Butterfly Straitjacket for Serious Bondage

I'm really excited to get started on this project. It has been on the back burner for a few months now: a custom 2-tone male butterfly straitjacket for our friends over at SeriousBondage. I posted the sketches a while back, and was waiting to feedback before wanting to start on construction. As often happens, I had a bunch of other ideas for variations for the restraint, but ultimately Mark wanted to go with the original idea. Of course, he wants me to do the other ideas too, eventually. How cool is that? I can't wait to do them all... Let me just say that some amazing projects are coming down the pipeline in the next few months!


The 2 leathers for this project are chosen for their color contrast. The gray color is actually pearlescent, and smooth - which will provide a great contrast with the dark brown, which is a bit heavier, with a waxy surface and a more distressed finish.

I know black leather is a fetish classic, and I will always love it myself. But I have found myself wanting to experiment more with color lately, and do some more dramatic things with the designs. There are so many colors and textures that inspire the hell out of me every time I go to the leather supplier!
Rough cut of all of my gray pieces:

And the final trim.
I'm tracing my pattern onto the back side of the brown hide...
Here I have all the pieces cut out.
Initial construction on the body:
For the arm pockets on this armbinder, there will be lacing panels. This will allow the tightness to be adjusted. The shape of this arm pocket is a little different from the female versions I have done lately. It's a little more angular, (more male?) and will be a bit more restrictive. Suffer, slave!
Here I'm showing the process for making the lacing opening. I start by using the pattern to transfer the shape of the opening to both sides.
Then I glue and fold back the seam along the opening.
I use the patten to mark the holes for the lacing grommets at this point.
I punch out the holes and set the grommets. I'm using black size #0 osbourne grommets.
Here we have the arm pockets half-assembled. I have already sewn in the panel behind the lacing opening.
Using the pattern for the front and rear panels, I mark the location of the grommets for the side lacing panels.

Now I've punched the holes and set the grommets in the side lacing panels.

After setting the grommets, I sew in the backing behind the opening in the contrasting brown leather.
Here you can see the body with the cowl attached.
Arm sub-assembly complete. This looks so cool with the contrasting colors!
And the pair, complete...
Next I sew the front and back shoulder seam together, and set in the collar. I will have a turned edge on the collar, but will do that after setting the rear zipper.
Here I have the arms laid out before attachment...
...and after! I wish it went that fast in real life!
So, this actually brings me to a stopping point. I am ready to set the rear zipper, but unfortunately I don't have the zipper yet. Finding a real heavy-duty YKK #10 separating zipper is not as easy as you might think. I'm waiting for mine to arrive from New York...
Until then, we have a good start - and I can begin working on the matching hood in the meantime. Tune in next time for that.
Until then, take care and thanks for visiting!