Siouw brain tanned & smoked shirt

[BowEd]

Finished up on this shirt applying the beadwork.No.8 pony beads used.Leather is white tailed deer.
Front


Back


My beadwork represents the 4 winds in colors and design.Colors are pony trader blues,greasy yellows,cranberrys,and whites.
Type stitching used is the siouw lazy stitch.Not totally stellar work here but enough to satisfy myself.
Doing this with size 11 to 13 seed beads can give a much better overall look to it.

[Pat B]

Nice work, Ed. How many hides did you use? What do you use for a pattern? I have a couple of hides I'd like to do the same with.

[BowEd]

Normally a shirt like that can be made out of 2 large white tailed deer.They would have to be age wise in the range of at least 4 year old deer to do it with 2 hides.Top third of hide are the sleeves utilizing the neck and front legs.The bottom 2/3rds of the hides are the front and back of shirt.
 I used 4 hides on this one using the very best parts of each hide.Simulating the front legs under the arm and back legs along the bottom of the shirt.Spare peices I use for possible bags,quivers,and the like.
Patterns for these are not difficult.In short take a large plastic trash bag.Cut a hole in the center for your head and cut a hole each for each arm.Slip it on and see how it fits.You can modify how large your head hole can be and where your seam will run for your arm holes.
I transform the shape of body and sleeves onto large pieces of card board and trace the shape onto the leather.
Save all parts for fringe etc.

[gutpile]

badass Ed..looks incredible...gut

[Stoker]

That turned out great.
Thanks Leroy

[Digital Caveman]

Do those flaps under the arms get in the way at all?  I have never seen anything like that.

[wstanley]

Your a true craftsman! Beautiful!

[Pat B]

Thanks, Ed. 

[BowEd]

Pat...I should mention what I said earlier what you'll need for a 2 hide shirt is that each hide should be around 12 sq. feet per hide to pull that off.
I'll get Robin to take a picture of the shirt on myself for ya.

[Pat B]

Thanks, Ed. The hides I have seem pretty big to me. I'll measure them and see.

[BowEd]

OK Robin obliged for me.She's such a great person.....ha ha.
Pat.... make your pattern and lay it out on your hides.You'll see if you've got enough leather.




Unlike us persnickity modern folk designers the indian used all parts of a deer hide in their atire.They even brain tanned the face of deer.They were not hampered with what was fashionable,and no the front legs hanging from the arms are'nt ever a problem of any kind.I've worn them to many a buckskinners camp.Hunted with them on multiple occasions.
The plains indian tribes' clothing have been presented in multiple publications for decades upon decades.Ever since I was a kid.Their clothing showed a natural free flow to the motion of movement of a body.Exquisite displays are preserved in many museums.

[BowEd]

Easiest way to measure sq. footage is to lay the hides on 1 foot square tiles.

[Pat B]

That looks great, Ed and thanks for the info.   

[BowEd]

I'm 6'3" tall.Pat you should have for yourself for your size to have at least 22" long sleeves and 8 to 9 inch wide at big end and at least 24" long main body parts.Main body parts should be around 22" wide for a slip on comfortable fit with appropriate width holes to accomodate the sleeves for attatchment.
Head hole can 10 to 11 inches wide.Crescented out a bit on the front body part and slightly on the back part.
PS.....You might just make a good buckskinner yet.....ha ha.

[burchett.donald]

  Excellent work Ed! That is awesome buddy and I know a lot of thought went into that "piece of functional art"
                                                                                                                                                                  Don