Aye, what ye need is a good scabbard!

Cookster — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 18:08:20 +0000

While David took on the task of weathering the sword, I began to create a cover for the plastic sheath. Leather would have been the preferable material to make this with, but I prefer to cut costs by using vinyl. This is costuming on a budget, you know.The ones on the left are the original pieces as you buy them. Most of the work on the right cutlass was to the grip and handle. Flecks of black paint were added along with a turquoise wash for a patina look. I covered the grip with a very thin leather spiraled to fit and finished the ends with black leather lacing. David chose to leave the original blade as it was.

For the sheath, David painted the upper half gold to match the sword handle. I drew a pattern on some vinyl for the cover, cut it and sewed it with the sewing machine. After sliding it over the plastic sheath, I didn’t quite like the way it looked so I decided to whip stitch along the edge by hand. I finished up the top of the scabbard with another strip of black lacing. Now all we needed was a belt or something to hold the sheath so it could be worn. At Goodwill, I found this great old leather belt that I thought would be perfect for a pirate because it was laced together in sections. This gave me an opportunity to be able to expand its length while still keeping the integrity of the belt intact. With a scrap piece of leather, I created a frog and attatched it to the belt and the scabbard with the same lacing technique. In the end, I think we managed a pretty decent accessory for David’s costume.

Kitchen Costuming » sword

Aye, what ye need is a good scabbard!