This is a build-along of the quiver I made for Jesse-S for the Christmas trade. I took pictures while I was making it.....and I can post them now without ruining the surprise.
The quiver is made from a commercial tanned coyote hide (medium size), moccasin weight suede, and red stroudcloth (100% wool). I sewed the holes in the hide with polyester thread and the rest of the quiver is sewn with waxed linen.
The hide arrived from the tanners with a face, a poor quality tail, a few holes, and split down the belly.
I cut off the tail, trimmed off all the ragged edges, and sewed up the holes in the hide.
Then I cut out the front leg skins and the ears and sewed up those holes.
Then I cut the face off just in front of the ear holes.
Next, I used an arrow as a guide for how long the quiver needed to be.
I drew lines to guide my cuts for the mouth of the quiver and the part that hangs down (the "flap").
This is done by eye. I don't have a pattern as every hide is different.
I never use scissors to cut a hide....always a razor blade. Scissors will cut into the fur.
With the razor I make cuts just deep enough to cut the leather, and I don't use a cutting board.
Then I sew up the seam of the quiver. It now looks like a tube with both ends open.
I try to use as much of the original hide as possible, as far as width. It's easy to get carried away with trimming the hide and and ending up with something too narrow. The seam doesn't have to be perfectly straight with the hair-on hides. The fur covers many imperfections.
In this picture I'm sewing on an extra piece on the flap to make it longer. I ended up cutting this off (after I sewed it
) and attaching a good-quality tail. Anyway, this shows my technique for sewing pieces of hide together and for sewing up the holes. The stitches are small, I sew from right to left, and I keep the fur away from the stitching by firmly pinching the two sides together.
