CLOTHING THE EXTREMITIES 



to be sewed. The year following gloves were sold in 

 dozen lots by a former associate of Edwards, this being 

 the first recorded instance of "wholesale" glove- 

 traffic in America. 



Other glove factories were soon established, and 

 followed the lead of these pioneers in sending out 

 wagon-load lots of their products. In 1825, a wagon- 

 load was sent as far as Boston from Gloversville in 

 Fulton County, New York, and sold at a good profit. 

 Thus the region about Fulton County became the 

 center of the American glove industry, and still 

 remains so. 



In the early method of manufacture, a skin was first 

 marked out by means of pasteboard models, or patterns 

 cut from thin pieces of wood. As graphite pencils were 

 then unknown, the glove-makers used "plummets" of 

 lead, made by molding the soft metal in narrow grooves. 

 The gloves were then cut out with shears and wrapped 

 up in bundles containing needles and thread, ready for 

 sending out to the sewers. The cutting was usually 

 done by men and the sewing by the women, although 

 this was not always the case. 



For many years no sewing was done in the factories, 

 but only by piece-work by persons working at home. 

 This sewing was done by a square-pointed needle 

 threaded with a waxed linen thread. Between the 

 edges to be joined a welt of buckskin was placed in 

 the heavier gloves, although no welt was used in the 

 lighter gloves and mittens. The finer gloves were 

 backstitched, and had a "vine" worked on the backs, 

 and were well fitting and serviceable. When the glove 



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