Horsewright
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2011
- Messages
- 13,037
Had a friend bring me a pair of chaps to repair for him. Thought I'd do a lil WIP on how it went.
There are many kinds of chaps and in fact we often use the term legging as a generic term as there are so many types. I've pretty much over the years made them all: shotguns, AZ bells, charmitas, armitas, chinks, rodeo chaps, bat wings, farrier chaps, show chaps etc. This is a pair of AZ bells that we'll be working on. They are often referred to as "step ins cause that's how ya put em on, you step into them. However, just to confuse things a true pair of armitas are also referred to as step ins but they are a totally different types of leggings. Not to be confusing or anything.
Anyhoo this pair of "bells" were brought to me by my friend Josh. He and his wife run one of the biggest ranches in this area and they were our neighbors on two sides when we had our ranch. Their outfit is about 57 square miles so these leggings have seen some use. Interestingly this type of legging is kinda relatively newcomer to California, I'd say with in the last 10-15 years. Now just about every working cowboy I know around here wears this type of chap and I've made quite a few from scratch. Anyhoo:
Here they are on the workbench. These are roughout one made out of what looks like glovetan leather to me. Our new pocket will be made from some nubuck scrap I had.
I think that there was a weakness in the letter side right there but also that's where a guy's rope would drag some and that can be pretty abrasive. Don't matter much still gonna fix em up.
Here's what needs fixing the pocket has worn through and ripped the leg leather. The first thing I have to do is untie that knot in the pic above and separate the two legs. Josh also asked if I could do two rows of stitching on the new pocket to match the rest of the leggings. For some reason the maker had only done one row of stitching on the pocket but two on everything else. Even on the patch pocket on the other leg below he'd done two rows of stitching.
With the legs separated I'll set this one leg aside as we're not doing anything with this leg. See that lacing on the leg though? That's our next step we have to unlace the leg we're working on. The lacing is what holds the chap leg together.
Unlacing one of these and lacing it back together is kind of a pita and takes longer than anything else. It just takes a while, did I mention its kinda a pita? Our next step is to pick out all the old stitches holding the old pocket in. This type of pocket is known as a welt pocket. It's literally a pocket built into a slit in the leg leather. I didn't know the guy that had made this pair but he'd down some pretty good work. However he didn't punch a hole in each end of this slit, and you really should. You do this fro help prevent the leather from spitting along the slit and here, that's exactly what happened.
Here is the new pocket with the old pocket. I had to make the new pocket wider and a lil bigger so it would cover the old stitching holes.
I also had to widen the slit so I punched the appropriate holes and slit open the slit to the holes.
I fit in the new pocket and glue and sew the top flap down first. Then the important part, so ya don't get bit.
You have to turn the leg over and flip the pocket up and out of the way to sew down the bottom flap. Forget to do this and you will literally sew the pocket closed.
Here I'll trim the threads and then flip the pocket up to sew the bottom flap. Notice that on the pocket itself I stopped sewing about and inch from the slit. This is intentional and makes a stronger welt pocket. You are not straining those stitches every time you put something in the pocket. You sew all the way up and you are straining those stitches. Something learned from experience.
After the bottom flap is done all that is left is to re lace the leg up and then tie the center string knot again.
All done:
Hope ya enjoyed this lil WIP, just something a lil different. Questions and comments always welcome.
There are many kinds of chaps and in fact we often use the term legging as a generic term as there are so many types. I've pretty much over the years made them all: shotguns, AZ bells, charmitas, armitas, chinks, rodeo chaps, bat wings, farrier chaps, show chaps etc. This is a pair of AZ bells that we'll be working on. They are often referred to as "step ins cause that's how ya put em on, you step into them. However, just to confuse things a true pair of armitas are also referred to as step ins but they are a totally different types of leggings. Not to be confusing or anything.
Anyhoo this pair of "bells" were brought to me by my friend Josh. He and his wife run one of the biggest ranches in this area and they were our neighbors on two sides when we had our ranch. Their outfit is about 57 square miles so these leggings have seen some use. Interestingly this type of legging is kinda relatively newcomer to California, I'd say with in the last 10-15 years. Now just about every working cowboy I know around here wears this type of chap and I've made quite a few from scratch. Anyhoo:
Here they are on the workbench. These are roughout one made out of what looks like glovetan leather to me. Our new pocket will be made from some nubuck scrap I had.
I think that there was a weakness in the letter side right there but also that's where a guy's rope would drag some and that can be pretty abrasive. Don't matter much still gonna fix em up.
Here's what needs fixing the pocket has worn through and ripped the leg leather. The first thing I have to do is untie that knot in the pic above and separate the two legs. Josh also asked if I could do two rows of stitching on the new pocket to match the rest of the leggings. For some reason the maker had only done one row of stitching on the pocket but two on everything else. Even on the patch pocket on the other leg below he'd done two rows of stitching.
With the legs separated I'll set this one leg aside as we're not doing anything with this leg. See that lacing on the leg though? That's our next step we have to unlace the leg we're working on. The lacing is what holds the chap leg together.
Unlacing one of these and lacing it back together is kind of a pita and takes longer than anything else. It just takes a while, did I mention its kinda a pita? Our next step is to pick out all the old stitches holding the old pocket in. This type of pocket is known as a welt pocket. It's literally a pocket built into a slit in the leg leather. I didn't know the guy that had made this pair but he'd down some pretty good work. However he didn't punch a hole in each end of this slit, and you really should. You do this fro help prevent the leather from spitting along the slit and here, that's exactly what happened.
Here is the new pocket with the old pocket. I had to make the new pocket wider and a lil bigger so it would cover the old stitching holes.
I also had to widen the slit so I punched the appropriate holes and slit open the slit to the holes.
I fit in the new pocket and glue and sew the top flap down first. Then the important part, so ya don't get bit.
You have to turn the leg over and flip the pocket up and out of the way to sew down the bottom flap. Forget to do this and you will literally sew the pocket closed.
Here I'll trim the threads and then flip the pocket up to sew the bottom flap. Notice that on the pocket itself I stopped sewing about and inch from the slit. This is intentional and makes a stronger welt pocket. You are not straining those stitches every time you put something in the pocket. You sew all the way up and you are straining those stitches. Something learned from experience.
After the bottom flap is done all that is left is to re lace the leg up and then tie the center string knot again.
All done:
Hope ya enjoyed this lil WIP, just something a lil different. Questions and comments always welcome.
Last edited:
Fine job....
