Strider Jerkin

[Kortoso]

A while back, I decided to make a replica of Strider's jerkin from the film series Lord of the Rings.
I'm not a fan of leather clothing, and instead of creating something different, I thought I would re-create the leather garment and see if I could really live in it like a Ranger.

I primarily used this excellent source to see what the costume looked like:
http://www.alleycatscratch.com/lotr/Hum ... Jerkin.htm

[Kortoso]

I stopped by Ye Olde Tandy Leather Shoppe and picked up my supplies. They had small hides of the thickness that I needed, and since the hides were so small, I had to stitch the pieces together, just like the original costume.

[Mirimaran]

I think it looks great! Have you been able to wear it?

Ken

[Manveruon]

Nice work! I've got one that I regularly wear with my garb. A friend of mine made it for me back in like '03 or '04, out of a hideous old burgundy women's leather coat. She just used the rough inside of the coat for the outside of the jerkin, and it turned out great. She had to get a little creative with construction to accommodate for things like the pockets on the coat, etc, but she did an amazing job. I'm wearing it in basically all the pictures I have up around here. However, it's now getting rather worse for wear, and I think I may need to replace it before too long. It's been through the ringer, heh.

[Kortoso]

I think it looks great! Have you been able to wear it?

Ken

Of course, haha, let me get some pics together....

[robinhoodsghost]

Looks great Ranger Kortoso....and yes post some pics wearing it. This may be my next project.....Thanks.

[Greg]

Nicely put together. Do you plan to dye it?

[Kortoso]

Thanks!
Here's a front shot.

[Kortoso]

And this is me running away.

[Kortoso]

Some deets.

[Kortoso]

Nicely put together. Do you plan to dye it?

Thanks, I wanted a decent repro of Strider's jerkin, so this is going to be its color.
Know, of course, that the film was dramatically color-shifted, so that almost everything looked black or gray. This is real obvious when you see the photos of the actual costumes on exhibit.

I used Simplicity's 4795, Nativity Costumes for the pattern:
http://www.simplicity.com/p-2192-misses ... tumes.aspx

[Mirimaran]

Alleycat is the best site ever for costuming LOTR. you look great, Kortoso! Looks comfortable!

Ken

[Manveruon]

Looks good! Nice work!

[Rifter]

Nice, I'll have to get pics of my Strider kit up here too, remaking the jerkin myself too oddly enough. I am using suede which has a nice look and weight to it as well.

[Kortoso]

I had some trouble understanding how the breast closures work (on the original film costume), and it turns out that I was overthinking it.

They just inserted a thong into a hole in the leather, and secured it with simple overhand stopper knots on either side of the leather. Two thongs on either side of the closure, of course. Then one of the thongs received another overhand stopper knot, and the opposite thong was simply threaded through the knot, which was tightened to hold it.