FA Lady's Armour Pieces

[summerborn]

Hello all 

I've looked through other posts, but cannot seem to find answers to what I am looking for.

I am looking to sew/make a few pieces of ladies armour, using smooth and/or deerskin leather. (When I say "I", I mean mostly my mother who is an amazing costume designer/seamstress). We have never made armour before and are a little lost about where to start - my mom prefers to have some sort of starting pattern to work off of (apparently its easier than making a pattern from scratch) and she's never worked with the kind of leather that I am looking to use for this.

And yes, I have reached out to several vendors about making these custom pieces but only one responded to tell me that they would not work with deer skin and they were not interested in substituting it for a different leather that they were more comfortable with.

Any tips or resources on making custom armour would be greatly appreciated!

[Lady L]

Not sure what type of armor you are trying to make. I used black pleather and sewed shoulder pieces with dragon scales for someone. The pleather is backed with felt. I was quite surprised how realistic it looked when finished. Sewing leather is not something I can do with my sewing machine, I have tried it on deerskin and thin pig skin and used a leather needle. It just didn't work. The pleather, though, sewed very easily. I had planned to use the same process for bags and other things, but didn't get it done. Then, I sold my shop in 2013, so now I don't really need to do it. I have not seen patterns to sew armor, but maybe you could adapt something similar? Visuals would help me.

[summerborn]

Not sure what type of armor you are trying to make. I used black pleather and sewed shoulder pieces with dragon scales for someone. The pleather is backed with felt. I was quite surprised how realistic it looked when finished. Sewing leather is not something I can do with my sewing machine, I have tried it on deerskin and thin pig skin and used a leather needle. It just didn't work. The pleather, though, sewed very easily. I had planned to use the same process for bags and other things, but didn't get it done. Then, I sold my shop in 2013, so now I don't really need to do it. I have not seen patterns to sew armor, but maybe you could adapt something similar? Visuals would help me.

That is a great idea! I had never thought to try pleather before.

I was looking to do something similar to the piece below.


I love how its armor, but still has a femininity to it.

[Johnwolfe]

The photos not showing up on my end


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Lady L]

Sorry, photo didn't work for me. Do you have a link?

[summerborn]

Oh no! Here is a link to the photo on my Google drive https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B__fKn5Lm0VsUGt5c3ZteUpzODg

It's the armor on the right hand side.

I like how I would still have full mobility in it, but it wouldn't be too hot for Texas weather   

[Lady Kathleen of Olmsted]

Pleather, Suede cloth are synthetic fabrics that may not be overly suited for Texas weather. Perhaps a cotton denim that can be stressed to look weathered and worn would be better.

I have a commission for a client in Texas to make a coat from a Fantasy video game. From the photos, it looks like tressed suede. I am using Twill with suede cloth as contrast fabrics, vinyl for a vest.

[Lady L]

Thanks for the link, that helps.

For the top part you could use a pattern for a doublet. The collar, shoulders etc would be the pattern part.  Then, modify the bust area and down. That's what I would do.

I have over-dyed a light tan denim fabric with a darker brown dye. It did look a lot like leather. 
I glued some leather pieces of trim to it.

Instead of fully dying the piece of fabric wet, you would want it wrinkled/crinkled and dye it dry. That will give a streaked leather look.  For the amount of coverage in the photo, I think you could use pleather, though. But, that's up to you.

[summerborn]

Those are fantastic tips! Thank you both so much! I would have never even thought to try and dye a cotton to look like leather! I'm excited to start working on this!