After reading through Sandman0077's thread on his holster rig build, I wanted to have something like this to display with my TFA helmet and shield. Then when he decided to offer up pre-cut leather pieces, I had to have it!
So I got a full set of pieces from him, which included:
- belt
- drop leg holster rig/leg straps
- ammo pouches (4)
Everything was pre-cut, but that was it. My first task was to make sure I knew how everything was supposed to go together!
I posed a couple of questions to Sandman0077, and he was more than willing to help me out. I assembled what I could, and then asked him about a few pieces:
He responded with this:
So now that everything was sorted out, I was ready to start with the build. First, I used an adjustable groover to make grooves in each piece where I would be stitching. I know this isn't screen accurate, but I don't have much experience sewing, much less leather. I wanted to have the grooves to help guide my stitching and keep it straight! With that said, I loaded up the wife's sewing machine with a leather needle and began putting some of the superficial stitching in.
With that done, I began "dry fitting" some of the pieces
Of course I had to throw my own 1911 in there to make sure the fit was correct! :lol
Next up I began the dye process. I used Fiebing's British Tan that I picked up at Tandy
The toughest part (for me) was the holster, simply because I knew I would be hand-stitching it all. To make things a little easier on myself, I ran the pieces through the sewing machine (sans thread) to create evenly spaced holes, so I could get a nice, even stitch. I used a lockstitch awl to stitch everything together
And here is where I am now
I only have one of the pouches assembled, so I still need to finish the last three. After that, I need to do a little bit of clean up work on some of the stitching, and figure out the buckle! I'm chasing a couple leads there, so we'll see what I end up with.
Oh, and a sneak peek to how this will all be displayed... I had hdtheater whip up one of his helmet stands on his CNC. Just so happens he lives about 15 minutes from me, so I picked it up yesterday...
It looks awesome! Can't wait to get it sealed and painted up
So I got a full set of pieces from him, which included:
- belt
- drop leg holster rig/leg straps
- ammo pouches (4)
Everything was pre-cut, but that was it. My first task was to make sure I knew how everything was supposed to go together!
I posed a couple of questions to Sandman0077, and he was more than willing to help me out. I assembled what I could, and then asked him about a few pieces:
He responded with this:
So now that everything was sorted out, I was ready to start with the build. First, I used an adjustable groover to make grooves in each piece where I would be stitching. I know this isn't screen accurate, but I don't have much experience sewing, much less leather. I wanted to have the grooves to help guide my stitching and keep it straight! With that said, I loaded up the wife's sewing machine with a leather needle and began putting some of the superficial stitching in.
With that done, I began "dry fitting" some of the pieces
Of course I had to throw my own 1911 in there to make sure the fit was correct! :lol
Next up I began the dye process. I used Fiebing's British Tan that I picked up at Tandy
The toughest part (for me) was the holster, simply because I knew I would be hand-stitching it all. To make things a little easier on myself, I ran the pieces through the sewing machine (sans thread) to create evenly spaced holes, so I could get a nice, even stitch. I used a lockstitch awl to stitch everything together
And here is where I am now
I only have one of the pouches assembled, so I still need to finish the last three. After that, I need to do a little bit of clean up work on some of the stitching, and figure out the buckle! I'm chasing a couple leads there, so we'll see what I end up with.
Oh, and a sneak peek to how this will all be displayed... I had hdtheater whip up one of his helmet stands on his CNC. Just so happens he lives about 15 minutes from me, so I picked it up yesterday...
It looks awesome! Can't wait to get it sealed and painted up
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