The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1883-03-23
How Kid Gloves are Made.

The kid glove is simple but very
important article of dress. OF the
millions of persons who wear gloves,
how few ever give the subject of their
manufacture a passing thought The
best skins generally come from middle
and sutheastern France. Fine sea
sons improve the quality of the skins
greatly, as the animals are kept in the
open air. In wet weather it is nee
essary to keep the kids housed. The
confinement, if lengthy, causes heating,
and produces fever spots on the skins.
The animals on the Tyrol mountains
furnish good leather for mems wear.
South American kids being more or
less wild, their coats become scratched
and torn by contact with bushes, bri-
ars, etc, and are not desirable.
PREPARING THE SKINS.
The pelt as taken from the animal is
dried then, through a series of baths,
the hair and grease are removed aud
the skin cleansed thoroughly. A most
difficult stage of the business is tan
ming and dyeing the feathers so much
skill being requisite to obtain the de-
sired shades and cotors This is ac-
complished with the best success in
France, as the French possess the art
of leather dyeing to degree not yet
attained by other nations. In order
afterwards to make the skin soft, full
and flexible, it is fed INTELLECTUALLY
absorbing quite quantity ola prep
aration of wheat flour and egg yolks.
Subsequently the parts around the
neck and shoulders, where the skin Is
thickest, are shaved with a sharp knife
to render it uniform in thickness
throughout
CUTTING OUT TIM GLOVE.
The leather fully prepared is care
fully examined for imperfections per-
feet skins are retained, imperfect ones
laid aside. The cutting of material
for kid gloves can only be done by
hand, each piece being carefully
measured in order to allow the proper
stretching space. The stamping,
which comprises cutting out The form
of the glove, is done by machinery
rapidly, as three pair are usually
stamped" at one time. From the cut
ter they pass to the embroiderer,
thence to the sewer then to the but
tonhole maker, afterwards to the fin
isher, who binds the wrist, and finally
to the person whose business it is to
pair and press them. The long nous
quetaire gloves generally consume the
entire skin of one kid. These are or
dinary gloves ten different sizes for
ladies-54 to 8; thirteen different
sizes for mem to Il; for misses
the sizes are from 4I to 6I, and fol
boys the cadet sizes range from 6I tc
Y.
| TIE MANUFACTURING CENTRE.
The great manufacturing centre fol
gloves is Grenoble, in the south OF
France, where several thousand per
sons are engaged in the factories
This firm, having to supply so many
markets-the United States, through
its office in New York; Canada
through its representatives in Montre
al; france, through Its headquarters
at Grenoble; England, through it,
branch house in London; Australia
through its connections in Melbourn,
recently made single purchase o
eleven thousand dozen skins, to b.
dyed and prepared as wanted. Ra
and dog skin gloves exist only in i'm
agination. What is called dog ski
is really lambskin, and the advertise,
dog skin gloves are made of skin
that no respectable dog would eve
recognize as having belonged to an
inhabitants of the dog world. NeS
designs in embroidery for gloves, re
Gently invented, will shortly be intro
duced; they surpass in appearance
design, colors and finish anything ye
shown, and must become, as the
deserve to be, immensely popula
: with all classes of glove wearers.