day sixty-eight: all done but the buttons

Except there are no buttons. All that’s left on these pants is to finish the waistband and make some belt loops. I finished the second cuff tonight, which was very quick and made me very grateful that I invested in heat-proof pins.

I ordered some Birka-style thread winders from Lykos Leather on Etsy, and got them today. They’re lovely, and not quite what I expected. I’d thought that they were solid pieces of bone, but they’re actually composite: thinner, smaller pieces of bone glued together and shaped. I had never thought of working bone quite that way. Now I want to do some research and see if that was done in period.

If it was, that’s an eye-opener. If it wasn’t, I think it’s a plausible method of working bone these days when it’s so hard to get hold of. I just want to know one way or the other, so I know how to direct my documentation.

so much easier to pull a length off of this winder

Either way, I certainly want to make a few more winders like this. Bone tools are so satisfying to use.

Not tonight, though. Tonight I go to bed and dream dreams of satisfying tools and beautiful belt buckles. Night, y’all.