BTW.....where does one go to find out about leather? Y'know things like how
the thickness and weight are measured and what is good for what. Where to buy
hides and what to look for? Techniques for sewing and care? Is there a good
site?
I'd love to make a leather doublet but don't know how to get what I want.
So... I went with friends to the DC Eagle, a leather bar [what a bunch of
crazy and great guys! So what if they want to parade around in a harness and
leather jock strap. Whatever get's you thru the night, y'know] and met a guy
there who was gonna buy a leather "kilt" for $200 from the local leather
fetish
shop. He knew I had made a kilt for my friend Bill and wanted me to check
out the leather version at the shop. So the next day we walked over to the
shop.
What a piece of junk! It was made of coat/vest weight black leather. It had
an apron and under-apron like a kilt....and closed with straps and buckles
like a kilt. But it had a basque that went to hip level where the pleats
started. It only had pleats on the sides, the CB was flat for about 8". And to
top
it all off, the hem was a couple of inches above the knee.
It looked like an S&M cheerleader skirt. I talked him out of wasting his
money. [even though it probably woulda gone over big at the bar]
But it could work. Why not make it out of light/shirt weight leather and
just do it like a real kilt? Make the pleats go all the way across the
back....a
little more than full return deep. And cut it [why they turned a hem on the
other one I'll never know] to knee level. I think instead of binding the top
edge, I might put it on a wide [slightly curved] waist band to imitate the
belt of a real kilt. I'd use lots of hardware too. It could work.....and look
good.
One thing I did learn from the cheerleader skirt: Each pleat and its return
was a separate strip. The seam holding it to the next strip was at the back of
the return, making sure it stayed in the right direction. The front of the
pleats were edge stitched too to keep them folded in the right direction. All
that top stitching actually helps the look.
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