No More Lost Gloves

I am tired of replacing gloves for my kids. My husband hates the cheap gloves because they soak up water quickly and the kids end up with cold, wet hands. Good gloves aren't cheap, but kids lose gloves. It's kind of part of their job as kids. Here's my twist on the old "mittens-on-a-string" idea:

My kids have the kind of coats that have a fleece jacket as a lining. The jacket can be removed and each worn separately or together for extra warmth. To keep the jacket sleeves in place and prevent bunching and twisting, there is a little flap with a snap sewn to it. This flap goes through a little loop on the jacket sleeve. I took a piece of 6" long (1/2" wide) elastic from the fabric store, the kind used in waistbands, and hand-sewed it to the inside of each glove. (Other widths would be fine). If you can sew on a button, you can do this project. You will need a needle, some thread, scissors, and perhaps a thimble. Depends on the muscular strength of your fingers, I suppose. (I know you are tired of all my sewing posts, Lori, so drop off your gloves and I'll hook you up).
Then I snapped the flap from the coat through the loop. That's it. I used elastic because it would be stretchy and the kids could comfortably pull on the gloves to put them on. The gloves just hang on their coats all the time and they know where they are. Added bonus: if they get mixed up with somebody else's gloves, you'll know which ones are yours, for sure!

If you don't have this type of coat, you could sew two snaps onto a strip of fabric, and sew the strip to the inside of the coat sleeve.

It has worked now for two winter seasons, and we haven't lost any gloves. Another bonus? The gloves keep the elastics on them and can be passed on down to my other kids when my older kids outgrow them.

Total project cost: A bundle of elastic is about 99 cents for 1.5 yards, and it would do about 4.5 pairs of gloves, for about 22 cents a pair. (You'd need about 12" per pair).
Annual savings? Well, at $12 -14 a pair, you do the math!