Water-proof mitts: Easiest MYOG?

Many people tell me that they wish they coulds sew and make their own gear as I sometimes do. One thing this proves is that they have never seen anything I have sewn. Cause I am not very good at it. But for me function has a higher priority than looks. However, if you cannot sew you can always use tape. And make your own water-propf ultralight mitts from Cuben fiber. Here is how.

By Jörgen Johansson

Making your Cuben fiber mitts is of course much easier if you happen to have some leftovers from making a tent or a tarp or two. Cuben fiber is pretty expensive and the tape that you use is even more expensive since it comes in a big roll. The roll is 55 meters however, so till last a long time. Here is how I did:

The advantage with using very thin material is that you need not complicate things. In mitts the thumb is usually not included in this brutally simple fashion. But here it works very well. The space you see around my hand is a minimum. These mitts do fit like a glove (note: pun...). Be particularly cautious not to skimp with the fabric around your wrists. To narrow and you wont be able to slip them on easily. If they are too roomy around the wrist you can always add a bit of elastic there.

After having made the cardboard mold you just outline it on a piece of Cuben, using a felt pen.

My scissors were probably below par, they could not cut material this thin and slippery. Since I always use a soldering iron for the thin nylons I normally work with, I used this here as well. A sharp knife would also do the job. Since Cuben is not a woven material the edges won't fray anyway.

Having made four pieces to make up your two mitts it is now taping time. What you see is the first instep, and the paper layer protecting the tape. The tape itself is extremely thin, almost invisible, as well as very sticky. Still, it is surprisingly easy to work with. I have made tents and tarps and the taped seams have not shown any tendency to leak or break.

For the straight lines you can use long strips of tape, for the rounded edges you have to use shorter bits. If you take pains to overlap the tape pieces a millimeter or two these seams will be waterproof. However, my plans for these gloves are not that they should be waterproof enough for you to work with your hands in water. I only want something that will keep my hands reasonably dry and wind protected in really nasty weather.

Voila. After taping you do of course turn them inside out, the seams ending up on the inside. Not pretty but they do work.

Normally I use these mitts with a pair of quick drying, membrane free fleece gloves underneath. The combination is pretty warm. Of course they will collect moisture from your skin, but that is usually less of a problem when the cold rain is whipping horisontally along the tundra. They weigh only six grams, so it is a no-brainer to alway bring them. For occassions when they might not work ideally you can bring some heavier mitts instead.