Designing a Steampunk Spaceman's Helmet

Today, Sunday, my wife and I went to some yard sales. Now sometimes you find nothing, and other times you find one gem. Just as we were about to leave one sale emptyhanded, I spotted a plastic astronaut's helmet. When I inquired about the price, the seller said $1--uh, 50¢--fearing I wouldn't cough up a whole dollar for this plastic helmet that was missing the visor. Of course, I saw much more in it. I knew I could pull a pattern off of it and remake it as a steampunk leather helmet!

Here is the plastic helmet as I bought it.

After thinking about how to break it up into separate leather pieces, I taped it all over with duct tape to make the patterns, and marked the divisions.

Here I've cut off the duct tape using an Xacto knife, and laid it down on heavy paper.

Next I've smoothed out the lines, removed the duct tape, and cut out the heavy paper patterns.

Next using the patterns I cut out the leather pieces, and punched the stitching holes, along with snap and buckle holes. I am leaving the front piece that covers the mouth removable so that the wearer can take it off for eating, etc.

Here I've stitched together the left center piece and the left side piece to see if it will work. I used a seam that exposes the edges, but after seeing it I think I'll remove the thread and do it over with an overlapping seam so that it will lie flat.

I will post more later as I progress on this project.