How to Make Native American Leggings

How to Make Native American Leggings
Today I am posting instructions on how I make leggings for my moccasins.

The goat hide leggings.

The leather leggings with cuff.


Materials: 2 pieces of leather or hide
6 leather thongs 12” long
6 conchos



I cut them in length to go from a couple if inches below the knee to almost the ground or to the ground in the back. They are a bit narrower at the bottom.
Add an extra two inches if you want a cuff.
Mine are 15” wide and 16” long without the cuff. I am tall and have thin calves.




Cut two little slits with an exacto knife ¼” long and ½” apart.

These need to be three places along the leather which is BOTH the height sides. Through the cuff you will be cutting through on both sides (not at the same time).

The top outside should point to the back, so it’ll be reversed on the other one.
Start on the back side, the side closet to your leg. Go down from the top 1” and in from the side 2”. Mark your slit with a pen.
Measure 4” from the bottom and mark there. Make your third mark in the middle of these.
Cut the slits.
Now comes the tricky part. Fit them around your leg with the cut (the sides with slits) on the out side. Stick your pen in the little holes and mark the other side. The top hole has to be snug to hold them up so you might want to make it a little bit too small and let the lacings make up that difference. Cut those.




Put the lacings in the inside side and then through the outside part.





Slide on the conchos and tie a knot in the end of the lacing.

Now you are almost done. Do the other side reversed of course.

*** I have two cuts (settings) in the top of mine. One for wearing with skirts and one for wearing over jeans.


Hope you have fun making the leggings and enjoy wearing them.

Leggings are great for those cool nights at the powwow and for kicking around the farm or the city.

New Painting Tepee on the Hill

Tepee on the Hill
4” x 9” x 1 ½” Acrylic

$45
shipping $9.

I've just listed this painting in my Etsy shop Lancasterart. Please visit it to see more of my art.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6068156

The tepee sits on a hill on a perfect spring evening. This small painting, an acrylic landscape study depicts the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas and a traditional Native American tepee. The art is painted in a loose impressionistic style in soft yellow, pale green and sky blue with just a touch of purple in a dark cloud. Could it be another spring shower moving through?

This gallery wrap canvas can be used as wall art or to sit on a shelf or for a touch of spring on your office desk. Tepee on the hill will arrive ready to hang. The 1 ½” deep canvas have the edges painted black.

This is the quick sketch I did sitting out beside the tepee on a beautiful evening between the almost constant spring showers we have been getting. I don't know if you can see the notes on the underpaintng colors I added to the sketch. The colors this time of year are so pretty. The hills and fields are 27 colors of green.

Quiet Santuary, Not Yet

I move into the tepee while continuing to make adjustments, additions and learning as I go along. I prepare to spend my first night in my new summer home.

The door and the stakes still need adjustments.

After measuring the interior I made an ozan. This is a partial ceiling that sends the rain behind the liner. I really had to wing it here as I had very little info and no instructions, but it works.



This is the bottom of the ozan where it meets the liner. It had just stopped raining and you can see the drips down the back of the liner. Note the pockets I put in the liner.
This is a double bed and a twin cot. You can get some idea of how spacious the 18' tepee really is.

The pups are right at home. Tonka is sure getting big.

As evening fell I started a nice little fire in the fire pit. The tepee glowed up on the hill that night. The roundness and the night sky though the poles had such a cozy and nurturing feel. Sounds of the crackling fire filled the air. It lit up the whole tepee. There was no need for candles. I went to sleep as the fire died down.

Early the next morning I woke to the sound of voices followed by an explosion.

I didn't panic but I was irritated. It was the seismic testing that was going on in the pasture. I thought they had finished, but no. I had strategically placed the tepee to get quiet and morning shade. However the oil company has strategically placed the dynamite on one side and the gas pipeline on the other. It'll settle down soon but oh the irony of it all.

Painting My Tepee

I have spent the last week painting my tepee. It has been a huge undertaking. I had no idea it would take so much time and paint. It was tricky finding a dry enough time and a poop-free zone to spread it out. Gosh it looks huge. See the tiny little horses. I used a tent stake, string and a charcoal pencil to draw the circular bands on the tipi. I had to work quickly before the chickens came to help with the decoration.

Back in the studio I had more helpers. I spread a section on my table and painted it using watered down Golden Liquid Acrylics. When I painted the liner I could use painters tape on the straight edges, but this was all at so much of a curve I free handed it. The top section is a gold ochre followed by suns which are traditional for Kiowa tepee's. I used a stamp for this I bought on clearance. The next small band is metallic copper.

Then there are the hummingbirds, lots and lots of them. My Indian name is Little Hummingbird.

The blue row is phases of the moon. The bottom row is wolf tracks. In between will go the horses which will be 3'x4'. I will do them after the tepee is up.

The poles are 24' long and there are 17 of them. I am still working on sanding and sealing them in between spring rains.

The plan is to have it up by mid April. I am so excited!