Had some free time today and decided to try making a lightsaber holder for the Jedi outfit. I ran out of time on the original outfit and just braided twine together, made a slipknot, and hung it off my belt that way, but it wasn't really solid and looked kind of silly up close.
Since I've gotten some experience in leatherworking with the Thor costume, I figured I could at least make an attempt at a nicer holder. I'll skip the obvious fails - where I learned what thickness leather to use, why fabric snaps don't work on thick leather, and that metal snaps scratch up a metal lightsaber handle - and stick to the winning learning process. Started out with a paper pattern, made sure it was long enough to loop over the thicker-than-average Jedi belt, then added arms to wrap around the thinner areas:
After checking the fit a few times, I cut it out of leather, burnished the edges, and sewed the belt loop down. As much as I've complained about handsewing in the past, this is a new low: the best stitch for leather is a saddlestitch, which takes two different threads, ergo, two needles. that are constantly swinging around, getting caught on each other, and stabbing you as you attempt to feed them through two layers of leather. But ok, it's not too long, just about an inch and a half seam, right?
Well no, how are we going to close the arms then? Best solution I could think of was velcro, which means more sewing. Through two layers with different puncture tendencies, in a very small area, with velcro, which I swear has magnetic properties to thread. For once, however, I did not stab myself enough to bleed on anything, and finished out the sewing in about an hour:
I'm quite pleased with it: it feels secure, but still quick release. It looks pretty nice and polished, but cost me less than $5 in leather and a couple hours' time, which, sewing annoyances aside, I quite enjoyed the puttering. And now the outfit looks like a little bit nicer and personalized.
Since I've gotten some experience in leatherworking with the Thor costume, I figured I could at least make an attempt at a nicer holder. I'll skip the obvious fails - where I learned what thickness leather to use, why fabric snaps don't work on thick leather, and that metal snaps scratch up a metal lightsaber handle - and stick to the winning learning process. Started out with a paper pattern, made sure it was long enough to loop over the thicker-than-average Jedi belt, then added arms to wrap around the thinner areas:
After checking the fit a few times, I cut it out of leather, burnished the edges, and sewed the belt loop down. As much as I've complained about handsewing in the past, this is a new low: the best stitch for leather is a saddlestitch, which takes two different threads, ergo, two needles. that are constantly swinging around, getting caught on each other, and stabbing you as you attempt to feed them through two layers of leather. But ok, it's not too long, just about an inch and a half seam, right?
Well no, how are we going to close the arms then? Best solution I could think of was velcro, which means more sewing. Through two layers with different puncture tendencies, in a very small area, with velcro, which I swear has magnetic properties to thread. For once, however, I did not stab myself enough to bleed on anything, and finished out the sewing in about an hour:
I'm quite pleased with it: it feels secure, but still quick release. It looks pretty nice and polished, but cost me less than $5 in leather and a couple hours' time, which, sewing annoyances aside, I quite enjoyed the puttering. And now the outfit looks like a little bit nicer and personalized.
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