Gondor Mei Tai Carrier

This is the Gondor (Inspired by Faramir's Ranger Hauberk) Mei Tai Baby Carrier I made for the Small Human Being Sew Along.

Kuzzles (12 months) is currently the baby enjoying it in the pictures. It is really meant for the new little one, due late August.
I am quite pleased, with how it turned out.

It's inspired by one of my favorite outfits of all time, Faramir's Ranger Hauberk. To make me feel just a bit more awesome in my everyday :)

Really though, seeing trees of Gondor makes me happy. Like I'm pretty sure it fires endorphin pathways in my brain whenever I see it. Thus I print/stencil them onto so many of the kids T-shirts...

[More pictures of finished product, front carry, shallow front carry, back carry]
Here is a helpful website how to wear this thing many different ways.

Time: Not counting time spent researching, I think about 8 hours from cutting the fabric to finishing the stenciling. I did an hour on a Sunday afternoon, Then used breakfast, second breakfast, and multiple snacktimes (when the kids were in their high chairs eating snacks, the sewing machine is set up in view of the kitchen and TV room), and an hours worth of Richard Scarry videos--- adding up all of those sessions, I think that part was about 5-6 hours total, which was the sewing.
Due to some mistakes, the stenciling/stamping took about  1.5 hours, which I did right after the kids went to bed. So all in all I think it took about 8 hours.

Materials:
A little less than 2 yards of light brown canvas, almost all of it dyed to be dark brown with 1 bottle of RIT dye (I mismeasured when I cut the fabric, it should have been 2)
Thread (and a size 18 sewing machine needle!)
Scraps of Fleece for padding

Cost: 
The fabric I got at a fabric remnant store for $4, RIT dye $3, so about $7 (If I do this again I am just buying twill or canvas duck cloth from Hobby Lobby in the colors I already want, which will come out to about $12.)

I am not counting the cost of things I have in bulk on hand, that this project used a portion of.
That is: Fabric paint, hand-cut stencil, and thread.
Fabric paint: I bought a big bottle of it for $6 from Hobby Lobby and use it on T shirts
Stencil: Stencil blanks from Hobby Lobby that I cut out the Tree and Stars with a utility knife by hand, I use this stencil for T shirts, again and again.
Thread: I buy in bulk (the cheap one "surelock") at Joanns for 3000 yds for $1.50 (with coupon) [Note: I am not worried about cheap thread "breaking" and making my baby fall, because I ran at least 8 lines of stitching to secure the straps to the body, not to mention it's tied and looped around multiple times]


Here are my notes, for my own future reference.
I roughly followed this general tutorial on making mei tai carriers, but changed things up a good bit.

First, I wanted a smaller baby carrier, one that was only 16" tall (and with the option of folding the bottom strap under to make it only 13" tall) Mostly because I prefer to carry small babies (under 1 year old), and because my babies really hate not being able to see the world, and hate baby carriers unless they have their head well above the top.


I wanted the shoulder straps to be 4" wide (so I cut 9" wide strips), and the waist straps to be 3" wide (so I cut 7" straps), and the padding was

Quilted Leather Bracer and UnderBracer Tutorial: DIY for under $10

Here is my tutorial of how I made these awesome quilted bracers/vambraces.

Part 1: Drafting a Bracer Pattern based on the Vambraces of Gondor

Part 2: Sewing the underbracers, How to Quilt Bracers, and a Lacing Ring Solution
Part 3: Assembling the Bracers: How to make Thin Leather look like Thick Leather

Part 4: Inserting Grommets/Eyelets without a hole punch, and Painting the Leather with shoepolish
Part 5: Glam Shots of the finished project

Family Medieval Outfits: In the Gardens of Ithilien...

So, about that medieval family costume idea....

I think it looks like Faramir and Eowyn's family in Ithilien. Early Medieval clothing, which I think is what Tolkien probably envisioned. (although I do love the movie's costume design)

Josh and Isaiah Link Tunic. (Whoever designed Faramir's Ranger Outfit must have subconsciously been copying Link...)

Simple, Army to Olive Green, self-fabic facing with some decorative stitching. Slim cut but able to pull on over their heads. (I think I'm going to forgo Link's side lacing at least on the first round)

Ofcourse, Josh should wear them with his bracers, and his boots or boot gaiters on his modern boots, depending on what I've finished by then.

All of the outfits can be worn with close-fitting long sleeved shirts underneath, it looks nice and period appropriate.

Hannah and the girls in Tunic-dresses, slightly Saxon-y, Early Medievalish, Eowyn...

Basic Tunic shape, though I'll forgo the period-appropriate godets (hey, Eowyn is a princess, she can afford wide-loomed fabric), and just flare the panels on the sides, slightly below the bust. I'll have a center seam to aid with the nursing acess, and put a little bit of shaping in it just under the bust. But this will not be anywhere near as fitted as a kirtle. It will be pull over the head type.

The  Sleeves will be bliaut style with embroidered bands just above the elbow. Haven't figured out how long to make them. Living in dear old Arizona, I'll probably settle fro the middle length...

I'll sew a cloth bliaut style belt. Hopefully I'll flare it enough under the bust that it could accommodate a baby belly up to 6/7 months. Be Prepared, as the boyscouts say :D

Thoughts on Making Faramir's Bow and Arrows

Faramir's bow is long, a little taller than he is. It looks to be a simple tillered sapling bow, and his arrows are painted/oiled dark brown and fletched with golden feathers.

To make Faramir's bow....when I first was planning on this outfit, I thought I'd just do a bow shaped object. But then I found this AWESOME WEBSITE (page with all the links) on "primitive technology" which tells you all you need to know to survive either a Zombie or Nuclear Apocolypse....making fire, making bows, fletching your own arrows, making musical instruments, all from ground zero from sticks and rocks and things, also with simpler options if you want to start with the hardware store....


For example there's a tutorial for growing your own bowstring, all about sinewing a bow with sinew, how to straighten sticks for your own arrows, but also they have tutorials that show you can string and sinew a bow with thin nylon rope, and how to make arrows with wooden dowels for shafts, how to make a bow from wood from the hardware store etc)

bow from a sapling (using a hatchet) by Stephen Coote

 On making a bow from a sapling, this article shows you how, this article on helpful techiniques in using a hatchet to whittle the sapling. Alas if I lived in AL still, finding saplings would be no problem. Out here in the desert (pine is a no no for bow making) its much harder to find an appropriate tree, and then hack it down without breaking someone's heart....

Cordage bow by Dick Baugh

Cordage Backed bow, looks really interesting. This is a copy of Inuit bows that used sinew to strengthen the wood. He uses thin nylon rope.

Cordage bow by Dick Baugh

 I really want to do this one. There's more articles on the main page, that seem to be written by engineers, with graphs and thoughts on the physics of bows, and charts on how much to tiller a bow given its length...

This article shows you how to fletch arrows by hand. There's more links on the main page for lots of fletching options, fletching jigs, etc.

I think, while the sapling bow is the obvious first try, given that we're in the desert, I'll start with the Bundled Bow , and after that, there's the board bow from supplies from a hardware store. I really want to cordage back the board bow. And ofcourse, fletch my own arrows. White feathers, I think, to keep with the sea-bird kind of theme of Gondor. 

                              

Faramir's bow is at least as tall as he is. Obviously, its not sinewed. But I think given Gondor's technology, it makes sense. So I say Faramir's bow was sinewed. So there.

My plans

1. Bundled Bow with tape fletched arrows
2. Board Bow, (cordage backed, 'sinewed' with nylon rope) with feather fletched arrows
3. Sapling Bow (cordage backed, 'sinewed' with nylon rope) with feather fletched arrows
4. Sapling Bow with seagull feather fletched arrows

(links to making all this stuff above)

I'm so excited. I haven't even looked into making arrow heads yet, tutorials which are also on the main page of primitive ways.

And we're definitely going to have archery as a subject in our homeschool :)

More Thoughts on Making Faramir's Scabbard & Quiver and Link's Scabbard & Belt

Some Thoughts on Making Faramir's Quiver and Scabbard. (And on making Link's back scabbard)

Most of these Pictures come from THIS INCREDIBLY USEFUL WEBSITE with a complete piece by piece breakdown of the entire ensemble, with line drawings by gryphonsmith

So I had thoughts on the breakdown of the Faramir vs Link Outfit here,  thoughts/planning on Faramir's quiver and pants and shirt here and here's my first attempts log and my first attempt pix, as well as initial thoughts on bracers and a lot of work on the bracers and a bunch of work on getting the half circle cloak right... 

(finish) Faramir Ranger Outfit for Josh

1.   Hauberk 1.0 (requilt the old hauberk, and to make the thin leather seem like thick leather...)
2.   Hauberk 2.0 (Buy New Thicker Leather) use quilting techniques I learned from the bracers
3.   Tan Quilted Tunic shirt, (use sheet)
4.   Brown pants (use sheet)
5.   Green Overtunic (use thick stuff)
6.   Faramir's Belt (with optional Link pouches)
7.   Link's back scabbard
8.   Faramir's quiver
9.    making Boots/boot-covers 1.0,
10.    quilted leather vambraces/bracers (Buy New Thicker Veg Tan Leather)
11.    quilted pauldrons (1.0 from canvas, use split hide in final?)
12.    cloak (make a new cloak like this from my 4 yds of loose woven wool, need to dye it first)
13.    Green Medieval Tunic (half-sleeve Link Style)
14.    BOW with fletched Arrows 

This post is on #7 Back Scabbard and #8 quiver and #6 belt.


We will look at Faramir's Scabbard (hip), and Link's Scabbard (back).

First, Faramir's Scabbard.
  

We see its a main belt, with 2 straps coming off of it, the first a short strap to the top of the scabbard, and the second strap looks like it may be adjustable, about 1/3 way down the scabbard. This is to keep the sword from swinging willy-nilly on your belt when you run, etc. If its adjustable (I think I see a small buckle there) it allows you to adjust the angle it hangs for a quick draw.


Link's scabbard is a back scabbard. It's basically a main belt with a smaller strap riveted to the belt in 2 places.
The main belt goes over his chest and over one shoulder and down his back. There is some sort of leather shoulder pad to distribute the weight better. (Especially as I think he also hangs his shield on the strap across his back). Then there is a strap that is riveted onto the front and back to keep the scabbard stable. It runs from his center chest along one side at the same height as the main belt on the other side and joins back to the main belt at center back.

The smaller strap is an attempt to keep the weight bearing belt out on his shoulder, and prevent it from crawling up and pinching his neck (as any mom knows who as improperly worn a baby sling). To me it seems an attempt to partly correct the assymetrical design and even out the weight a bit. Assymetrical is uncomfortable. (As any mom knows who has worn her baby in a Shoulder sling vs a Mei Tai carrier). Especially given the weight of his shield, I think it would make more sense for Link to wear 2 belts like an X across his chest, riveted together mid-chest and mid-back. (I'm pretty sure I've seen this style in Skyrim).
But then maybe Link wants his sword arm's shoulder to be unburdened....beats me.

So both of these scabbard's strap systems are totally doable with leather brown belts, some leather straps, rivets, and a few metal rings and fittings.

 Now, to make the actual scabbards (the part that holds the sword)

THIS GUY (YE OLDE GAFFER) IS AWESOME.

www.yeoldegaffers.com FULL OF AWESOME TUTORIALS and COOL PICTURES

Ye Olde Gaffers made this and has a tutorial HERE

He shows you how to use simple slats of wood and your sword and some simple tools to make one of these. Then I found links to making your own chapes (the sword fitting on the tip of the scabbard HERE and HERE) So that's totally what I'm doing.

Once I have a sword.

So until then, I'm going to make strap systems that hold other things like pouches, shields, and quivers.

So it seems that Faramir's Quiver is simply a cyndrilical holder (holding a bag) attached to a simple loop belt worn slung over one shoulder across the chest.

Back View, NO CLOAK

Slung across the front, with cloak. Notice how it goes up over the cloak on one shoulder, and underneath the cloak on the other. Note how the strap is creeping up and digging into his neck (this is why Link had that extra strap.) Ofcourse the weight of Faramir's quiver is a lot less uncomfortable than the weight of Link's shield and sword. I think I'm going to improvise an extra strap like Link's to keep it from riding up like that. Plus extra straps just look cool.

 It comes through a slit in the back of his cloak to enable him to wear his cloak over both shoulders, but still have the quiver outside of his cloak. (the old backpack over or under a cloak conundrum)

 See how I highlighted the strap with red on the left image. It comes over his cloak on one shoulder, and then attaches to the quiver, and then into a slit in his cloak and around his body joining in a buckle on the chest.

So that should be relatively simple to make, its just a cylinder quiver with a single belt/strap that is attached at the top and middle of the quiver to keep it upright. (you don't want it attached at a single point or the quiver could very well flip over and dump your arrows out)
Something like THIS QUIVER TUTORIAL FROM THE AWESOME YE OLDE GAFFERS,

 But instead of the bottom strap attaching right at the base, it would be somewhere mid-cylinder. And ofcourse the cylinder part would be gussied up to look like Faramir's.

Faramir's belt is a regular belt but with a really wide fan shaped buckle.

From this incredibly useful site

This buckle allows him to knot the end. The belt also has a cool fitting on the end...

Cool Fitting

Also from the same incredibly Useful Website

Link's belt....

 

 Love the big roomy back pouches. I guess its a Medieval Fannypack.... kind of reminds me of Luke Skywalker's belt....

I definitely want to make a brown leather belt with pouches like this. I may make the pouches from canvas if I don't have leather. It's so useful, even if it is dorky...

Freezer Paper Stencils! Penguins Logo and Gondor

Penguins and Gondor, both close to our hearts....

My magnum opus. So proud. A couple hours with a utility knife, an iron, fabric paint, a black shirt, and viola, I had a father's day present for Josh.

 

Arwen's dresses for everyday: Some more 'Everyday Lord of the Rings Clothing' designs and ideas

Because I actually haven't made any of them yet, here are some sketches....

 I've always loved Arwen's Bloodred dress (really, a jumper). Maybe its the colors....or something....

Anyway, I've always loved gold and red together, and that dark blue-black is so beautiful with it. I would love to make something inspired by this for everyday....not in velvet, with small tippetted sleeves that will not get into things. But I'll go crazy with the embroidery. It's cheap (embroidery floss 30 cents a skein at Walmart), and classy.

I like to add a belt. Not having Liv Tyler's figure, I would like some sort of waist definition, either make the whole thing princess seamed (with a removable medieval-style belt), or an empire bodice with a long drapey ankle length skirt. 

Some takes on her bridge dress, altered to my taste.

Her's was very drapey.

I like my necklines somewhat secure so I know I can bend down and pick small children without bad things happening. I do like the cowl neck look though.
I also like there to be some sort of fittedness under the bust. Hence, darted empire bodice, plus long A-line skirt, which I think captures the loose drapey feel of the dress more than snug princess seams.

Aaaand lastly, a family costume idea.
I think it would look great all the time, actually.