Head Case: Painting veg-tanned leather

So, for my latest experiment in head-shaped leather casing I wanted to try out some unique color. With vegetable-tanned leather, if you want anything other than the light-tan look of the raw leather, you have to dye or paint it yourself.

The image below shows a bunch of colors that I bought at Sav-Mor, being tested on some scraps. The top strip has acrylic-based black and three different shades of blue. The next strip has black, red and blue on top of a pewter color - I was playing around with layering colors over the metallics. Next strip: red, green and yellow, and below that a long test with a colorless saddle oil (like what you'd use on a baseball glove), next to a light and medium-brown stain (they look almost the same to me!), light and dark-brown acrylic, and metallic copper, metallic bronze, and pewter. The metallics looked really cool, but I was afraid it might turn the hood into more of a robot-looking thing...

I finally decided on the acrylic-based light brown, as I really liked the look of the veg-tanned leather when it was wet, and that color came pretty close. I also wanted a kind of antique, slightly distressed look.

Because I planned to dilute the color, and that meant the hood would get wet again, I wanted to leave it on the form to make sure it kept its shape. I used a damp rag, and kept applying and wiping off the paint, until I built up a kind of patina. If I wanted the whole thing to be a consistent color, I would mix a batch first, and apply it without diluting.
I liked the idea of the seams being a slightly darker color, so I hit them with the brown stain, which absorbed well into the loose fibers of the edge. I had already slicked them down first with gum traganth.
I don't consider this a finished piece by any means, but a fruitful experiment nonetheless...
There are some construction issues and techniques that I can refine for next time, and for now the end result is so inspiring I can't wait to do a few more...
The color options alone are enough to keep me busy for a while... My fit model requested one in a dark metallic midnight blue. Sounds awesome to me.

Head Case - Molded Leather Experiment

Ever since I carved the wood hood forms a few months ago, one thing I have been wanting to try is making a hood out of a very heavy vegetable-tanned leather - stretching and shaping it over the form. Instead of being a "glove" for the head, this would make more of a stiff leather "case".

This is a completely different type of project than the garment and upholstery-type aniline-dyed leather sewing I usually do - it's more along the lines of making a holster, or one of those old-school, molded-leather camera cases.
I'm starting with a piece of 7-8 oz vegetable-tanned leather.
It's probably a little heavier than I want for a hood, but this will be a good experiment anyway. If I can make it work with this, the lighter-weight leather should be a breeze.
With my digital caliper this piece measured around 2.65 mm in thickness.
I'm curious to see if I can use my normal hood pattern on this, or if I am going to need to make a special pattern for the heavier material - a question I hope to answer with this test. I start by rough-cutting after tracing out my pattern shapes.
For the finished cut, I'm using my x-acto knife, leaving around 3/8" for the seam allowance.
A really sharp blade helps you get a clean cut.
The off-cuts are funny-thick - more like a pile of mini scrap lumber!
Now I have my component parts: 2 fronts, 2 backs. No tongue on this one, as the parts would be too thick and ungainly all layered together. Plus, this is just an experiment to see what I can do with the material anyway...
I start off clipping the front and rear panels together, as I would with a typical assembly.
In this case, I try to use my cylinder-bed machine, but have no luck getting through the 2-layers of thick leather. I break a few needles before giving up, and just using the machine to punch holes I can use to hand-stitch through.
Hand-stitching is slow and tedious work, and really makes you appreciate what (and how fast) your machine can (usually) do.
Some time later, the hand-stitching is done...
Now for the fun part. I submerge the leather in a bucket of warm water for about 5 minutes.
The transformation is noticeable right away. I can actually start to stretch and mold the (now rubbery, softened) leather over the wood head form. It takes some time and muscle, and I keep dunking the leather to help it take the shape.
After working it for some time, I turn up the edge of the front panels where it comes to meet the rear panels - it's almost like working with clay. To really get some leverage, I need to pull this tight to the form by lacing it on, but first I need to sew the front to the back.
Because the leather has been softened by the water, I'm now able to run this through my flat-bed machine - most of the way, at least - the top is a problem because of the thickness of those 4 seams (and 8 pieces) coming together.
At this point, I realize that I want to have the smooth leather on the outside, so I rip out all the stitches, and re-sew with the smooth side out. Remember, this is just an experiment, so I don't have to worry about all the holes I already put in along the seams.
At this point, after another dunking, more molding and hammering, It is really starting to take on the shape of the head form.
Now I can put those laces in and get a great amount of pressure on the wet leather.
The contour along the nose and chin are definitely the hardest part. But amazingly - this 7-8 oz leather is taking the shape of the head form.
This is where I left it last night.
And 24 hours later, I have this hardened, dry shell:
As you can see the water has mostly evaporated out, so the color is much lighter.
When I manage to ease the hood off of the form, it holds its shape extremely well. It's very stiff. And the best news: it fits the model. Perfectly!!
I need to work out a good way to stitch this type of piece, but for now I consider the experiment a success... There are a lot of ways I can finish this leather - from an oil-coat brown to shiny black or even paint with colors. I could even do tooling or stamped designs...
The seam allowances on this hood would definitely be part of the look, although I plan on shaving them down and finishing the edges a lot more than they are now. I may even continue to wet and stretch to see how far I can go. I need to try this with some 4-5 oz leather as well...
For now, I'm putting her back on the form to finish drying out completely...

FREE Butterfly Straitjacket Patterns

Well, here it is folks, the pattern for my world-famous butterfly straitjacket! Woo-hoo! And I'm giving it away for free. Why would I do such a thing? Because I love you, that's why.

This pattern has remained almost unchanged from the first time I made it back in 2003. The body panels have been tweaked and modified very little, although the arm pockets have gotten smaller over time.

I keep shaping down the arm pockets in the hopes of getting the tightest possible fit without becoming unbearable for the model. You can see in the image below how the arm pocket shape has evolved through 3 versions, getting progressively tighter each time:

Even at the small size, because it doesn't bind-up anywhere it is comfortable for long-term wear. This pattern is designed to fit a bit loose at the collar so a hood can be worn underneath.

PLEASE NOTE: the pattern does not show 3 pieces which I usually cut from the hide without using a pattern, namely the two (1.75-inch wide) strips needed for the rolled edge at the collar and lower edge of the jacket, and the one (2-inch wide) strip needed for the zipper tongue in the rear of the jacket. I usually cut these using a ruler after taking measurements from the actual workpiece so I get the length just right.

As I mentioned before, I plan to put together detailed instruction sheets and materials lists for all of these projects (someday), but for now I just wanted to get these out sooner rather than later...

Check out this post for a detailed step-by-step process for making this project.

Click here for the Butterfly Straitjacket "LARGE arm-pocket" pattern:

Click here for the Butterfly Straitjacket "MEDIUM arm-pocket" pattern:
Click here for the Butterfly Straitjacket "SMALL arm-pocket" pattern:
Click here for ALL 3 versions of the Butterfly Straitjacket pattern in one PDF file.

Good luck, have fun, and let me know if you have any questions, comments or suggestions. Oh, and feel free to share any pictures of your finished project, I'd love to see how things turn out.

FREE Leather Bondage Hood Patterns

I'm posting 3 patterns below for female bondage hoods - one "standard" version which could be made with or without eye openings, and 2 open-face versions - one with a minimal opening that tightly frames the face, and the other open a little wider to show a bit more of the face.

These are the same patterns I used to make the hoods used in the series of images taken by Karen Hsiao which you can see here and here.

Each of these patterns is designed to be made in lightweight lamb or similar type of leather - something soft and stretchy is best. They're designed to be made with a laced rear opening, with a 2-piece tongue to keep your hair out of the laces. Although it isn't shown on the pattern, I usually space the grommets about an inch apart - #00 size grommets work well.

Be sure to make your own measurements and adjust the pattern to fit if necessary. These are sized rather petite, designed to fit someone with a forehead measurement of 21.25 inches, neck of 12.25 inches, and chin-to-crown of 25.75 inches. For all you metric system people out there, that's 54cm forehead, 31cm neck, and 64.5cm chin-to crown.

If you look at these patterns you'll notice there is no seam allowance necessary on the 2 tongue parts - those can be cut directly to size. And remember to cut & flop the front and rear panel pieces. I'll be posting a detailed step-by-step on these shortly...

Click here for the "standard" female hood pattern.


Click here for the open-face hood.
... and click here for the open face hood with a slightly wider opening.
I look forward to seeing what you come up with, and please feel free to share any feedback or questions with me here: christopherfetish(at)gmail.com.

Long Bondage Mitten Pattern

Hello all! I have been hard at work making digital versions of a bunch of leather project patterns lately, and will have a series of them to share with you in the near future. There will be patterns for the butterfly straitjacket as well as my latest hood designs and an armbinder.

It is taking a bit of time to digitize everything, but hopefully it will be worth the wait...

The first pattern in this new set is the long bondage mitten project I first made a few months ago. I actually made another pair this past weekend in a gorgeous red lamb leather (with a couple of matching hoods). These are made to be extremely tight, and have zippers at the wrist to allow a very close fit.

I am actually hoping to put together a little instruction sheet with a materials list for each project as well, but for now this is all I can do! Bear with me, there are only so many hours in the day...

To get your own PDF file of this pattern, click here.








Remember, you'll need to edit the pattern to match your model's measurements, and to take into account your leather thickness and fit preferences as well. But, at least this should be a good starting-off point for you to work from - a shop-tested, working pattern.