I finished up all of the beadwork over the weekend. Tonight I started sewing. Got the sleeve pieces sewn together along the upper seam. The lower seam will have a piece of hide added to form the fringe. Then on to the lining and the main body. It's coming along nicely.

Sewing the seam. I use small binder clips to hold the pieces together.


The outside of the seam.


Both sleeves with the upper seam finished. This shows the color the best.

Very nice work, thanks

Good Job

Fantastic work! Is that brain tan or German?

nice thanks for posting

You sure do some very nice work!

That seam is tight and straight- No Jack & Coke prior to attempting that!

Brain (actually egg) tanned by myself. These are the first hides I've gotten nice and soft. They are heavy, WI buck hides.

Nope, that bottle has been empty for a while.

Sure is coming together nicely

That is awesome! I recently did a squirrel to learn and it’s not even close to soft. I think I messed up somewhere along the way. What is your process?

I use the method Matt Richards teaches in his book Deerskins to Buckskins. Get the book and the DVD, if you don't have them already. I redressed several of these hides, as they came out stiff the first time around.
For me, it took a while to learn how moist the hide should be when dressing, proper wringing and dressing a hide two or three times.
I am far from great at it, but I am proud of these hides. Does and smaller bucks would be much easier to learn on.

Nice

k snow Your post about the leather work you have been doing have been getting a good amount of attention That shows me that there are a lot of people that find it interesting And want to know more . It looks like your plan it making progress Also it shows anyone so inclined what is possible to do And it adds one more way to get involved it all different ways of making use of the things we bring home as a result of a successful hunting trip Keep working on your project and keep showing us how you are making it into a one of a kind item.

It does surprise me sometimes how many people look at these posts. I am glad that my work is appreciated. I don't post to show off, but to show people stuff they might not know exists, or they don't get to see very often.

There are a lot of people that are interested in tanning, and braintanning is a great way to dress deerskins. The only down side is there is a fair amount of elbow grease needed. But other than that, most trappers have a fleshing knife and beam, which are some of the only tools needed. For softening I use a 1/4" cable. No fancy tools. Frame softening needs a frame and a paddle, again, nothing fancy. There's a learning curve for sure, but the end result is amazing. The people I get hides from are always amazed at how soft the leather is.

Nice work,do you put a welt in when sewing your seams?

Lovely work. Nice to see how you put it all together.

No welt in most seams. The original garments, at least the Native made ones I have looked at, did not have visible welts. The fringe in some seams will act as a welt however.