I keep wondering, why it is HARDER to make the usually easier avaiable:
-) Clothes
-) Leather Armor
-) Padded Armor
than it is to make all Metal armor like
-) Chainmail
-) Scale mail
-) Plate Mail
Why do i say that?
Because of the work that you have to do to skill up.
For Novice Chainmail:
Find Mine. Build Furnace and Anvil and Forge. You can now skill up and build a Chainmail. Everything done.
For other Metal Armors: Same as above, plus skill farming (not that hard, can be plowed up), skill animal lore - you have to build several coops and stables for efficient leveling, then skill procuration - can be done by slaughtering and by cooking bones, takes more effort, but can be done - then build tanning tubs and drying frames and make leather for armors.
For clothes, leather and padded armor:
Everything you need for other metal armors (of course not the things you need for the metal, like mine, furnace and anvil and forge), and then you need to get different ingredients, have to hunt them, have to grow plants have to build a cooking pot, then can level up cooking, when you finally unlock clothes. For many things you have to skill Farming 90 too, to grow flax and get linen.
So while to get any metal armor, and especially to ge the skill to craft it, you only have to use a few resources and built things, there are quite a lot you have to build to skill the agricultural tree up.