braided leather western vests
This two-tone brown leather vest was built with 4 oz. moccasin cowhide and is entirely constructed by leather braiding. The 1/4" wide laces were all cut from the same leather that the vest parts were cut from. This braided construction makes for a very durable garment.
All of the seams, edges, split lapels, back yoke, and tops of the pockets are braided. The small length of sewing on the pockets was done by hand with 5 ply nylon thread ...and that thread is the only material other than leather used for the vest. This vest also has (what I call) a 'draft flap' located at the back/bottom of the vest. The moccasin cowhide is fairly thick (4 oz.), very durable and supple.
Over the last 40 years, I've custom built hundreds of vests. You can see over 50 of them on my vest's home page. While they are all braided, that's pretty much where their similarities end. After seeing the many features I offer, folks contact me with their own ideas/designs and we discuss how I should build one for them. Each vest ends up truly being a unique, handmade, long lasting, one of a kind piece.
these smaller pictures are clickable for larger images.
Below, the draft flap on the back of this vest.
