Building Arm Guards!

Been wanting to do this for a while. This is a bit about us and building our arm guards. With some pictures, of course! 

First off we trace out the main body pieces and the piece that makes up the colored accent bars. Here's Annette doing that part.

The pieces are then cut out of the leather. It took a while for us to get some decent scissors for cutting this leather.

That part isn't bad. Next though is cutting out the slots so the color shows. Straight edge, razor, and a steady hand is needed here.

Once we get the pieces cut out, they're then tack glued together, and then left to let the glue do its thing. Not particularly exciting. We do this just to keep everything properly aligned so there are no slip ups when we first start sewing the pieces together. Let's just say that doing the temporary glue up is just a "lesson learned" some time ago.

After the glue sets THEN it's time to do some sewing. First thing we do is the simple straight runs that make the spaces for the reinforcing rods. Those are just cut from 3/16" steel wire. I do have a cute little bolt cutter though that makes it easy.

The next step is to sew on the straps and buckles. That part though is just plain tedious. We do use Big Wheel, our sewing Machine. But it's tiny little stitches and the machine has to be rolled over by hand so as keep close control.

But then we get to stuff the rods in and sew the whole thing shut around the edges. This is me part way through the whole sewing process.

And so after all that we get a nice, durable, and good looking armguard. Red and black are my "Archery Colors" but we both sure do like the pink and black combo!