Leather Work Apron, Cut and Saddle-Stitched

A smith's or carpenter's apron is a single hide panel from chest to below the knee that turns sparks, hot scale and slipping tools. Cut it from thick vegetable-tanned leather, rivet on a neck strap and waist ties with a buckle, and stitch on a pocket. The picture: smiths in their leather aprons outside a blacksmith's shop at Murgon, Queensland, about 1913 (State Library of Queensland).