Leather Play Clothes for a Tough Kid (Bran Stark Sleeves)

Okay, I'll admit it. I am a big fan of A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones, the HBO series. I have been burning through those books (like many of you have) and people are giving me strange looks when I accidentally slip into medieval parlance. 
But I also love leather clothes. It all started with a pair of indestructible leather lederhosen that had been passed to me from four older brothers. They were the best play clothes ever. They had been green at one time but by the time I got them they had become stiff with watermelon juice (and worse), dirt and pine sap.

Unfortunately, I'm not a cut-throat biker type, I'm an RN with a sewing machine, so I can't walk around with leather pants... or can I? No, I can't... But my kids can!

So the obvious solution is to combine the two: Game of Thrones apparel and childhood leather. Time for some fun with a $3 thrift store leather jacket.

Step 1:

Materials:

1. A deconstructed leather jacket. I'm using a bit of collar (optional) a strip off the pocket area and only one sleeve. Keep the rest of the leather, you'll use it and it will keep until you do: it's leather.

2.  A belt. If you have the option, just buy a jacket with a belt. The uglier the jacket, the more useable bits it will have on it, I find. But any leather belt will do.

You don't need a sewing machine necessarily but I did. Laces work too.

Measure your model and then draw draw draw. This is not a complicated garment. Measure the arm length, shoulder width and the arm circumference.

Step 2:

Cut the sleeve in half and trim off what you don't need. My son's arms happen to be half the circumference of this particular sleeve, so easy peasy.
Invert the leather, sew a seam up the cut edge. I left a little of the cuff open so it could be rolled back once.

I decided to make shoulder caps since I had a big collar from the leather jacket. Perfect. But they could be left off and they would look more like Bran Stark's sleeves.

Cut and add the back strap.

Step 3:

After attaching the back strap cut the belt in half and connect that to the front, inside or outside, doesn't matter. I sewed my buckle on so I put it on the inside. Other things that might work to attach the buckling strap are poultry staples bent and pounded flat, rivets, brads...

If you aren't equipped to sew leather then just lace the hole thing together. If you don't have a leather punch then buy one already. They cost about $7 and they are worth it.

My boy as tough to begin with but now he is even tougher, the skinny little scrapper... It makes great protection for tree climbing, from bowstrings, dog wrestling, sword fighting or just running through the alder brush.