The Rack 1: The Original Burgundy

Look at these awesome suspenders:

The Original Burgundy - August, 2009

These are the first ones I ever made, almost two years ago. Now they hang from a rack in my closet with all the other suspenders I've made (that haven't been sold/given away). This is the first in a series of posts that showcases them.

I'd wanted to be able to make suspenders for years before I actually got serious about it and figured out how to do it. The thing that had always stopped me before was that I didn't know where to get those metal things that go on the straps so that you can adjust the suspenders to your size. Then one day, it occurred to me that they were called adjusters, and suddenly it was easy to find suppliers for them on the interwebz. Then I realized that I would also need elastic. Well, they have that on the internet too. Since my original plan was simply to copy the style of suspenders I'd already been wearing, I knew I would also need leather. Luckily, there was a leather supply store near where I was living at the time. I also needed some fabric for the straps, but that was the easiest thing of all since I already had a bunch of burgundy-coloured cotton fabric left over from a previous sewing project.

So getting the metal hardware turned out to be easy; and so did getting the elastic; and the fabric was certainly easy; but the leather was, and would continue to be for quite some time, a bit of a problem for me. I think the problem was simply I was too much of an early riser. (I've learned my lesson, though. I don't get up early any more. But I do go to bed late to make up for it). I showed up at the leather supply store right after they opened for the day, but that was before the staff who really knew what they were talking about had arrived. The cashier who was there though helped me, sort of. I ended up with a bunch of black, thin, stretchy leather - I think it was imitation doe-skin (actually, it was made out of cows) - the kind that would be perfect for gloves. "And maybe even suspenders too!" I croaked. But I was wrong. Check out the fantastic stitching on this thing:

My first time sewing leather with a machine.

I blamed the thread. After all, the leather-supply store personnel specifically recommended this kind of leather to me, and I was just using regular all-purpose thread (to be fair, the sewing-store staff recommended that to me for working with leather). Anyway, I eventually realized that it was the leather sticking to the presser foot on my sewing machine that was causing a lot of the problem, so I made a plan: I would put something slippery on the leather and then peel it off again when I was done sewing. It was obvious that scotch tape was the ultimate removable slippery surface:

Taped up.

So, that was clearly not the answer either. It turned out I couldn't get the tape off after I was done sewing. In case you can't tell, the middle section of that sleeve pictured above is entirely taped up forever, it seems. I don't think I ever tried that taping plan again. But I'll tell you more about that another time. One final thing I would like to point out about this attempt: I was not particularly adept at sewing in general:

That's some fine sewin'.

In the end though, I actually ended up with some fully functional suspenders. In fact, since most of what people see (or care about?) is the pair of straps, then these were actually quite a succesful first attempt. The straps, after all came out great. They look great. The only problem with them is that they were a bit thin and flexible. I think I even put a little interfacing on the inside but they were still thin. Actually, being thin isn't really a problem, although I have since decided that cotton suspenders look and feel better when they are thicker, but they were too wiggly, and would easily twist. Ultimately, though, the only real functionality problem with these suspenders came from that first item when I was contemplating suspenders-making: the adjusters! It seems that I had bought adjusters designed for a thicker type of fabric, and would possibly be ideal for elastic straps, which I have never had any intention of making. But they worked well enough. Sure, if I pull on the straps too hard, I can get the adjusters to slowly start sliding their way down the front of my shirt, but that doesn't ever happen. Still, it was an imperfection, and searching for ways to eliminate those is always one of my goals.

Moral: Remember the positives for morale, but try to fix the negatives for inspiration.