Thank you all so very much for all the wonderful compliments on my Lanvin Knockoff! The online sewing community has been so wonderfully supportive and inspirational since I've returned to sewing and started blogging 5 years ago. Voting starts March 3 and ends March 10, and with 42 entries... Yikes! I'm more than a little nervous! You can see all the entries here.
Back to the previously scheduled program...
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| That's a lot of LEATHER! |
My oldest sister is married to an avid hunter. Apparently years ago, he had a plan to collect enough hides to have a jacket made. In the retirement process of cleaning house and lightening their "collections", he decided that the jacket wasn't really going to happen, so I was gifted
7 8 beautiful leather skins! They are all a beautiful "natural" ivory shade, with a couple slightly more yellow and closer to "chamois". Mostly large skins, and similar in weight/texture, but one of them is HUGE, thicker, and has marks/scars on the skin, and my sister is guessing that it's likely caribou or elk.
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| That's my 30"x36" cutting mat! Huge hide! |
So, I am now the proud and lucky owner of
7 8 leather skins, free of charge (eta: as I was cleaning up my "wrapping paper" this morning, I found another in a bag)! I'm definitely planning a cute little ivory skirt, as there are 2 or 3 skins that are near perfect matches in color, weight, and texture. This is the pattern I used in the fall, and it worked out wonderfully...
I would love a vest, but would rather it be dark brown... I'm doing some research to see if its possible to dye leather again once its been tanned. It appears (judging from a couple websites) that it is possible, and that while it involved a few steps, it is something that I could do myself. On the list of "Things I want to learn", dying fabric is up at the top, so maybe this will push me in the right direction!
And just for fun... Can you name this "minor character" from the "Happy Days" sitcom?
13 comments:
Suzy Quattro
You definitley can paint, stencil, silk screen on it. Check out Marcy Tilton's sight for inspiration, Looks like a great project coming up!
Leather Tuscadero, Pinky's sister.
Love the skirt. I have this pattern. It is a perfect choice for your skirt.
I just voted for your great dress. I was originally going to join the contest, but I lost enough weight while sewing up the garment that I have to go back and take it apart to make it fit :) Yours is beautiful. Hope you win!!!
Thank you so much! Congrats on the weight loss, I think that's better than winning the contest!!! Good luck with the reconstruction!
Thank you for the resource! Painting/Stenciling on it would be a fun and unique project... I think you'll see a few items come out of this lot!
I voted for you too. I hope you win!
What a great find! I occasionally read about leather dyeing on the Dharma Trading website. I would be really interested to read how it works out for you.
Thanks, Lynn! Appreciate it!
Dharma, of course! Why didn't I think of that?! Thank you for sharing, I looked and they do have affordable options...
You are one lucky girl! In my latest blog post I wrote about the leather bag I made for a friend:
http://www.sewmuchknitting.blogspot.com/2013/02/leather-tote-bag.html
Have fun!
Great skirt. I'd contact a leather lounge manufacturer to investigate leather dyeing techniques.
What a great skirt! I can't wait to see how you approach the dyeing process for your leather.
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