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Legolas Jerkin DetailV4.0 Nov, 2003
Jerkin general descriptionThe jerkin is two tones of suede. In the movie, the top is a darker olive. The lower is a lighter olive/spring green. At exhibits, the top half is brownish over olive (but we've never seen it in perfect light yet.) The upper part of the jerkin is heavily decorated with swirled elven patterns burned into the suede. This design is painted in silver. Suede has been confirmed to be thin. (See our article on leather etching.) The jerkin opens down the front. It is closed using fine hook and eye tape that you can barley see it. The seam is closed tightly, it's hard to tell it is not a zipper, but it is hooks. The front edge is top stitched down as well the whole collar area. (We do not know if the jerkin is lined/faced with thin leather or a silky woven fabric). From the book store standee, we picked up some new detail. Where we are seeing some form of top sticking before, now we have detail. See the picture on the left. It is a very fine stitch on the edge of the suede. In one stop you can see another layer of suede has been but directly up against it. The suede is not folded under, just over cast. About 8 stitches per inch. (This can be done with a serger, 2 thread.) This blanket stitch goes all around the top suede piece... around the collar and down the front until the suede changes color. Same on the sleeves, only the darker fabric has this stitching. Thread is either black or very dark green. Since he is wearing his pauldron armor, it is hard to see exactly where this detailing is, but if we extrapolate, assuming it is everywhere we are seeing top stitching... that puts it around the neck, down the front until the end of the dark green. It will also be on the dark green over sleeve. Great speculation here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LOTR_Costume/message/3882 Side and back lace from mid-chest to waist. Lacing is in a cross stitch pattern. The bottom is open. There is thin fold over suede strips reinforcing the cut where the lacing is threaded. There are no grommets. The strips are machine stitched into place, just like Aragorn's jerkin and duster. (Confirmed at ROM exhibit.) There are small round holes that the lacing goes though. The lacing makes a tight criss-cross pattern, and is tied with a visible knot outside the tunic with the ends hanging down 2-3 inches. Each hole is about 1- 1 1/4 inches apart. Jerkin has been seen both with "X" and with "V" lacing. Best example is here: http://www.warofthering.net/photos/fotrlegolas/imagepages/image21.shtml
The jerkin edge is longer in front and back than the sides. It comes to a point. The brown belt is worn a bit loose, dropping a bit in front much like the elven women's belts. It is intricately tooled in elven design, but we haven not seen is close enough to tell the exact pattern. It looks a bit like leaves, something like Gandalf's feather stitched embroidery. The same pattern on the waist belt is repeated on his other strapping.
The leather etching pattern on Legolas's tunic
Focus on the SleevesThe sleeves are complex, so here's some extra help. Top dark green petal is lined and the lining is top stitched down.
The sleeves are made of two slightly overlapping pieces shaped like leaves. The leaf wrap in the lighter color wraps around the inside arm, and overlaps on top. (See imaged layers further down.) Over that is a darker leaf that laid on top and set in at the same time. IT is not tacked to the undersleeve and floats above because of it is lined. The darker leaf has swirled designs etched into the suede. Best place to see these patterns is in the Toybiz action figure doll. The dark leaf's back tail tucks in to the seam under the arm. Check out the chalk board for we're still fiddling with this a bit.
Find out how to estimate how many hides you need to make the jerkin.
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This page was last updated 04/22/08