Leather quilting/cutting tutorial for my Arya leather skirt panels!
1. I started by quilting the leather with a backing of taupe duck canvas. It’s grid of about 1.5” regular squares with single lines of stitching. I didn’t take a picture at this stage for the skirts, though, so you’re seeing the double quilting lines of the doublet on the sample which you can ignore. Use upholstery thread and a leather needle on your machine!
2. About an 1/8” in from the quilted square, use a fresh Xacto knife blade to carefully cut a slit in the leather (but not through the canvas) on each side, leaving about 1/8” uncut gap at each corner. You will develop a feel for cutting through one layer but not both, and it’s important to change your blade right when it starts to feel a little dull. I went through about 4-6 blades per panel.
3. Cut 1/4” notches at a 45 degree angle at the corners of each slit (marked in blue). Make sure to cut all the way to the slit so the corner is free to curl up.
4. After doing a bunch of these, run your hand back and forth over them to encourage the leather to curl and pronounce the texture. And start to realize and appreciate how much time the costume artists on Game of Thrones put into all the garment details 😅.