Skirt Making the skirt

Wow, talk about having to choose the right animal! (I don't see dem naughahydes...) Everything seems to be veg or chrome tanned. I have to talk to the leather guy first and lug my stand up over there again. I would rather go with veg tanned than natural.. but I wanna make sure that is indeed the right stuff to use. He actually said that i might wanna go with kangaroo leather for the laces.
 
Man, my right hand is still sore from cutting the 9 oz skirt leather with leather shears! I bought the pro strap cutter, but Tandy sold it to me where the darned blades didn't fit! Tandy should really should talk to their strap cutter manufacturer. So I returned it. The wooden one might work for me, since, this is going to be a one time use sorta thing. Gotta check the blades again Going there AGAIN on saturday (it's a 1 hr drive,and this will be my 3rd time goin), lugging my cardboard cut out this time to check out the right dyes to use. I thought I was going to have Ron (the leather guy) cut everything for me, but, I want to make sure that I get to maximize the use outta the hides I bought, for myself. And, acquiring leather tools is more expensive than hiring out someone to do the job, but hey, there's always a chance to re-sell em on ebay. So, the only cost would be my own labor cost. :D We'll see.
 
Ok, I am dumb, I bought the pro strap cutter thinking that the screws had to fit through the holes of the razor blades, but they dont. The razor blade just fits between the four screws and is clamped tight, not the screwed in. So I bought the cheaper wooden one to save money.

Anycow, this is what was told me by a leather professional.
Use the strap cutter to cut your belts 2 inches high. Then cut them what ever width you need to. Then mix your purple dye with solvent (to make it lighter)or any other colors that consitute the purple you want. Let the dye dry, buff extra dye off with cheese cloth.If it needs to be darker buff off some of the dried dye and use a bobbing brush to apply another coat of dye. Let the dye dry again. Warm up Neatsfoot oil in a pan (do NOT boil) just warm it up. (It allows the oil to seep further into your leather making it more waterproof) Then, take your dried dyed leather and put it in the oil. You will see some air bubbles come out of your leather, this is a good sign that the oils are worked into the leather. After a while, take it out and set it to dry. Your leather will look darker at first, but after it dries it will go back to the original color. Then put sealant a light coat of leather balm with atom wax. If you want more sealant put it a coat at a time.

Edit** I changed my skirt pattern up top yesterday and also cut all my skirt pieces. I hope to order the puncher soon :)
 
I re-edited my skirt pattern: and have pics of what it looks like. Here goes :)
zaiskirt.jpg

skirttop.jpg

skirtbotm.jpg

skirtside.jpg


Edit** also a 6.5" radius of a circle worth lace yields about 46.5 feet worth of lace, if you cut it right. It's really hard to make sure that it's all one piece of lace,It's easy to slip with the lace tool and cut a really thin strip. There are probably knots somewhere on the back side of the skirt to tie the laces together, then again, they probably hired the best lace cutters or sumthing and made it all one long lace piece. I seriously don't know how much yardage or feet of lace it takes to lace the skirt. Anyone have any ideas?
 
Kim knotted together about 3 long laces I think. Take my advice- lace it REALLY tight. I spent over an hour re-lacing the entire skirt because it was so heavy that all of the laces sagged and there were huge gaps between the squares.

-cris
 
Did you have the store bought stuff or did you make the laces yourselves? And, you don't know about how long those laces were, eh? My laces are veg tanned and will be dyed and sealed hopefully, that will give it some more strength. I am afraid wearing it alot, the laces will start stretching and start sagging the skirt later too. oh well, if I have to relace, I gotta relace. Do you guys have the method on how to lace this stinker up? I see that they have double loops in the holes.
 
In the pic on the reply above (on 10/3/02) by DCB, what is hanging between the skirt and her body?
 
:lol: here we go again! j/k
Some think it is a cushion cause the skirt is so tough on the behind.
 
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lol....Well, maybe she DID have some "bottom" issues while shooting the film....lol Sorry to rehash. I did not see those posts....
 
Hey no prob, I just thought the guys would be chiming in right about now, saying what a nice "bottom" leanna has...:lol:

Oblong 1/4" holepunchers for the skirt- I found a distributor in my area, they are going to have them and the price on them is $26.55. Call o.s.osbourne co., (973) 483-3232 then tell them you want oblong hole puncher 1/4" by 5/64" and need a distributor in your area. Then call that distributor near you and order one. Then you can take a look to see if that's the right one for you. If you need a special sized oblong punch call 314-968-3991. The distributor near me is looking for prices right now. Online, it's pretty expensive plus shipping. So, just letting you know. I am going with a tandy polyhead mallet and the darker, durable cutting board. Ouchie 16x12x4=768 holes! We'll see how it goes.
 
Honestly I don't remember :( Maybe 15-20 ft? It pretty much has to snake up and down every row- so take those measurments and add maybe a third more to get close? You can make your own laces with a little tool that cuts a spiral path into a small square piece of your leftover leather. This is what the guy at the leather store did to make Kim's laces.

edit:
In looking at the close up pic on the first page of this thread, I think it may be at least double this, since I think we only had 1 vertcal lace per square and it looks like there are 2 per square an that photo.

-cris
 
I was guessing at 85 something feet. 2 inch squares, 2 laces each on the back side, 15x12 squares, the cross hatches (does that mean there is lacing going across as well as up and down?) so 12 more rows of 20-30 inches across (average 25). (2x2x15x12)+(25x12)=1020" =85 feet. Does that sound feasable or too much? I dont' want to waste valuable leather, ya know? I already cut half of that amount and this lace cutting is difficult. It's easy to slip and just cut a really short piece by accident.
 
Thanks :D Cutting the laces for yourself is nice, but getting it evenly cut so that it won't snap apart when wearing it seems to be the problem. I wish I could minimize the number of strips that I have to use too. I cant seem to cut one long enuff without slipping and the lace winding up a short 9 feet, instead of one continuous 1/4" lace. Grrr, wish I had better skills, I have already felt like I have wasted my hide. 5 strips so far. I guess there will have to be at least 5 knots in the back. Any hints on how to lace it? Should I start across first? or up and down? I am trying a test run at work using little napkin squares :lol: hope no one sees me and thinks I am nuts.
 
This is my best interpretation of how i figured it to be.... (at least in the middle ones - the end ones are different)...

this way - you only need short strips - and they can all end at the top of the skirt - that gets hidden by the cummerbund...

stitch.jpg
 
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