Braintan Toting School Gals

At some point in your life you must admit that your family is different and there are no others like them. This has probably happened to my children many times over the years, but I am certain one of the times was when my daughter came home from school and told me she needed a book cover for her math book by a certain date. For whatever reason an image of a patched leather book cover popped into my head, though a more normal mother would of got the image of a brown paper book cover or at least something along those lines. But no, I could not shake the image of a leather cover, so off to check my braintan leather scraps supply. I measured, cut, stitched, fringed, and thought I had it right, but no, some of the leather stretched. Grrr... now what? Buttons to the rescue. The end result was a one of a kind, never to be recreated braintan leather book cover that she used all year. Nothing like your mother helping you stand out in a crowd.

 My daughter told me that she liked it, and got many comments on it. Since it would not fit any of her books the following year, she  reluctantly handed it down to her younger sister for her math book that year. At the end of the school year I thought we might have to donate it to the teacher because it would not fit another book, but my younger daughter found a book on her bookshelf that was a close enough fit. Needless to say I have made many braintan leather book covers, even beaded ones, over the years, but never another patched one. Hopefully they will remember their years of toting a braintan book cover through school fondly and know that their mother loved them.

Braintan Gift Bags

I have a habit that started long ago of making braintan bags and gifting them to others. The habit started years ago after my husband lost his job, and things were financially tight. When I needed a gift for someone I would have to make it. I had sewing skills and braintan leather available so the obvious result was making one of a kind “gift” bags. The habit has stuck even though I don’t have to give homemade gifts today. I find joy in the making of them and in the gifting of them, well, that is, unless I’m in a time crunch. These bags were given away. lol I no longer remember to who or even for what occasion. My hope is that they were a blessing to those who received them.

Braintan Vest 2015

Bragging Rights. lol I promised my son a long time ago that I would make him a vest of the braintan from one of the deer he took during deer season. A lot of time passed and a few days ago he reminded me of that promise because he wanted to take it to camp to show off of course. Camp is like tomorrow!!!

So mom dropped everything to make good on her promise. (Good thing his Dad already had his deer hides tanned!) Thursday he search the web for vest pics he liked and tried on a vest we have for size. Here is what he picked http://americasuits.com/cullen-bohannon-hell-on-wheels-leather-vest so Friday I grabbed a brown paper bag and a big gift box (for making my pattern) and fabric (for sample), I was off and the timer was ticking. Trying to get it all out of one hide. Had to get a little creative and support some of the thin places. Also tried to leave growing room as it seems that he is getting taller every other day. It is definitely not an exact copy, and the front pockets will be added later. I left them out because of the time factor. But it turned out better than I thought it would with the time crunch.

Used my new industrial sewing machine, and the top stitching could be a whole lot better. (lol Still trying to get use to a new style of pedal.) But if you go by the re-enactors three foot rule it looks a whole lot better. It is not finished yet. Have to roll and trim the bottom and sleeve edges under and hand sew so they will look like the back of the neck. Plan to do that in the car on the way there. ; ) I couldn’t resist taking a pic of it before he left. Guess mom and son are alike...we both want bragging rights to this vest. Will post pics again when it is finished and has the pockets.

So here are our pictures!

 Would look even better over the right shirt! But my son is not a fan of being a model so I was lucky to get these.

That color work on the back. It has a story behind it. I decided to use the thicker leather for the back and back yoke because if the back and yoke lay nice it goes a long way to helping the front stay in position and hang right. I did not have enough leather so I split the back yoke into two pieces which would of resulted in one seam up the middle. Only Mom made a huge mistake I cut two lefts instead of a left and a right. I did not have enough leather to cut other. Frustrated I walked away, stewed on it for awhile and came back with the idea for the color work. (That way I could use smaller pieces of leather.) My Dad always use to tell me the only difference between a master craftsman and another is that they can hide their mistakes.  Not that I'm a master of anything,  still very much learning.

He carried it off well, just a slight smile, nod, and a quiet thanks when someone commented on it. One of his friends shot the biggest buck this year. (It will be his life time record I think.), so hopefully this vest goes a long way to making them even at camp ; )

A lot of prayer was going upwards as I was working on this vest. In a letter I got from him, he mentioned that he has had complaints about the smoke smell in his room. lol Trust me there are over 6 boys in that room, the last thing I would be complaining about would be a smoke smell,

The update is I never did put the pockets on the vest. It turned out so well without them my gut feeling was to stop while I was ahead.  ; )