As February begins I feel it's time to take stock of where we're up to with the current projects I'm messing about with - May's deadline is just peeking its head over the horizon so I need to keep focus and get on with things...
As I'm still waiting on delivery of my polystyrene mannequin head, so the hood side-project will have to wait for another week for its own post, so lets see where we stand on the other bits and pieces!
The Coat:
Finally completed the bias-bound edging of the coat! After nearly ten meters (yes, ten) of bias binding the coat is now enclosed and essentially ready to wear; that said we're far from finished with this one... I've spent some time this week deciding how best to tackle the turn-back lapels and skirt sections - there's buttons, ties, eyelets, hooks, pressing, press studs, rivets, the list goes on. One intriguing idea that I read about last week comes from the uniforms of Prussian infantry during the Napoleonic era: indulge me for a minute.
French line infantry coats featured turned back skirts that could be buttoned back for ease of movement during long marches; indeed a feature of many Napoleonic-era uniforms, making for a smart unbuttoned skirt for parade and functional garment when marching (see above - not period, but it'll be do for now). As time went on and the wars took their inevitable toll on funds and resources, these turn-backs were eventually replaced with coloured fabric panels applied directly to the coat to give the impression of turn-backs and the attractive flash of colour they added, but without the expense of using extra fabric and labour time. Now, with Prussian coats, in what could be seen as a mockery of the time and fabric saving measures, full turn-backs were retained in the skirts but they were actually sewn in the "open" position, meaning like the French faux turn backs they were non-functional, but still used the extra fabric and labour as a functioning turn-back - a prime example of form over function, they even featured buttons applied as decoration without a real use.
I liked this idea, and it happened to solve several problems involved with making functional turn-backs, namely the nearly three dozen button holes I'd need to construct. I'm still not 100% on this but I'm leaning the way of non-functioning turn-backs, I just need to convince myself it's period-accurate enough - remember, these items have to be garments first, then costumes...
Anyway, enough wordy stuff, some pictures:
The finished coat with the right-hand lapel already pressed back and pinned for sewing. You can see in this picture the divide at the centre-back of the skirt, which originally featured an additional panel to increase the skirt's volume. I ended up removing it though as the thickness of the cotton twill shell and lining caused it to bunch and hang strangely...
The completed lining and bias bound skirt edging, featuring the "rustic" style stitching, thanks to a handy setting on my sewing machine.
And a couple more shots of the lapel pinned in place, ready to sew open should I decide to go that way. I have some period pewter buttons on order, so I'll dry-fit these and decide whether to open all the button holes from there - more on that next time.
The Hood
I won't go into the construction of this too much here as once my mannequin head arrives from eBay tomorrow there'll be a post detailing my hood research in some more detail.
What I will say is that this one is based on my "Revolutionary Hood" pattern, constructed of cotton twill in burgundy and off-white, though my camera seems to show the red as a bright crimson.
The shape looks a little odd on my torso stand-in, mainly as I'm still using my Jelly Bean packet head stand-in. I'll keep this brief as I want to spend some more time on the hoods next week, so here's a few pictures of where I'm up to:
The hood may or may not be permanently sewn to the coat once it's finished, but again I'm not sure on this yet.
Other Things
In other news, I've taken delivery of a couple of additional items to add to the costume - a very fine plastic training sword from Cold Steel, a katana as it happens (my weapon of choice in the AC Unity game), which I've just started to prep for paint. The sword itself is nicely weighted but completely blunt, making it perfect for conventions.
I'll finish sanding this as and when, then I need to teach myself how to wrap Japanese sword hilts - another skill to add to the list hopefully! Paint will be car bumper paint for better adhesion to the polypropylene plastic.
I also picked up a belt on eBay. I'd wanted to get some leather-working under my belt soon, it's been a number of years since I've tried it out. Unfortunately I won't have time before the next convention deadline, so picked up this item from a company called Gekko of Camden.
It's real leather, well constructed, and I think originally designed for hippies at a festival. Still, I like it and although press studs aren't strictly period I can over-look this as it smells like leather and looks great.
So that's where we're up to for now. The pattern pieces are cut for the other coat I need to make, ready for the mock-up fitting next week. I'll leave it here for now as I need to eat and there's more houses to view and Real Life to catch up with. Stay tuned for the highly-anticipated (I imagine) hood blog coming next week, along with anything else I can get done!
Until next time.
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