3 HEMA-related Leather Pieces

I didn't start leather working as a cultural process but a fiddly-coping-mechanism process.

Those first few steps (stamps??) quickly brought me to the world of armour and Medievalism.

I quickly realized that this outlet had many applications to British and World Literature and that many teens (and adults) would 100% want to and NEED to know about it!

I wasn't wrong.

Here are three HEMA (or Medieval)-related leather pieces you can pursue:

1. Sheaths

You have to keep your knife and body safe on those cold, rainy, nasty adventures! For some reason our house is teeming with knives of various sorts, so I chose a few to custom-make sheaths.

These sheaths aren't period-perfect, but they do incorporate some of the Celtic carving and knotwork.

I also worked on a scimitar sheath for my belly dance sword. I attempted free form with this as well as a stone inlay.

I based the pattern on henna designs and Arabic tile work.

Although definitely not HEMA, the scimitar sheath gave me an idea of how to approach my training sword in the future.

My one regret? I didn't incorporate straps!

Frogs and Baldrics

If you're toting a sword about, you need something to hold it while not using so much leather. Lo--the frog and the baldric!

Frogs usually hang from the belt. I attempted a frog early in the year and quickly learned that an angle has to be incorporated somewhere so that the person behind you doesn't get poked.

My design wasn't stable, so I found a designer in Canada who does a lot of Medieval designs. I like his

patterns because they don't involve a lot of stitching (I'm lazy that way), and the pieces are simple to cut out.

I used The Dark Horse Workshop pattern for the frog and the baldric (the baldric has a shoulder strap as well as a waist band).

As of the writing of this post, I haven't finished the baldric. I ordered an inkle loom so I can make a 2" wide shoulder strap rather than making a leather strap.

Pouches and bags

I discovered the Medieval kidney pouch via Dark Horse Workshop and explored several designs. For some reason, several men at my job had decided to bring back the fanny pack.

In addition to my mom telling me the British meaning of "fanny," I couldn't handle the 80s throwback and need a classy answer to the fashion.

The Medieval kidney pouch was perfect! I made one for myself, and a friend bought one.

This particular design includes goatskin which was a delight to feel while I worked on it.