Costume Work in Progress: Gaiters (Greaves) for Liberacicus mk II

[kproche]

This weekend has been productive. I've finished the gaiters (or greaves, call 'em what you like) for Liberacicus mark II:

Parts cut for greaves (gaiters) I decided I wasn't happy with the 5/8" sewn leather strapping I'd made (and hadn't made enough, in fact, for the design I settled on), so I cut some new straps out of the same hide as the body of the bracers and gaiters. This was one tough steer; the black dye hadn't quite penetrated all the way through the leather, so the edges had a grey band down the center. I edge-beveled all the pieces and used black edge dressing (what bootblacks use on the edges and heels of men's shoes) to dye the edges black.

Assembled leatherwork for greaves Those curves came out very satisfactory!

Finished greaves with SHINY trim The dagged section was carefully stretched in place to fit the curve, as was the narrow trim band above the ankle strap. The bottom trim was cut as a curved piece as stretching the vinyl to fit required more strain than I wanted to incorporate into the stitching.

Right leg

Left leg

Both Legs

Side-ish view The straps go all the way around the gaiters so that they compress the body along the full circumference rather than just pulling on the edges. (The wrist bracers didn't have enough real estate to do this and still put in the pocket.)

I have to admit, I'm glad I'm done working with the leather and oh-so-sticky-in-the-sewing-machine sparkly blue vinyl.