Native American shirt pattern?

I finally bought the skins to make a Native American shirt (chrome tanned, I hope that will be okay). I'm looking for a pattern that would be HC. Missouri River makes a Northern Plains Indian War Shirt pattern. Any thoughts on that, or whether there are online sewing tutorials for this type of project?

What area and what period are you representing sir?

Crazy Crow sells patterns, as does October Country. You might ask them for a reference, if no one offers one here. Most patterns contain some instruction on how to sew them. Brain tanned leather would be the more HC choice. :thumbsup:

True Paul, but the one sold at CC is a later period design. It can of course be modified to reflect an earlier period. Brain tan is the way to go but its expensive, well worth it, but expensive all the same. :thumbsup:

I had a really nice custom shirt made for me about 5 years ago. I did a lot of looking on the internet for surviving original patterns many of which are protected in museums today. I also researched original portraits for the time period/era I wanted reproduced. Much of it can also be left up to what your eye sees and what you want your shirt to say i.e. totems and religious representations which were common especially in a war shirt for obvious reasons. Take you time and do good research and you won't go wrong.

Micanopy- I'd like to represent fur trade Platte River, Colorado, like Arapaho.

Book of buckskinning two has a nice one from Wyoming in it. Easy enough to do.

I appreciate the input! I know that with chrome-tanned skins it won't be accurate historically, but I'll try to make the style accurate. I can't afford brain-tanned, and if I tried to do it myself my wife would have me committed! I'll look up the Book of Buckskinning shirt.

Chrome tan will be fine as long as its dyed an appropriate color and not the "Ronny Voo" gold we see a lot of, or used to anyways. Problem with chrome tan and a couple other ways of tanning is that they dont breath very well and tend to crowd you when dampend by sweat. Take yer time and look at as many examples that you can find.

One of the things I did was get German Tan. Its about the closest ive found to brain. I soaked it and rung out as much color and chemical as I could which made it off white, then smoked the hides with water soaked hickory chips do get good color. The hide is now soft and looks just like smoked brain tan for half the price. With a pleasant smell.

I wonder if that would be a good idea for chrome-tanned? I may try it, sounds like it couldn't hurt.

War shirts are really neat, but still have a current respect and meaning with Natives, at least in our area.
There are several styles/variants that are acceptable, but a Really good replica of a true War shirt brings frowns and can raise the ire' of some, if worn without permission or out of context.
I'm a white man with enough respect and knowledge to tweek the pattern just enough, and leave off just enough symbols to make it a nice shirt for a white man.

I'm glad for that post, Necchi. I certainly haven't earned a war shirt, and I don't want to offend anyone.

What Necchi points out is absolutely true - socalled war shirts are in fact better thought of as honor shirts since they were not always "awarded" for prowess as a warrior and should only be worn by those who have so "earned the right".

On the other hand there is a modern mis-conception that all shirts and in particular those with decorations of any sort are honor shirts - they are not and this mis-conception is held by both "whites" and some NDNz (unfortunately not all NDNz are aware of their own tribal histories and Pan Indianism tends to mix things up).
Adolph Hungry Wolf in his book "Blackfoot Craftworker's Book" points this out and offers examples of both..

Here's a good example of a circa 1835-45 plains shirt (stylistically Cheyenne, Arapaho, or possibly Kiowa) with simple decoration that is NOT a war/honor shirt.......




Rather than chrome tan I'd recommend spending the extra for the Crazy Crow German Tan (you can get it from them smoked)or even chamois that is sold by auto parts stores (chamois needs to be re-colored a bit but is highly workable).
Chrome tan not only doesn't look right but is also hot in the summer and cold in the winter and unlike those leathers suggested does not breath at all.

Another suggestion if you're doing "white" rather than NDN or mixed blood why not make a simple buckskin jacket" - they are MUCH better documented for whites and take no more work or materials. See the Alfred Jacob Miller art works for examples.....he is the only known artist to have actually visited a rendezvous in 1837.
Patterns are available.

I soaked it and rung out as much color and chemical as I could which made it off white,

Click to expand...

FWIW - all leather is tanned via chemicals (yes even braintan which is technically a misnomer since it's the chemicals in the smoke that actually tan the hide. The oil from the brains (or eggs, or oils from the liver, or other sources), are there to help soften the hide along with a lot of grunt work.
The oil tanning method used for making German Tan is a very old method and it's the chemicals released from the oils (chemicals similar to those in the smoke - in oil tanning they are released by the heat generated during the process) that tan it.

Sean - what source did you get your German tan from? Just curious since I use quite a bit of German tan as a less expensive alternative to BT and have only ever smoked it or dyed it. I've never washed it, etc. and other than some of the seconds, it's always been a nice cream color (similar to some maker's BT, the color of which depends on wood used to smoke it) and is soft as is without any extra work, unless dyed and then it only needs minimal re-working to soften it.

Nantahala Trading post. $125 for a 12 to 14 sq ft hide. They are on ebay alot with some good deals.
Crazy Crow has them sometime to.

The German is beautiful to work with and smokes nice. I compared to a BT hide and you cant tell the difference other then its more consistant all the way threw. Its a dreanm to sew. I just did new side seem leggings.


I used Hickory on these to get a blacker smoke color. Alot of people use Willow for a nice mellow color. Fun to play with.

I appreciate all the information, guys. Wish I'd asked this before spending the money on the chrome tanned. I'll try to take it back and get some German tanned. Thanks for posting the shirt photos!

As has been said, German tan is close enough to brain tan to look and feel like the real deal and is far less costly. Brain tan is expensive for a reason, it is intensive labor and not many people do it, or do it well for that matter. I brain tan a couple hundred skins a year and most of the time the sell like crazy, some times not, but usually have a difficult time keepig up with the demand. If you can swap out the skins you have for german tan that'd be great, if not you can still make your shirt and do it well, smoking it will not change the texture of the leather but will change the color and smell. Good luck with it and let us know how it goes.