My hand-made kilt belt & sporran

[Tobus]

Being a bit of a leatherworker myself (and married to a professional saddle maker/leatherworker extraordinaire), I didn't want to buy an off-the-shelf kilt belt or sporran.

I also didn't want to buy a typical kilt belt buckle, as I'm not over fond of the huge belt buckle look on a kilt. So I made my kilt belt in the "Ranger style", commonly seen on gun belts, where the wide belt splits into two straps with two buckles.

I made this belt from two 2-1/4" wide strips I cut from a brown chap-leather (oil-tanned) hide. I stitched them together for bulk. The buckle side of the belt lets the under-layer run long and laps under the billet side so you don't see the kilt behind the buckle area. I kind of designed it 'on the fly' as I was making it, and it only took about 2 hours, start to finish. My wife did all the stitching on the leather sewing machine, which saved me uncountable hours of hand-stitching.




The sporran I made from the "Rob Roy" pattern found online. I made it from the same brown chap-leather hide as the belt. The entire thing was hand-stitched using the two-needle "saddle stitch" method. I used a pewter button with Gaelic stylized horses for the closure, with a simple elastic loop (OK, one of my wife's hair ties) coming out the bottom front of the pouch.

I hand-braided a 4-part round braid using small round leather lacing material for the loops on the sides and front. Then, when I got the length of the loops where I wanted them, I braided on the larger hanging tassels. These are also a 4-part round braid, ending with a simple Turks-head knot at the end, and the free ends left to hang as fringe.

I know these tassels are longer than traditional sporran tassels, but I like the look. They flop about when I'm walking, which adds some flair to the swish of the kilt.

I hand-stitched some leather tabs on the back with D-rings, then made a custom-length sporran belt with simple snap-hooks.





This is what they look like with the rest of my ensemble:

[Bluescelt]

Great job Tobus. I like the braiding. I'll be trying my novice leatherworking skills soon on my brass/goatskin sporran.
Scott

[JolyStNicholas]

Those do look grand indeed. I'll place my order now for the same , just in BLACK, the sporran just a little longer and the brading a little shorter, Let me know when they are finished and the price,hehehehehe. they do you justice me friend.

[mrtackytn]

Belt and sporran are both SUPERB !! I like the extra length of the braided tassels.
GREAT JOB !!!

[Kilted Carver]

That is some tough looking work there sir!!
Very cool.

[nh_maclean]

Great job and I'm quite enamoured with the belt... I'd totally take one of those in brown

Cheers,
Noah

[tulloch]

I would only add a smile and you have an unbeatable combo. Great stuff.

[piperdbh]

That's some fine-looking craftsmanship there. I especially like that belt.

I wonder how it would look "distressed", maybe beat up a little so that it looks like it's been through a few knock-down, drag-outs. Only time will tell, I suppose.

Excellent work.

[-B-]

A great belt and a solution to a nagging problem buckle bite.

now when are you going to make some for sale?

[kiltedwolfman]

looks good, I'm on my way to gathering some more leather for my second attemp at sporran building.