Although I did not take a lot of construction photos, I would like to show some details of my leather armor based on Brunhild from the TV Miniseries The Dragon King about the Nibelungs, a German Saga.
As I already said on the costume’s main page, I did the pattern myself. Since this was my first cosplay project at all, I did not had a lot of experience with sewing and working with leather. Therefore, I watched the movie a thousand times, forth and back, in order to see the shape and structure. To this time, the Internet was not full of research pages. however, I do not think that there would be any today, because the movie is not known very well. I started with an old piece of leather, but the corset did not fit well so I made a second try with an old leather chair. This time, I did like it, so that I used it as a basic layer.
For the scales I bought some calf leather. In order to make the edges look less pale, I painted them in a brownish red. After gluing it to the base layer, I added the rivets. I used an altered machine, because we are talking about 800-900 pieces.
As you can see, the outfit consists of several pieces, including corset, shoulder straps and plates, which are connected, and some leg plates. I connected them with 11 yards of round leather ribbon. Some years later, I added a layer of leather to strenghten the arm and leg parts.
The armor can be closed with a lacing in the back. The shoulder straps are closed there, too. However, the project was not finished yet. I had to make a second layer worn underneath the armor. This was made of thin goat leather and separated into two parts. The upper one is a rather simple bodice with shoulder parts added.
The lower part is made of the same material and looks like a skirt, although it is very unpractical when riding a horse.
In the original planning, I wanted to attach it to the corset of the main armor, but this did not work well. You can see this in the next photo. As an alternative, I now wear it separate.
Furthermore, I changed the upper part in the meantime as well. Now, I wear my Dothraki/Guinevere bodice underneath the armor.
Finally, I want to show you the complete outfit on its’ main page.