The final essential piece of the Wonder Woman outfit is the
baldric, a leather harness that goes over one shoulder and holds both the God Killer Sword and the Lasso of Truth. It
is fairly simple to create but difficult to describe, so I used color coding in
some parts of this tutorial to make it easier to understand. If you are making a sword and lasso, you will
want to have those completed first so you can tailor the baldric to fit them.
Materials needed:
dark brown leather (at least 28" in length), scrap leather,
scissors, ruler
Materials, continued: Cap rivets (18 pc), medium buckles (2
pc) [pictured in later images], clasp rivets (2), snaps (3), snap tool, rivet
tool, hammer, sewing machine, thread, clips, leather punch, marker, Ecoweld
(leather cement), q tips, gold and black paint, paintbrushes, acrylic finisher,
repellant, Velcro
In order to best describe the construction of the baldric, I
have color coded and labeled the sections as shown below:
The first step was to measure and cut strips of dark brown
leather. Your length may vary, depending
on your measurements. I used a soft
glove leather because it was all I could find locally in the right color and
length, but you don't need leather this fancy.
I cut 5 separate strips in the sizes below:
A: 24"x 3"
B: 28" x 3"
C: 13" x 3"
D: 18"x3"
E: 18"x 3"
I folded each strip of leather in half, as pictured, and first
stitched along the outside edge using dark brown thread. My sewing machine worked well with this
leather, but you will have to determine if your machine and leather are
compatible or if you will have to hand stitch.
Next, I stitched along the folded edge. This left me with sturdy strips 1.5" in
width.
I then designed a pattern for the two leather attachments on the left and
right sides. These pieces connect the
leather straps of the baldric and also hold some of the props that go with the
costume. Each square = 0.25":
I cut the following shapes.
The long strip should be dark brown leather (with enough length to hold your
lasso), but the other pieces can be any color since they will
be painted.
I also cut an additional rectangle (not pictured) that was
2.5" x 7.75". This rectangle
needs to be more than long enough to wrap around your sword, if you have
one.
First, I will show construction of the right side attachment
(right side of the person wearing the costume.)
This is the side that holds the Lasso of Truth.
I punched small holes in the leather for rivets and the snap. I attached leather piece A as shown below,
using leather cement and cap rivets.
Then I attached piece B using leather cement and one cap rivet in the
hole closest to the diamond shape.
Lastly, I attached piece D underneath piece B using one cap rivet.
Once all rivets were placed, I glued the square piece of
leather on top. I
stopped here for now (painting must be done before further work on the right
side.)
I repeated the process for the left side attachment, except I
attached the other side of piece D and piece C, as shown. I strongly recommend you try on the baldric
before you hammer down any more rivets, as it is easy to get things twisted the
wrong way or you might need to shorten the length of the pieces. You may even wish to clamp the some of the
pieces together and work through the majority of the construction process
before hammering any more rivets so you can make adjustments as needed.
Next, I worked on the
shoulder strap. On the other end of
piece A, I punched holes in the manner shown to accommodate my buckle, which I
recycled from an old pair of sandals. (Actual photo below was from another section
of the costume, but the hole placement is the same.)
I used leather cement
and the cap rivets to attach the buckle in the manner shown below. (Actual photo below was from another section
of the costume, but position of the cap rivets is the same.)
The buckle on part A will connect to the other end of piece
B. I tried on the baldric so far to
estimate my desired length before I punched holes in piece B and fastened the
strap through the buckle. [I later
painted the little leather triangle gold, protected it with finisher and
repellant, and cemented it to the end of piece B, as shown here.]
Once the strap was fastened, I punched a hole and cut a slit
with scissors to make a keyhole shape in piece B and attached a corresponding
clasp rivet to piece A to secure the end of the strap, as shown.
I attached piece E to piece B using two cap rivets.
I cut two smaller pieces of leather approximately
10"x 2" each for the straps that hold the sword to the scabbard.
I folded the pieces in half lengthwise and stitched along
each side like I had done for the rest of the straps earlier. This will leave you with two straps
10"x 1". I took one strap and
punched holes to accommodate the buckle.
Then I attached the buckle.
I wrapped the strap around pieces B and E and attached the
pieces using one cap rivet in piece B and one in piece E.
The second strap is attached to piece B approximately
9" down from the first strap. I
used two cap rivets to attach the strap to piece B.
Instead of a buckle, I sewed Velcro to fasten the second strap, as
shown.
On the front side of the harness, pieces A and C are
designed to fasten with a snap. I
attached the top part of the snap to piece A and the bottom of the snap to
piece C.
Lastly, I punched a hole with keyhole slit in the bottom of
piece E and attached a clasp rivet to piece D in order to fasten E to D.
Once all of the basic construction was done, I resumed progress on the right side (lasso) attachment.
First, I painted all the gold details, using shades of gold and black
paint. I finished the gold sections with
an acrylic finisher and repellant. Next,
I punched two holes for cap rivets and two for the snap in the piece of brown
leather, as shown.
I hammered in the two cap rivets and the male side of the
snap, as pictured below.
I then added the female side of the snap and fastened the
snap shut.
Although I'm not 100% sure on the intended function of the
left hand attachment, I imagine it is supposed to be a frog (fastener to hold
the sword) so the sword can be quickly put away in close quarters or when a cloak covers the back of the baldric. For the sake of this tutorial, I am going to
design the left side attachment to be a frog.
In this case, the frog is just a rectangle of leather,
folded in half, with the open end snapped shut.
I will only use one snap to attach the frog (no cap rivets) so that the
frog can be rotated when in use (this way, you can position it so the sword will point down at an
angle instead of straight back into bystanders.)
I painted gold details identical to the right hand side as
well as details on the rectangle of leather I was using for the frog. Once the paint was dry, I used an acrylic
finisher and repellant to protect the paint. I attached one end of the frog to
the baldric using the male side of a snap.
I hammered the female side of the snap to the other end of
the frog and snapped the frog closed, as shown.
The baldric is complete!
The easiest way to wear the baldric is to leave the shoulder buckle
fastened and just use the front snap to fasten and unfasten the baldric. This also completes the basic Wonder Woman
costume tutorial.
Side note: After wearing the full Wonder Woman costume on a very cold Halloween night, I am considering a future addendum for a cloak!
