So then my costume-making friends, when we left the action last time (pre the bout of horrific man-flu-mixed-with-hayfever-and-no-sleep-or-food-for-two-days that struck me down over the weekend) I was on the cusp of having to decide which way my new project was going to proceed - an AC3 coat replica, or an ACU (Assassin's Creed Unity) coat in the style of the new main character, Arno. Wow, I have such problems...
While trying to decide, I made a start on a new coat. See? Responsible decision making; charge ahead with something regardless and make it up as you go along!
So, having decided to crack on with something rather than nothing, I ordered in some corduroy from a place I found in Germany, very reasonable at £4.59 per meter instead of the usual £15.00. Great, I thought, until it arrived. I'd missed the words "worn appearance" in the description. It meant this:
Basically, it looked as though the fabric had been badly tie-dyed in a brown-orange over a white base. This is how it looked after washing...
No problem, thought I, Dylon will hold the answer. Three packs of dark brown dye, several 40 degree wash cycles and a day of drying later I was happy with the colour. For reference, I was going for a colour combination (whichever way the project went) based on the brown/red/blue colours from AC3:
I (finally) had the brown outer in the form of a good earthy needle cord, now I needed the red and the blue. For added texture and interest I'd already picked up some indigo denim from my local supplies, plus some burgundy poly-cotton to work in. The hood, I'd already tackled:
After already failing at it once:
More on this when I cover the finer points of construction.
So, sticking with my Simplicity 2333 pattern from last time, I set about building the top half of the coat, as this would be the same whichever way the build progressed. I cut and assembled the front, back, top sleeve, under sleeve and collar from both my denim and my corduroy, resulting in this:
The brown outer, complete with denim collar and interfacing, which I later removed as it prove unnecessary and unreliable with the rigid denim lining.
And this, the denim lining, turned inside out for pressing on the sleeves:
Next up, let's get theses puppies together, trim seams, hem, press, turn in the right way, press and sew again to finish all the edges off nicely:
Cool huh? I was very pleased. The denim lining proved rigid enough to hold the collar and turn-backs in place with no interfacing, plus the shoulders sat really well. A note here on set-in sleeves, as per above: learn how to do them, they look fantastic and will only take a couple of tries if you've got a little experience under your belt. To me, set-in sleeves add a really "professional" look to your work and sell it as a garment, rather than just a costume.
Sadly I have no pictures of constructing the set-in sleeves, but this was my second and third attempt (shell then liner) and I managed them all (four in all, two sets of two) without a single catch. Go me. If possible, have someone show you how to do it, otherwise learn by video - Google produces some excellent results.
I used the one below, plus some common sense and reference books, especially the invaluable "The Sewing Book" by Alison Smith from DK Books - buy it, you won't regret it. As I said, I'd done one set before this (with a couple of catches) so work slowly, methodically and don't be afraid to alter and re-sew if needed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QSw8SwH9V8
Next time I'll be looking at which way I decided to go the the coat, AC3 or ACU-inspired, so for now, here's an in-progress shot of the coat body and the proposed hood:
Thanks for looking guys, more to follow in the next week or so.
Until next time.
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