Friday, September 14, 2012

Leather Bracers, Boot Cuffs and a Sword Belt



Today is more of Mr Riley's accessories.  In leather.  To answer a couple of questions.  I used a domestic machine with a leather needle.  When I'm all finished with these costume posts, I'll put together a post on how I cut and sewed the leather.

 First of are the bracers from Butterick 5371.
 If you ever make these, make sure to sew as close to the D-rings as possible.  Otherwise they slip through each other. 
 The leather for these was taken from an old leather coat of Mr. Riley's.  More about that when we talk about the vest.  I used two layers of leather for the bracers.  It doesn't fray, so you don't have to worry about finishing the edges.
 The studs are simply jean rivets.  I am really good at applying jean rivets, now.
 Mr. Riley tried to weather the bracers a bit, so they weren't so new and shiny.



 The boots were cowboy boots picked up at a thrift store. 
 I made a tube of leather to hide the top of the boot and make a cuff.

 The trickiest thing to figure out, which turned out to be fairly easy, was a way to attach the sword and sheath to the sword belt.  The trick is to carry the sword comfortably, without impaling the people next to you and behind you.


 I ended up making a tapered tube for the sheath to go in.  Rivets along the top for stability.  Put a tie on one end so that the angle of the sword could be adjusted.
On the back is a belt loop for the sword belt to go through.  It may not be the prettiest thing I've ever made, but it worked pretty well.

 I did make a sword belt.  Really just put D-rings and rivets on the end of the tie belt that came with the original leather coat.  To Mr. Riley's credit he wore it all day.  It was just not strong enough to carry the weight and there was a lot of fussing with it during the day.  On the way out of the Faire, he bought himself a very nice and thick sword belt.  I pointed out that I could not make him one that nice (or long) with out spending some serious money, so he might as well buy one. (Its the one with the circle buckle in the pictures above)




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