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[GreatSkyRiver Falco]

Su'cuy


so I have a few more minor things before I can say my kit is ready,one being the girthbelt and leather belt set up. Idont have cash to trade for a nice one so I decided to make one from the materials I had. after doing some research and comparing styles vs what I had to work with, I found that I could make a decent "lonewolf" style belt.(as in lonewolf1183, I pm'ed him beforehand to make sure he was cool with it, said he was.).
this is what I've been doing. this is just the leather belt portion, not the girth, that will be later on.
main belt

old belt; this will be cut in half lengthwise.

I used Rapid Rivets from Tandy leather to secure every thing. they are the kind you hammer together, its very quick.
I have to order more as well as some large snaps, I was only able to get two pouches before i ran out.

[GreatSkyRiver Falco]

I didnt mean to hit"post".

anyway,
here, you can see the black belt cut in half and placed on the other to get a feel.


I'm just going to use this cheap buckle to be the decoration in the middle. the black strap will be cut in half again, this time the short way, leaving two short straps.one end of each strap was then looped around the buckle and riveted.( holes must be punched first)



this was then riveted down the length to secure it, leaving a bit on the ends free for later adjustments. I also salvaged some "v" rings from an old punkrock collar(!) to hang some utilities from and bolted them on also.

here is the front , with one of the pouches, so you can have an idea.

to be continued.

[GreatSkyRiver Falco]

here we will see how the back closes. it will be a simple velcro closer.( personally, I think leather and velcro goes together like human skin and hot lava.). I got some velcro off an old elbow pad and cleaned it up.

crappy pic, but yes thats velcro.
I used this to glue it to the leather, sewing was out because that leather is too thick, even with the awl.

first I cut the end of the black straps enough to let the belt overlap, then put the velcro on.


here, it is closed. that velcro takes some pulling to get it off and the glue is still holding.

to hide the break in the back, I used this old wallet, after I removed the leathery stuff in between, then glued the outside back together.


I may change it, or not.
here is a front shot.

[GreatSkyRiver Falco]

here are some templates to make a box (or bespin luke) type pouches, all you need is some graph paper and a ruler and a pencil/pen to start;


some notes;
this is a two piece main body, because I dont have large enough pieces. if you want to do a one piece then simply take the templates and overlap strips "b" over "d" or vice versa, OR rotate sheet 1 so it is upside down in relation to shee two and overlap strip "c". tape together an cut out. now you have a one piece.
4 squares verticaly or horizontaly equal 1 inch, you will see numbers around the border indicating inches. this pouch is 3inch wide, 4 inch high and 1 inch deep when completed.
red lines get cut, including the small half inch slice between the "A" boxes on sheet two.
dotted lines indicate folding on the line near it. you will also see the word "fold".
If you have'nt guessed, "no fold" means don't fold.
the "wings on the side insheet two are to reinforce the lid.(like a cigarette pack.)you can leave these off if you want, simply continue the cut between the "A" boxes until the "wing"is cut off.
every thing above the vertical "A" box is the front flap. you can cut your own design if you like. if you cut off the "wings" then everthing above the topmost "fold" line is fair game .you might want to leave room for a closure of some sort.
next time.

[GreatSkyRiver Falco]

I always insist on a paper-mock to work out some kinks.
cut out the templates.

start with sheet 2. you will see that the "A" tabs on the wings are smaller here, ignore it , I made too small and we'll see later what happened. fold the tabs up ward, along with the other folds you see.

once you folded those tabs up, fold the wings so that all 4 "A" sections are vertical, overlap them and tape/glue them down.

sheet 1; fold the larger sections upward to make 3 "walls", then fold the smaller sections inward.

tighten it up so that the points (b,c) overlap as well as points (c,d), then tape/glue.

now take the two halves and place them together to for a box, making sure the lettered pieces line up (dont worry if B and D got mixed, as long as it makes a box.)


and the belt loop goes on the back, no we don't need a mock of that.

take the time to check it out or make your own design, this is when you do it.

[GreatSkyRiver Falco]

pouches;cont.
so here is the actual pouch wip.
I started off with these leather pieces, they are about 5 3/4 by 8 inches. slightly stiffer leather, most likley for boots or hats,so they hold the boxy shape better. they were samples from some garment co. at my old job. there are 20 pieces. each one a different surface texture and color, no two alike( you can imagine how these pouches will look.) each pouch will use two pieces each, so I will get 10 puches out of this bunch.(just need more fastenings, I might get one more pouch if i'm lucky).

I tried to get the best matches out of what was here.

okay, cut out another set of templates,nice and neat. lay them on your leather the same way you would your armor, trie to fit it so that you get as much out of ypur material, smaller pieces can be used for ammo loops and cylinders....oh wow! I forgot about some cylinder things..anyway. trace around the template then use a ruler to mark off your fold lines.TAKE YOUR TIME AND BE VERY CAREFUL HERE. any deviation of the lines at any point will cause the pieces to not fit right and it will come looking lopsided. carefully cut out the leather using a razor knife or heavy duty scissors. remember to do the 1/2 line between the two"A" pieces.

this is important. make sure you know which side will be the out side of your leather piece before you begin any folding. now that you know what side is out,we will move on to the next step.
I dont like when the  post window fills up.

[GreatSkyRiver Falco]

this part is a pain.

this is what I did, I'm sure there is a better way, or a special tool to do this, I dont know at the moment, to make sure I got a nice consistant fold, I took an old dull glass cutter and creased all the fold lines on the "valley" side, making several passes to get a good line. do not use a sharp object like a knife , you dont want to cut it, just crease it. then I folded it over by hand very carefully along the crease and used a small hammer to flatten and sharpen the crease from the outside, this allowed it to keep its shape and make it easier to assemble later on.
here you can see the pieces with nice sharp folds. you can also see the wierd crescent shaped blade thing I got In a thrift place, I think I just saw it in a leather supply site, now I cant find it, I dont know if it is supposed to be sharp, but it is dull enough to get good crease lines. you can also see the smaaler wings before i made my revision.

ok, leather cut out ( dont forget the belt loop), check. creased and folded, check.( remember, take your time so you get it right).
now we can put this thing together.

[GreatSkyRiver Falco]

before we move on, choose your form of fasteners( nuts n bolts, rivets, rapid rivet, chicago screw or screwpost). make sure you know how to attach said fastener as we will not get into that stuff here, usually, they come with instructions anyway.
I use the rapid rivets from Tandy leather.
lay the loop on the back OUTSIDE part where the belt will go. it helps to have a belt handy to make sure the rivets are not too close,make 2 marks on the loop portion where to punch holes, then punch it.

now, lay just the loop on the back portion in the exact spot you want it in and mark some spots throught holes you just punched so you can make a hole through the back.

now punch those holes, and rivet the top of the loop on. for the bottom, you can-A) just use another rivet or-B) use a snap so you can remove the pouch without removing the whole belt.

[GreatSkyRiver Falco]

this part was a little tricky as well.

first, lets refer back to template sheet two,

on the bottom, where you have two colums labeled "B" and "D". at the top of these two colums, the first two side by side squares and the two beneath it to make a larger square in the top of each colum. the "cross-hair" in the middle of the larger square is the hole punch mark.
next, go all the way down the colum to where they become the ends of "C". same thing, 4 little squares make a large square at the ends of "C", the cross-hair is your punch mark. now go back up the colum and find a halfway point just 1 square below the actual letter "B" and "D", make punch marks, and finally, in the middle of "C", the cross touching the back of the letter"C"=punch mark.
now punch them.
now, carefully try to place the two pieces together , fitting them as close as possible to the desired end result making sure that(looking at sheet 1)panel"C"is on TOP of corners "B" and "D"and carfully mark some punches through the holes you just made
this pic will show what I mean

remove the back portion once you have made your marks, you will note that the corners of"B" and"D" still need their punches, so punch what you just marked and re-fold so that its in shape and now mark through the holes you just made in the corners of "C" now go back and punch those two. so, if we did good then all these hole should line up.
ok so, bolt it up! depending on your fastener of choice depends on how tricky this bit is, I just happend to have a piece of 1 inch square bar that i was able to slide into the pouch to act as an anvil so I could hammer the rivets in.
you should have this so far;

next

[GreatSkyRiver Falco]

*SIGH*

it was bound to happen;


again, make sure that panel "C" is ON TOP of corners "B" and "D"

 

[GreatSkyRiver Falco]

lets finish this!

because I made the top of the wings too small, I was not able to rivet them in place so I used the leather glue ( was not happy)
you can see the snap I put on also. again , no snaps tutorial right now, they come with the thing to put them in ( post and anvil or rivet tool) if you get the kit. just rember to make your punch marks for them.


finished;



in my hand so you get a better size reference.




NICE!

[GreatSkyRiver Falco]

pouch #2




this one came out a lot better, its all lined up nicer and the extra height on the wings lets put a rivet so now the cover closes better!

8 more to go!

I hope you vode can use this.


 

[GreatSkyRiver Falco]

pouch #3

I mounted the snap a little high on this one so the cover looks like its high as well.

no biggie.

[Carter]

Sweet! Can we get a sticky for this??

[GreatSkyRiver Falco]

sorry vod,

I, uh ,kinda dont know how to do a "sticky".........


if you or any one else does, then knock your self out.

[Arden Fisk]

Your wish is my command.  This is a good tutorial!

[GreatSkyRiver Falco]

well then, I thank you kindley.

[GreatSkyRiver Falco]

"girthbelt".

I wanted to have a girth belt type thing made from leather to go with the belt I made earlier (and still be recognizable as performing the same function.).
I started with this old womans trenchcoat from the early '90s(big shouldpads, tiny lapel, usually worn with "big hair").

I removed two small panels from the bottom front that were about the right size;
as you can see, one side is wider on each panel. this will be the middle;

I also had one of those woven belts made from leather laces with a broken buckle, so I unraveled it and braided the laces into 3 braids long enough to go around my waist.

2 duty old duty belts cut down the length to make some skinny strips;

also; some small rectangle of leather scrap, a pile of "rapid rivets" and four heavy duty snaps.( sorry , no pic of these items.)
hang on.

[GreatSkyRiver Falco]

"girthbelt".

first, I glued a small strip of leather to the two halves to help join them, hoding it down with a sledgehammer head that i use as a mini anvil......and as a weight.


I centered a small rectangle on a larger one with glue to make a center piece that will be riveted to the seam,further securing it as well as changeing the design in the center slighty so the belt wont be so uniform around.


I cut the duty belt strips into short pieces to hold the braid on to the backing, macking sure that the top and bottom braid covered the edges of the small rectange and the black strips were covering the side edges. I had to mark and punch holes galore. .I basically just repeated until I got to the end.



then, using two more rectangle of scrap, I made pockets to tuck the ends of the braids in so they can be changed out if I want.

[GreatSkyRiver Falco]

"girthbelt"

and last, I added the four snaps to close it, leaving extra material on the under-portion to add more snaps later if it needs to be a bigger waist size

one is black because I had no more silver caps.

here it is after a trim, later I will use a bit-o-polish to darken up the fresh cut edges.

I left some of the lining in from the trenchcoat to make "hidden pockets" when the rivets were attached, as you can see on the reverse side, small thin items can be hidden here........maybe not the large sharpie.

and, it can be worn alone or with the thinner belt over it.

[GreatSkyRiver Falco]

"kama"

back to the trenchcoat!

this time I removed the entire bottom.
the ruler is one foot

only thing is, the pockets are just below the top seam, I can try to incorperate them or remove them and sew the slit up.


I'll use this studded belt to attach to the kama.

and this ugly dug brass buckle.

thats it for now.

[GreatSkyRiver Falco]

here is a test fit of the two belts together;

[redkraytdragon]

That looks great! Keep us posted. 

[Ajax Kaal]

Excellent work and great ideas and good tutorials.

Keep up the great work.

Ajax.

[GreatSkyRiver Falco]

Thank you both!