Just Helping Out

[Horsewright]

Recently I helped two young ladies make their own leggings. Thought I post some pics of some of the process.

First up was Kaitlin our daughter in law. Our son Logan, her husband, works for a large ranching corporation. From Oct thru May they run a ranch nearby of about 26,000 acres and from May through October they run a similar sized ranch in Oregon for the same company. The ranch in Or is heavily wooded and can get downright cold before they leave in Oct. Last year the morning they left heading back down here it was 8 degrees. Katie decided that she wanted a pair of shotguns for the added protection and warmth over the pair of chinks she already has. They were getting ready to go soon so we whipped these out one day. Katie wanted to do most of the work and did. I showed her different processes and then she did it. I sewed on the zippers and I think she pretty much did everything else. These were made with two sides of water buffalo leather I'd stashed aside to make a pair of shotguns for myself. But I donated to Katie as their wasn't time to order more up. The red was some scrap we already had too.

Zippers intimidate a lot of folks. Once ya've done them a couple of times there is no mystery. Katie is placing the zipper ribbon on the basting tape. I've found basting tape works much better for sewing on zippers than glueing. Fringe goes over the top on the other side using basting tape again.

One leg ready to stitch up and Katie getting the other ready:

Then we sew:

She sent me these pics from Oregon the other day:

Horsewright reins, headstall and martingale/breastcollar on the horse.

Still chilly in the mornings. Horsewright Sandwashed Silk wildrag (scarf) and dog collar.

Emma is a young 16 yr old friend of ours. She came up to the shop one day just to hang out some months back and I was working on knives. There is a stage in the buffing process where it is wax on wax off and tape on tape off. An extra pair of hands to do that while I'm buffing is helpful so I put her to work. When we were done we went inside and I told Nichole to pay the lady. Emma says no, can we trade? She wanted a pair of our leggings. So she came up and worked quite a few times until she had earned her pair of leggings. Here she is rubbing some sheath edges for me:

She is a pretty determined/motivated young lady. She drove an hour each way to get up here and half the time she'd be bringing her horse with her too. After we'd work I'd help her with her horse. She wanted to build the leggings herself. All I did was show her how to adjust the pattern to her measurements and I cut the leg fringe (which is kinda technical to get the angle right) and Nichole did the sewing. Emma did everything else. We were working kinda under the gun on these too as Emma and Nichole had a show coming up where they were competing. We did them all in one day starting mid afternoon, (she had summer school) and going to 10 that night. We used water buffalo for the main leg part here too and the wine color is a leather called Granada.

Here Emma is glueing on the leg reinforcement around the top of the leg:

Cutting the fringe on the apron:

Tipping the fringe with a roundknife:

This pair of charmitas are double fringed. A wine color is sewn on underneath and then the fringe is cut all at the same time. Both legs, all four layers are cut at once, which is why I did that part. Nichole checking her sewing afterwards on one leg.

Getting the two legs ready to be sewn to the apron:

The first time we'd seen them on Emma horseback was at the show.

Kinda fun helping folks make their own projects. Whada ya think?

 

[Robber58]

Dave,
That is great work and those young people impress me with their willingness to jump in and be part of the process. I have the opportunity periodically to help a young person make a knife or build a leather project, or both. Generally, they are very appreciative, listen and work hard to get things done. It does make you feel good to watch that happen. I have had a couple that seemed to feel entitled and expected me to do everything while they watched. They were sorely disappointed when that did not happen and they did not get their project completed.

 

[Horsewright]

Dave,
That is great work and those young people impress me with their willingness to jump in and be part of the process. I have the opportunity periodically to help a young person make a knife or build a leather project, or both. Generally, they are very appreciative, listen and work hard to get things done. It does make you feel good to watch that happen. I have had a couple that seemed to feel entitled and expected me to do everything while they watched. They were sorely disappointed when that did not happen and they did not get their project completed.

Good deal. Yeah I've had others that weren't near as motivated. They generally don't hang out too long.

 

[WEB2]

Too cool!

Dave, what kind of horse is that young lady riding?

 

[Bigfattyt]

Cool to see another generation learning handi work, like leather working and knife making.

I had a 'dream' growing up of learning knife making from my Uncle (Ca knife maker Glenn Hornby). He passed away before I finished highschool.

 

[Horsewright]

Too cool!

Dave, what kind of horse is that young lady riding?

Emma is riding Notch a BLM Mustang that she gentled.

Kaitlin is riding Downtown Mister Brown. He is a registered Quarter Horse although he's built more like a Throughbred and huge. Brown is 17 hands tall. Here my daughter is roping on him:

And I rode him for quite a while too while my son was getting my horse George some everyday cowboyin' experience. This was last Oct at the Brannaman Pro Am ranch roping. My son and I rode together. I'm pushing 6'4" and that shows ya just how tall Brown really is, (Emma took these last three pics):

 

[Dusty One]

They did a Great job......Thanks for showing !