Over time however, further pairs of gloves came along (or, more accurately, I sought them out online and off, adding them to my stash with great bliss), and soon my wee collection - which wasn't really so wee any more - needed a new home.
For a while I tucked my gloves into a dresser drawer, but that didn't really seem to keep them together very neatly, and given how much the kitty loves to nestle into drawers if we leave them open, I quickly came to realize that a bureau claimed by a cat was not the best solution.
Next the gloves floated around various spots in my house, stored in small plastic (shoe) boxes, large handbags, and even a pretty pillow case. All were ok, but I found the quickly locating the exact pair I was after in a flash proved tricky, and I'd often be left with plenty of re-organizing to do once the desired gloves had been obtained.
Then one day a light bulb (I like to think it was a pink bulb, pink being my favourite colour) went off and I suddenly knew just how to store my ever-expanding vintage glove collection. Sock boxes! Yes indeedy, those divided, neatly contained boxes that are sold with the intention of having socks, tights, or perhaps even undergarments stored in them would the perfect way to sort and house all of my gloves.
A few clicks of the mouse later, a couple of weeks to wait for my divided sock storage boxes to arrive, and presto, I could suddenly give each glove its own chamber and arrange my whole collection by colour (as I've touched on before, I rather adore sorting anything that can be sorted into a rainbow, into one).
Gloves are one of my absolute favourite items of clothing. I wear them frequently and have tried over the years to build up a collection that includes colours from all across the spectrum. Though there are still some shades I need, and there's always room for more than one pair in the same colour (especially with so many neat embellished pairs out there), by collection at present has completely filled up four of these twenty slot sock storage boxes.
There's the whites, ivories, creams, beiges, and white sheers.
The pinks, reds, oranges, yellows, and greens.
The blues, purples and (some of the) browns.
And the rest of the browns, the greys and the blacks.
Though not all divided cloth storage boxes like this have lids, these ones do, and when closed this is what they look like.
At the moment, I've had to double up (two gloves to one slot) in a few of the divided slots, so I clearly need to order another box or two. Though the first eBay seller I originally bought these boxes from is no longer selling them, after a bit of searching, I was able to find another seller who (at the time of writing) is carrying these exact boxes, too.
Like many people, I don't have an endless array of storage space by any means, which makes these boxes all the more perfect. Yes, at about 40cm x 10cm x 5cm, they do take up a little bit of room, but so long as the bottom one is housed on a flat, sturdy surface, I can stack all four on top of each other quite easily, which is what I'm doing at the moment in one of upstairs closets. I stack them from darkest to lightest, that way I always know which of the four boxes to grab when I'm looking for a certain pair of gloves.
If you have a budding (or already hefty sized) vintage glove collection but haven't yet found a way of storing them that really works for you, I highly recommend these divided sock containers. They're economical, very lightweight, and not terribly hard to find (you can source them, in different patterns, configurations, and sizes from eBay, various online storage product websites, some home decor shops, and sometimes even big box stores like Wal-Mart).
In last month's post about how to size vintage gloves, I promised to share how I store my vintage glove collection with all of you, and this fine (nippy!) Thursday in early November seemed like just the time to do so. If you don't feel this particular storage approach calling your name though, here are ten other possible glove storage ideas for you:
-(As I originally used) Vintage glove boxes (glove boxes have been a time honoured way of housing gloves for centuries)
-Hat boxes (vintage or new)
-Vintage luggage
-Sewing boxes and baskets (vintage or new)
-Decorative home decor boxes
-Plastic storage towers
-Dresser and vanity drawers
-Vintage stocking boxes (which, though usually smaller than these sock storage boxes, are often divided already, too)
-In the pockets of dresses, coats and other garments that aren't worn often (make sure that neither the gloves nor the garment you're storing them in is apt to bleed any colour onto the other)
-Sprinkled around one or more rooms in your house, on shelves, decorative trays, resting on a stack of books, etc (the aim is to utilize them as the beautiful pieces of art they are)
When storing vintage gloves, you want to treat them like you would any older, (fairly) delicate fabric. Keep them in a dry, clean environment away from critters, curious youngsters, unwanted creepy crawlies, moisture, excess humidity, and anything that could stand to stain or impart a strong unpleasant odour.
If you're housing a lot of gloves in a small space and not wearing them all that often, you may want to take them all out once every few months and hang or lay them someplace (dry) with a lot of ventilation so that they can breath for a day or two.
Check your gloves periodically for signs of wear (or worst, moth nibbles!), making repairs (if possible) when necessary, and gently hand washing any gloves that become soiled as soon as possible. I've had good luck hand washing mine in the bathroom sink, in cold water with a little bit of Woolite detergent, and then drying them with my set of vintage plastic glove dryers (which looks quite similar to this one that's for sale on etsy).
If your gloves should happen to become heavily soiled, you may want to take them to a professional drycleaner, who, ideally, will have experience with delicate fabrics and/or vintage clothing.
Collecting and wearing vintage gloves is truly a delight for me. I adore having a rainbow of these classic accessories at the ready when I get dressed and enjoy wearing my collection all through the year, no matter the season. I know that as time goes on my not-so-wee any more collection will continue to expand, and as it does more divided sock storage boxes like these cute floral print ones will be called into action.
And should you be wondering what happened to that lovely quilted gold vintage glove box that housed my first few pairs of gloves, it now works splendidly as an abode for some of my stretch and charm bracelets (clearly, whatever is put into is destined to touch my wrists!).
