I had always had an interest in
tailoring. My auntie used to run a business making Irish dancing
dresses. My Mum used to make clothes for me and my brothers. Mum used
to make us jackets and trouser. I have come to understand how difficult
it is to make proper jackets.
I was due to go to the Spaceport event. I thought I should go to the event in some kind of costume. I figured that I should look different to the visitors. It turned out to be a good idea. But what should I wear? I decided that there was not time to make a proper Star Wars character costume. Part of the problem would be the need to join one of two groups appearing at the event. Part of the issue was also that the group would have to pass the costume.
A Facebook “friend” lives in Hungary and makes a living as a shepherd and makes of period leather armour. Again there was not enough time to do a full leather armour rig. Whilst researching Hungarian Steppes riders and discovered the Ciskos horsemen. The idea formed of having baggy trousers, with my riding boots and paired with a shirt and a waistcoat. I did not think to try to and make a shirt and waistcoat. I bought them from an outlet in Birmingham. The trousers where going to be my piece. I got a pattern for culottes, zip, thread and hooks from the haberdashers. It took a while to pick some cloth for the trousers. I picked some really nice 100% fine woven wool.
Once I understood the pattern I cut leg patterns from top to bottom. When I pinned the pattern to the cloth I left a 12” [300mm] gap between the two halves of the leg pattern. That introduced a great deal more material. After a couple of false starts, dead end and missing my way I ended up with a pair of legs and zip front. The next big job was painstaking but not difficult. I had to measure and pin the pleats. I arranged the pleats to run from the front centre towards the back seam. Big pins are a revelation. With it all pinned I sewed the pleats. After that making the deep waist band the fitting of it to the legs was surprisingly easy. In retrospect if I was not under a time pressure I could have done a neater job. Having said that the wool moves nicely which is helped by the yards of cloth, a bit like a kilt.
I needed some leather to go into the costume. After all that is what I do. I had a look in the odds and end shelf and found a nice piece of leather. It was just about the right length and width. I made the belt just a small bit smaller than the trousers waist band. The belt is four inches wide with a two inch strap and buckle. I edged the leather to give it some subdued detailing.
I thought that the belt was not enough. It had been said to me
that medieval style purses would work in that genre. I thought let’s
make a bigish medieval purse. I had a nice piece of soft black leather. I
hemmed the top edge, folded the leather in half and sewed up the edges.
That gave me a bag. My daughter was in town so I asked her to pick up
some items to embellish the bag. I sewed on a stiff piece of leather to
strengthen the back of the bag and provide an anchor for the belt
hanger. I cut and the holes for the draw string and set the metal hole
liners. I laced the holes. By this time my daughter was back. She had
got me some tassels and Acrylic “stones”. I glued the stones to the
ends of the draw strings. I sewed a tassel into the bottom corner of the
bag. I was also given three Acorn bells but what to do with them. I
made a chain and attached one bell to the bottom of the chain. I then
made two shorter chains and attached a bell to each chain. I attached
the other end of the short chain part way along the main chain. I ended
up with a cascade of jingle bells. The free end the long chain was
attached, with double jump rings, to the draw string.
I was a bit stumped on how I was going to suspend the bag if I was going wear it with deep belt. The muse struck me. I had some hooks that were flat in section. I also had some decorative chain. The set two holes in the stiff leather I had reserved for the hanger. I then threaded the chain through the holes and using jump ring attached the hooks to the chain. The chained hooks were passed up behind the belt and hooked onto the top edge of the belt. When the bag is worn the chains and hooks are trapped between the belt and the body which makes it secure.
The bells,tassels and draw strings weights gave the bag plenty of movement whenever I stepped about. The bag is essential when wearing the Ciskos trouser because they do not have pockets. I could see my wearing, what I would call, a drop leg bag or purse.
When I tried my shirt on the sleeves were a bit long. I quickly made a pair of short strops to go round my biceps to keep the sleeves up. My costume was all black and silver/chrome. From the ground up I wore; tall leather riding boots, Ciskos trousers, Deep belt, drop leg purse, Balck shirt, arm straps and a heavy cotton waistcoat. It was suitably different but not obviously Star Wars. With a little application it could have been made be a Sith Lord. Perhaps another day!
I was due to go to the Spaceport event. I thought I should go to the event in some kind of costume. I figured that I should look different to the visitors. It turned out to be a good idea. But what should I wear? I decided that there was not time to make a proper Star Wars character costume. Part of the problem would be the need to join one of two groups appearing at the event. Part of the issue was also that the group would have to pass the costume.
A Facebook “friend” lives in Hungary and makes a living as a shepherd and makes of period leather armour. Again there was not enough time to do a full leather armour rig. Whilst researching Hungarian Steppes riders and discovered the Ciskos horsemen. The idea formed of having baggy trousers, with my riding boots and paired with a shirt and a waistcoat. I did not think to try to and make a shirt and waistcoat. I bought them from an outlet in Birmingham. The trousers where going to be my piece. I got a pattern for culottes, zip, thread and hooks from the haberdashers. It took a while to pick some cloth for the trousers. I picked some really nice 100% fine woven wool.
Once I understood the pattern I cut leg patterns from top to bottom. When I pinned the pattern to the cloth I left a 12” [300mm] gap between the two halves of the leg pattern. That introduced a great deal more material. After a couple of false starts, dead end and missing my way I ended up with a pair of legs and zip front. The next big job was painstaking but not difficult. I had to measure and pin the pleats. I arranged the pleats to run from the front centre towards the back seam. Big pins are a revelation. With it all pinned I sewed the pleats. After that making the deep waist band the fitting of it to the legs was surprisingly easy. In retrospect if I was not under a time pressure I could have done a neater job. Having said that the wool moves nicely which is helped by the yards of cloth, a bit like a kilt.
I needed some leather to go into the costume. After all that is what I do. I had a look in the odds and end shelf and found a nice piece of leather. It was just about the right length and width. I made the belt just a small bit smaller than the trousers waist band. The belt is four inches wide with a two inch strap and buckle. I edged the leather to give it some subdued detailing.
I thought that the belt was not enough. It had been said to me
that medieval style purses would work in that genre. I thought let’s
make a bigish medieval purse. I had a nice piece of soft black leather. I
hemmed the top edge, folded the leather in half and sewed up the edges.
That gave me a bag. My daughter was in town so I asked her to pick up
some items to embellish the bag. I sewed on a stiff piece of leather to
strengthen the back of the bag and provide an anchor for the belt
hanger. I cut and the holes for the draw string and set the metal hole
liners. I laced the holes. By this time my daughter was back. She had
got me some tassels and Acrylic “stones”. I glued the stones to the
ends of the draw strings. I sewed a tassel into the bottom corner of the
bag. I was also given three Acorn bells but what to do with them. I
made a chain and attached one bell to the bottom of the chain. I then
made two shorter chains and attached a bell to each chain. I attached
the other end of the short chain part way along the main chain. I ended
up with a cascade of jingle bells. The free end the long chain was
attached, with double jump rings, to the draw string.I was a bit stumped on how I was going to suspend the bag if I was going wear it with deep belt. The muse struck me. I had some hooks that were flat in section. I also had some decorative chain. The set two holes in the stiff leather I had reserved for the hanger. I then threaded the chain through the holes and using jump ring attached the hooks to the chain. The chained hooks were passed up behind the belt and hooked onto the top edge of the belt. When the bag is worn the chains and hooks are trapped between the belt and the body which makes it secure.
The bells,tassels and draw strings weights gave the bag plenty of movement whenever I stepped about. The bag is essential when wearing the Ciskos trouser because they do not have pockets. I could see my wearing, what I would call, a drop leg bag or purse.
When I tried my shirt on the sleeves were a bit long. I quickly made a pair of short strops to go round my biceps to keep the sleeves up. My costume was all black and silver/chrome. From the ground up I wore; tall leather riding boots, Ciskos trousers, Deep belt, drop leg purse, Balck shirt, arm straps and a heavy cotton waistcoat. It was suitably different but not obviously Star Wars. With a little application it could have been made be a Sith Lord. Perhaps another day!
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