I got it in my head recently to make a pair of leather trousers, not for motor biking or anything but for when hanging out with the viking and medieval people that make up so much of my leather business.
So about 10 hours of research later, enough to make my archeologist cousin proud, I finally settled on a pattern that someone dragged out of a bog someplace but then modified it and sewed on a permanent belt at the top out of thicker leather and added some of my own touches to this. I also stuck on a flap at the front found in later medieval garments for those nights where the beer and ale is in abundance.
The trousers themselves are made up of many small pieces instead of large sections of leather, allowing them to be snug in areas yet flexible and loose in other areas where it counts. All hand stitched, I wanted to make them look like they were made in a small cabin in the woods by a guy with limited tools and materials which in this case they were.
Usually I like to pre-punch holes for stitching which makes things reasonably easy come sewing time but since the idea was to treat these and make them reasonably water resistant I used an awl instead of a spring punch on the top section and did not punch holes in the actual garment leather. About 30 hours of sewing pieced everything together some areas getting a little blood colored dye. To make them look positively rustic, rudimentary and working class I used a simple running stitch which when used without pre-punched holes actually holds pretty tight and looks the part.
I wear a longer green wool shirt with them when I am out playing reinactor guy so no one actually ever sees the actual detail of the belt part. A friend asked for some photos so I thought I would share.
So about 10 hours of research later, enough to make my archeologist cousin proud, I finally settled on a pattern that someone dragged out of a bog someplace but then modified it and sewed on a permanent belt at the top out of thicker leather and added some of my own touches to this. I also stuck on a flap at the front found in later medieval garments for those nights where the beer and ale is in abundance.
The trousers themselves are made up of many small pieces instead of large sections of leather, allowing them to be snug in areas yet flexible and loose in other areas where it counts. All hand stitched, I wanted to make them look like they were made in a small cabin in the woods by a guy with limited tools and materials which in this case they were.
Usually I like to pre-punch holes for stitching which makes things reasonably easy come sewing time but since the idea was to treat these and make them reasonably water resistant I used an awl instead of a spring punch on the top section and did not punch holes in the actual garment leather. About 30 hours of sewing pieced everything together some areas getting a little blood colored dye. To make them look positively rustic, rudimentary and working class I used a simple running stitch which when used without pre-punched holes actually holds pretty tight and looks the part.
I wear a longer green wool shirt with them when I am out playing reinactor guy so no one actually ever sees the actual detail of the belt part. A friend asked for some photos so I thought I would share.
