How Much Leather Will I Need To Make Chaps

[BarrelPony]

Hello, I am looking into making my first pair of chaps. I'm trying to figure out how much leather I'm going to need. Is there any way for me to get an estimate of how much leather I will need to make myself a pair of the (#34) Arizona chaps from Klenda Saddelry? (http://www.klendasaddlery.com/chaps.htm) My measurements are as follows:

Hip: 34"

Upper Thigh: 20"

Mid Thigh: 17"

Knee: 13"

Calf: 12"

Outer Leg: 38"

Thanks so much for your help!

[Dwight]

Considering you may have to cut around a brand, scratch, etc, . . . for the body of the chaps, . . . . I'd count on having a good 12 square feet of leather.

The belt and pockets can be usually made of "stuff" you have laying around the leather shop.\

May I make a suggestion, however, . . . look on line, . . . get one of those 50% off coupons from JoAnn fabric, . . . go in there and buy two yards of their fabric backed vinyl. It approximates leather for making chaps, . . . in fact, . . . . it IS MY pattern material.

Make your first pair from the vinyl, . . . it'll tell you where and how you need to modify your pattern.

May God bless,

Dwight

[dirtclod]

1 Side if you don't cut two for the same leg.

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

I agree with Dirt. With your measurements, you should be able to get them out of one side if it's relatively clean and decent size. Most chap sides are between 25-29 sq feet. And check, double check to flip your pattern so that you are not, as Dirt says, cutting two of the same leg. Yep, done that!

[BarrelPony]

Thanks a lot for the replies everyone! I really liked some stuff I found from Water House Leather, but it's only 15 sq. ft. Would that not be enough? (As long as I don't cut two legs that is!)

[dirtclod]

Make your pattern one for each leg right and left. Then write left and right on the patterns. That way you can move them around on your side to make sure both will fit. I don't think you will be able to get a pair out of 15 square foot and if you do one leg is going to be way down in the belly. Ask the folks at Waterhouse and see if they have anything bigger or look around and see what you can come up with.

[GrampaJoel]

For style #34 you are going to need a pretty good size side. I'd say at least 24 sq ft. Because Your 38" leg will take a lot of material. Plus you are making step-in's and will need quite a bit of material for wrapping around the leg. Think, a pair of pants.

Dwights suggestion was right on target. It is a very cheap way to figure out what you are doing.

I used inexpensive Naugahyde when I first started learning to make chaps and chinks.

Now days I just take measurements and lay them out on a card stock bought from Office Depot to make my patterns.

If you make enough pairs you will soon see how much leather you need just by looking at your card stock pattern.

Remember. Some of the leather will be unusable, so count on scraps.

Let us know how they turn out.

Just a thought. The Klenda pattern might tell you how to figure the leather you will need.

Joel

Edited March 21, 2016 by GrampaJoel

[BarrelPony]

Thanks so much everyone! It sounds like I will need a side then. Any recommendations of a good place to get cheap sides? I kind of wanted to keep this project at $100 or less. By the way, would a side be enough to put some fringe on them as well? Also, what is your preferred thickness for chaps? I don't want a super heavy pair, but I also don't want them to be thin. I was thinking maybe 4-5 oz?

[Dwight]

I know this is not the style you wanted, . . . but just to give you an idea of what you need, . . . and a way to think about it.

I made these a couple of years ago for a parade, . . . made them from suede leather, . . . if you can read the legend on the cutting table, . . . you'll see that the main piece needed to be 29 inches wide, . . . and just about 32 long.

These chaps were for me, . . . I'm 6' 2".

And of course, I made the pattern in the vinyl first, . . .

May God bless,

Dwight

Edited March 22, 2016 by Dwight

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

I used to buy most of my chap leather from Siegels of California until they closed. I'm still sad about that. I loved their Friday specials. Now I buy most of it from The Hide House. It doesn't seem like there's cheaply priced leather anywhere anymore, but the Hide House has a phenomenal selection and the colors are pretty consistent. What I buy usually runs between $90 and $120 a side, plus freight. The Leather Guy in St. Charles, MN may be a good choice for you. They offer a lot of odd lot and overrun stuff at pretty good prices. Some of their sides are kind of small, so you may end up having to buy buying two, which would end up increasing your cost anyway with a lot left over. They also have Bison, which I have used and really liked the finished product. They are about 4 hours from me and I don't get over that way too often, but when I do, I like to stop and go through their selection. Most of the chinks and chaps I build are 5/6 oz. The temper varies with the style. I've only built one pair of step-ins, and by customer request it was really heavy, bulky, firm stuff. He even picked out the side. It would never have been my choice, but I wasn't the one ordering them. He was tickled to death with them the last I heard, so that's all that matters. I imagine step-ins have to have enough body to stay open, but if they're too stiff, it'll be hard to move in them I would think, 4/5 oz may be a good choice. Hopefully you will get some good advice from someone who builds a lot more chaps than I do.