I got all of the pieces laid out and cut out yesterday. I was able to get all of the pieces out of 4 hides with plenty of leftovers. And I managed to layout around all of the holes, so no patching. Then i started the beadwork on the back panel. It's far easier to bead the pieces before sewing it all together. This will take some time, I'll post updates as I make progress.

Awesome Work

Nice

Will be following this.

Looking forward to the work in progress pics… off to a great start!

Looking good can’t wait to see outcome

Thanks for the compliments guys. I'll keep at it a bit every night. The beadwork in the pic took about 45 minutes, and I have a LONG way to go.

Hope you laid the pieces out in the right direction so they hand right. In other words the hide stretches different from side to side then it does from neck to tail. I learned that the hard way on the first jacket I did years ago. I really did the same thing you might have done trying to miss holes or other imperfections in my tanning job.

Just the one under arm piece is laid out perpendicular to the others. Hope fully the stretch doesn't affect it too much. All of the other pieces are laid out in the same direction. If it turns out to be too much, I do have another hide I could cut a piece from.

Make it big enough to ....grow into

Oh yeah, there's about 4 or 5 inches of overlap in the front. And a couple inches of ease in the shoulders.

It'll also be a great motivator to not gain too much weight.

I know a couple guys that by the time they finished their jackets, they couldn't wear them.

Looks like a great project.
You can take out the excess stretch in the hide before cutting and sewing.Then you will not get the "bagging"
You can block smoke tanned hides.besides taking out the excess stretch,it also removes all the puckers from the sewn holes.

Or you'll have to make a tough decision....keep up with the strongman training....or wear my buckskin

When you make your own clothes its no problem to add a few darts of material to accommodate the "expansion".

And very, very common in garments from the period.

That means a lot to me that you include me in that group of people. Thank you.

Got almost half of the beadwork on the back panel done. Down the side took almost two hours. I figure I've got 3 hours left on the back, and three for a strip on each arm. Then assembly starts.

looking great, can't wait to see it done, thanks for sharing.