bag to protect the leather.
- Place the plastic bag in a deep freezer, and let the water freeze up.
- After the water has turned into ice, take out the plastic bag from the deep freezer and remove the outer plastic bag.
- Leave the gloves in the initial plastic bag to thaw.
During the freezing and thawing process, the leather gloves are forced to stretch.
Things you should know
- It should interest you to know that if the leather gloves did not fit at all in the first place, probably because you got a smaller size, they still would not fit after any of these processes because you can only get them to stretch out a few inches.
- You should not use a blow dryer to hasten the drying process of the leather gloves as direct heat could ruin the leather.
- You should also not leave the damp newspaper in the gloves for more than 2-3 days. This is to prevent the growth of mold inside or on your leather gloves.
- As said several times in this article, you should try as much as possible to treat your leather gloves with a leather conditioner at least twice a year to keep your leather gloves durable and long-lasting.
At least one of these methods should work for you, follow the steps and have leather gloves that fit as comfortably as a second skin.