Author: balooken

So I’ve already put together a few patterns for the CBPD leather belt, and I’ve currently working on the holster pattern. The holster part, surrounding the gun looks pretty good so far…

I’ve been working on the drop (the long piece that holds the holster to the belt), and I’m struggling with one piece of it because there are just not enough reference photos to draw a definite conclusion. So here is my drawing so far:

So why this goofy-looking thing and not just a rectangle? Here’s how I draw this conclusion:

Some observations on this photo:

• The drop goes underneath the jacket, so it will at least need to be long enough to place the top of the holster just under the total length of the jacket.
• The bottom front is cut at an angle and the bottom left on the handle side of the holster is curved to match the holster shape. (Thus, the shape I’ve drawn it at the bottom to this point.
• The total width of the drop is wider than the holster, at least what we can see at the bottom.

Some observations on this photo:

• Confirmation of the angle at the bottom of the drop on the right side.
• Photo can be measured for an approximate length from the top of the belt to the bottom of the holster.
• Photo can be measured for the placement of the right leg strap notch. As far as I can tell from all of the source pics I’ve looked at (and I think I’ve seen most of them), the left leg strap notch is not shown. I will give my best guess on it’s placement based off an approximation of where the leg strap comes up the back of the leg to match the angle of the front.
• Interestingly enough, this was the source image and close-up where I first noticed the smaller white strap across the blaster, where the main body of the blaster meets the handle. It holds the blaster in the holster and is connected in the front with a black snap. Because the rest of the belt build uses 15mm black snaps, I’m going to make the assumption to use the same here and just make that strap a little wider than the 15mm snap.

So here’s the kicker and where I’m struggling with a decision… I think the holster drop is not just a rectangle that connects the belt to the holster.

Exhibit A: The is a drawing I put together for the snap placement based off of some measurements I did from several photos. If the holster drop was wide to accommodate the whole width of the holster, it would be 168mm wide (about 6 9/16″). Why would they place these snaps so close together? (from outside of the snap to the other outside of the snap, it measures about 58mm) If I were the designer, for strength of the connection, I would have put the snaps further apart.

Then I saw this picture (and remember… I have to stretch sometimes for source images, and this is a stretch, but it’s all I got!)

Exhibit B: Look how it tapers at the top to a smaller strap going up underneath the jacket. If it does taper to a narrower strap that will connect to the belt, then the placement of the snaps on the belt that connects to the drop make total sense.

So my inclination is to reduce the drop above the holster to a smaller width to travel up the jacket and attach to the black snaps on the belt. Again, with a total lack of source photos, this one is left to the discretion of the pattern maker. (a.k.a balooken)

So… is my logic sound? Am I missing a photo that clearly shows how the left side of the drop should look? This is up for a short debate, as I want to get the pattern out to you my friends. Tell me I’m crazy, or tell me to just follow my gut and make the freakin’ pattern! 🙂

balooken