From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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?
Not a *good* one.
You can find bits and pieces here and there though. And I know *I* will be
perfectly happy to answer questions. You might also try asking at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/medieval-leather/ It's a good list, but a bit
moribund lately.
Just as a fair warning - there is a tremendous amount of folklore and
"traditionally handed down" information in the leather world - if you see
people saying authoritatively "you should never do this or that" be aware
that it probably won't hurt to do it whatever way they suggest, but the
reason they give may not be the whole story. They are often just repeating
what they were taught in good faith.
However the sites that others have been suggesting are definately worth
taking a look.
I'd love to make a leather doublet but don't know how to get what I want.
First you need a pattern :)
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.
That's cheaper than a good wool one - which should tell you something right
there.
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.
Well, I will say that if you were going to do a leather kilt, the first
thing to keep in mind is that puppie's going to be *heavy*. The more pleats
you put in it, the heavier it will be (not to mention hard to sit on).
Ok, leather thickness is usually (in the US at least) measured in "ounces".
Garment weight leather is about 2-3 ounces, which means that a square foot
weighs 2-3 ounces (an "ounce" is *I think* about 1/64" (.4mm) but this will
vary slightly by type of leather, tannage, the weather, how well it was
split). Now if we assume a full wool kilt is made with 6 yards as a
minimum and 2.5 feet from hem to waistline - this is an estimate for
illustration, only. That's (6x3x2.5) 45 square feet. 45*2.5 (a median
point for 2-3 oz leather) that's 112.5 ounces of leather, or slightly over 7
pounds of leather. And that's not counting the weight of the thread and
other attachments.
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.
Give it a try. They probably turned the lower hem to give it a more
finished look. Raw leather edges can be *so* tacky :)
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.
I can see that
Marc
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