Jude's armour is coming along nicely. It took me all week because sewing leather is so hard on my hands. The hardest was the beading on the edges of his belt, and sewing on all the buckles and straps.  I'm especially pleased with his wrist guards.....

I haven't decided yet if I'm going to stain it or not.  I used really dull, old 'brass', and copper coloured beads so they wouldn't be too bright, so they don't really need it. The medallion on his belt is actually silver, not gold as it appears in the photo.

After trying to figure out how to make the chainmail show underneath I ended up just sewing the strips inside the bottom of the leather tunic. I had just one long rectangle left over from a butcher's glove my son gave me a few years ago, and I split it lengthwise unevenly - on purpose - so it wouldn't be all straight and neat.  That took three days to cut - one tiny ring at a time.

Now the only thing left to make is a harness so he can carry his broadsword on his back. 

As he was about to leave, the King turned to Nick...

January 16th is 'Appreciate a Dragon Day', and ever since Winston joined us five years ago, we've been doing exactly that....

And so we come to the end of Chapter 3, now available in Favourite Photos 2021.

Jude's outfit is coming along nicely. Slower than I'd like, but I have to pace myself because inserting studs, and beading through leather is very hard on the fingers. 

​I spent most of yesterday prepping his leather armour.  All the little pieces needed to be individually cut and glued, and all the edges needed leather binding.

I started the beading last night. Each one of those little rectangles needs a bead at each corner to suggest 'rivets'. I chose a small brass-coloured seed bead, but was having so much trouble with most not fitting over the leather needle I was using. I got fed up, and decided that I'd need to use different beads, so ripped off everything I'd done.  

​Then I realized that I never had an issue with seed beads and my leather needle in the past.  But I was using a different needle then. So I found my old leather needle, which was the same length, so I assumed it was the same, and sure enough those same beads slid just fine over it!  So I didn't have to rip all those beads off in the first place.  A total waste of a few hours! Sigh.

I've also been cutting my last piece of chainmail, which is a challenge of its own. Each little jump ring needs to be cut and removed... one...at...a....time.....

​So this is where Jude is at today.....

I sewed chainmail cylinders onto his undershirt sleeves, but they are hanging out too far in my opinion, so I'm going to have to remove them and sew them back on again about 3/8" higher.  

His navy blue shirt is finished. The studs around his neckline and sleeve edges were not fun to put in, but they are done now. My fingertips still ache from doing them.

​I started the beading on his leather armour again.  The neckline is almost done, and one armhole edge is done. I also started doing a few of the 'rivets'. Those aren't too bad to sew on, and don't even require the use of a thimble.  All the sewing on the edges goes through three layers of leather, and I need a thimble to push the needle through.  Then after a few beads the thread will break from the sharp inside eye of the needle. Definitely not fun.  But it's necessary to get the look I want.
​And once I'm done sewing all the beads on, the whole thing needs to be 'aged' to look more authentic.  So still lots to do....

I started Jude's costume.  He's going to be my version of Braveheart. The first thing I made was his kilt and cloak.  I decided I wasn't going to go for total historical accuracy with regards to his kilt. It will have the look of the old time kilts, but with a separate cloak, instead of the ends of the kilt fabric being tied up on the shoulder.  So to give it the right look, it's sewn like a skirt with big folds. I made bicycle shorts for underneath, and rough-edged socks to hang over the tops of his boots..

I like to start with the inner clothing and work outwards. I made him an undershirt because I didn't like the look of a wide open neck, and he needs the sleeves to protect his arms from the chainmail. The shirt needed to be wet and stained, and allowed to dry crinkled....

Next is his navy blue tunic. It still needs two rows of embroidery around the neckline and sleeves, with tiny studs in between....

At this point I always start to second guess myself and question everything, so I made a test pattern for his leather armour and belt.  I pinned everything on him just to get an idea of how he might look, and to give me more confidence to proceed...

So, there's still lots of work ahead.  And if I'm not happy with how it turns out, I can always make him something else. After all, he does look good in just about everything.