Conner Kenway complete - Lisa

All the detail is in the previous post.  Here it is.
done with all the gear.  Please note, he decided to wear my Uggs at the last minute and didn't want to wait and hide them under the leggings.

Conner Kenway costume IS DONE - L

SCROLL DOWN (and down and down) FOR MOST RECENT WORK
Part One - Jacket and Shirt

As promised, I am making a Conner Kenway (Assassin's Creed 3) costume for my offspring.
This is straight up cosplay which isn't really my thing...and yet, figuring out the coat is something I've  been thinking about a lot.  There are a couple patterns floating around on the interwebs but I didn't find them helpful.  I ended up using a woman's jacket pattern (Butterick 4929) modifying it (both in shape and in size).  I made it narrower but longer.  And I make the two piece front into one piece because no boobs.  In addition to having no boobs, my son also has no waist which I didn't account for in the first muslin.  Major 'do-over'.
The main part of the jacket was pretty easy.  It's the devil in the details that is gonna get me.
There are also brighter images of the character at this site
Conner Kenway

Since the video game is set during the American Revolution,

technically he should wear a coat, a vest and a shirt.  BUT there is a plethora of detail around the shoulder that was probably fun to draw but not so much to sew.  I have opted, like other cosplayers, to make the top coat into a vest and put the sleeves on the 'vest'.  I got the sleeveless coat drafted and sewn in a day.  I also drafted the over-shoulder piece along with the blue waist detail.  And I picked one of the boy's shirts that fits well to use as guidance for the vest/sleeves.

The front of the vest has a horizontal pleating detail so I needed to make a muslin first and pleat the white denim before I cut.  Just easier.  The back will only be muslin so I can sew in a big tuck to alter the fit as he grows.  Although I swear he's outgrowing it as I sew it.  I made the sleeves narrow but with a gusset at the elbow.  This gives him more room to move and the character has three buttons there anyway.  I'm leaving the lower arm seam open until I make the forearm pieces.





The jacket shoulder has some fussy strips of blue and leather.  I made the strips and then sewed them

over the lining layer, turning back the top layer, and sewed them in using the leather (read: ultra suede remnant) to bind the raw edges.

So here is a bad picture of my progress so far.

Followed by an exciting (ha!) action pose.

I have a LOT of accessories to make and a lot of 'dirty-ing' to do after I take a break to clean the sew-pocolypse in my dining room.

 

PART 2 - The Stuff - and holy cats, there is a LOT of it

Hood - I ended up making 5 drafts before I got it right  - no pictures yet - still have to make the symbol on the center front.  Oh good!  Drawing!  Something I'm pretty bad at.

The 'metal' bits - made of sculpey, painted silver.

The left bit is the back of the tomahawk, center is the belt piece, right is the bracer piece.  The blade of the tomahawk is, well, done.  Turns out I'm even worse at sculpting than I am at drawing.                         And the handle is a bit of scrap wood painted brown.  I'll wrap the handle with microsuede and hemp twine to make it look less like an afterthought.   The same goes for the arrows (doweling painted brown) quiver (cardboard covered with fabric and decorated) and bow (lathing strips, glued and painted brown).  I'll put up pictures when I get a chance and they are a bit more finished.

The 'beaded' armbands are made of burlap and painted to look sort of beaded.  It would be interesting and fun to actually bead them, but TIME!!!!

Here is the sash, finished buckle with belt, and one of the two cheap pistols we bought (Amazon, $10 including shipping) and painted.

And the bracers, one matches the coat, and the other is 'leather' with a metal bit and a hidden blade (which will be left off because... 12 year old boy).  They are only partly done and smaller than they ought to be because my 'client' likes them better that way.

I did this all in a day.  And as I was working on the leather, one of the cats decided I was done for the day.                                He was right.  I'm taking a couple days off from this costume.  

Back with the last of the gear!

Bow made of lathing painted brown, jute string to cover the join.  Arrows made of painted doweling and glued on seagull (rhymes with eagle, RIGHT?) feathers.

 Bow with string.  I already snapped it once and had to re-glue it.  Quiver with some decoration in a similar theme to the game image, and six arrows.  and the 'leather' bracer with metal symbol.  Don't ask me what it is.  I never finished with Ezio much less played this game.  It closes with velcro and has a secret blade compartment in the wrist.  With any luck, no neighbors will be injured in the making of this Halloween.

And the tomahawk.  Did I mention sculpture was NOT my strong suite?  Still it's made of sculpey, rub n buff, jute string, yarn, ultra suede ALL on a bit of 1x2 scrap wood.  I did some serious gluing to hold this together.  It has heft.

The boy LOVES it.  There is a wire loop to allow it to hang from his belt.

And the $1 stretch gloves from JoAnns with the fingers cut off (and tacked to prevent runs)

 The leggings have straps to tie around his legs and over his cargo pants.  A bit of twine will tie the front of the leggings to his belt loops (as with game Conner).
Microsuede doesn't really fray so these were easy.  The cat should provide scale, but only if you know how big he is

And finally, I have failed to photograph the buttonholes and buttons on the jacket, the gun holsters and belts that wrap over the coat, and the final part of the turnbacks on the jacket, the tamale pot full of coffee grounds and salt to age the white fabric, and the torturous hood.  They'll be clear in the next post with the boy WEARING this costume.   My final picture is the eagle emblem on the hood.  It is 'embossed' with yarn and specially 'aged' to highlight the symbol.

Staying tuned for the 'wearing of...'

Call to arms! (or fingers) - what's coming up ahead

With the Renaissance behind us, we can settle down and look at what we want to do for the next year.
Yes, we did this earlier in the year, but we changed our collective mind.  In order of interesting-ness, here is what we have planned:

We joined the Court Gown Project at Demode Couture.  We are a little scared.  A lot of the other participants are leaps and bounds above us in skill and knowledge.

We decided to target fantasy/masquerade dresses inspired by playing cards.  Our inspiration dresses are purely that... Inspiration.  Color, and detail (and shape in Lisa's case) will all be modified.   Robin will be the (non-Alice)  Queen of Hearts and is using this dress as her inspiration:

Lisa will be the Queen of Clubs.  She chose a picture from a Victorian masquerade idea so she will need to make it into a Court gown.  Since green was the color of clubs (in France a longish time ago) she picked a soft green poly/silk taffeta. And since the Queen of Clubs was also the flower queen (often thistle) she is sneaking peaks at Mme de Pompadour who wore lots of flower embellishment.

We are thinking about making paper wigs.  OK, Robin is definitely making a paper wig.  Lisa is thinking about it.

Lisa is drafting patterns for pocket hoops from Corsets and Crinolines and we're looking at dress and underthings patterns.
Target completion:  Costume College 2014

ALSO, we plan to make Regency dresses, from the underthings out.  And men's clothes to go with them because of the Tall Ships Adventure.  Costume required.  We are looking at this silhouette because we think the lower, more fitted waist will be more flattering.  We will also make a spencer or pelisse.

All super easy.  We'll just whip these out without a hitch.




But before we can even start, there are just a few things left to do to clear the decks:

Robin:  Finish the trim on her lavender Dickens dress, and finish the trim on her Renaissance dress (which may be sidelined due to being utterly sick of it by now).  She also needs to finish making her Pirates of the Caribooban outfit for Halloween.


Lisa:  just spent a week making pirate garb for the Young Actors Haunted House which raises money and happens during the HMB pumpkin festival.  She made 5 vests, 5 sashes, 4 headscarves, 4 distressed pair of pants....  nevermind, she doesn't even want to TALK about pirates right now...
Then she needs to make a costume for the offspring

because it's Halloween.  She will be making Conner Kenway from Assassin's Creed.
She will be drafting the coat pattern.  She has NO IDEA how she will do this.  Especially since her model is a 12 year old boy who cannot stand still.

Once this is done Lisa will make the linen lounge pants from the Decades of Style pattern.  Then start on the long postponed AntEater dress and her TV riding habit.

I won a prize - Lisa

Is this epic silliness?  Heck, yes.  We finally got done enough with our Elizabethan outfits to wear them to the Renaissance fair.  Mine is done.  Could I do more?  Sure, but I'm DONE.

We wandered by the costume contest, partly to see it, and partly to allow the boy to go on the bungee jump trampoline thing.  While standing and watching him, I got recruited for the costume contest.  I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that it was supposed to be starting and there were only 4 entrants. Still I got 2nd place and that was fun.

(Can I do a quiet shout out to the young woman with the merchant class outfit that was flawlessly authentic and beautifully sewn?  She shoulda won it all.)

Avocado Hoodie ~ Guacamole - Lisa

Mom...let me GO!

Months ago I got fabric to make the Avocado Hoodie pattern from Disparate Disciplines.  I finally woke up and decided to do it.  The pattern didn't go together quite as easy as my first try from Mari.  After reading more about printing patterns from PDFs, I'm pretty sure it was my computer.  I made a couple of adjustments based on the measurements provided, and from personal experience.  I added to the bust on the side front, and added length at the bustling across the front.  Basically FBA for princess seams.  I also added a couple inches to the height of the hood, and an inch the the arms.  Robin told me, long ago, that hoods are always too short for her.  I took that to heart.  I cut the top of the hood taller, but not wider. Worked perfectly.  I used the provided measurement for arm length and added about an inch BUT I didn't take account the length to the thumb hole.  So the arms are still a bit short.  They look fine but the thumb hole is a bit confining and the top of the cuff is sort of high on my arm.  It's supposed to be higher than normal, but mine is even higher than that.  I also added about an inch to the hem because I always do that.  I like Mari's designs.  They are flattering to my figure and I appreciate that a lot.

Boy demonstrates back side pocket

Confession time.  I just didn't understand the instructions for the back pockets.  Ultimately I just did them in a way that made sense to me.  They exist to allow someone walking with you to put their hand in a pocket while their arm is around you.  I don't know if the back pocket is supposed to be contiguous with the front pocket, but that's how mine is.  My son loves them.  In fact, he gives the hoodie very high marks for awesomeness.  And that's big praise from a middle school boy.

My assessment?  I'm done with knits for a while.  I find them wiggly and frustrating.  Also the painted stars on the fabric were a gigantic pain.  I was sick of the hoodie when I finished.  But then I wear it again and again.  And I get compliments on it all the time, including from middle school kids.

So I guess the frustration was worth it.  In fact, I can see myself making this again.

Arched Brim Hat - Lisa

It is a fact universally acknowledged by those who know me, that I will go to any length to avoid 'doing' my hair.  Plus I have a little more time these days.  So, with the help and inspiration of Robin and Elizabeth Layton, I have made my first real hat.

It is really fiddle-y work,  but I may be hooked.  Never before now, has a hat ever been comfortable.  Not a loose straw hat or a baseball cap, or anything.  I have an oddly shaped head.  And now I have an oddly shaped hat for it.  And I made a caul because the hat alone doesn't cover my hair.  Now I can roll outta my house in my chemise and dress in the parked lot like everyone else, and not have to worry about my hair.  No 'curls falling out' or 'pin headaches'.  Huzzah!

Here's how it went:
Cut the brim pattern, in your size, of cardboard or heavy paper.  Adjust it to fit your head.  In my case, narrower in the front and wider in the back. I have no pictures of this.  Important...  since you measured your head already, the net of your adding and subtracting must be zero.  Or you have made to hat too large or small.  Check it before your cut your good stuff.

Cut buckram and add wire per the pattern.  Add wire if it isn't sturdy enough ( or at the suggestion of hat making friends ).  Glue on the fulling and bias tape per instructions.

Then cover.  Two simple words to convey my sore and tired hands.  Even my pliers are tired.  Possibly the hat is over-designed...  Still it's done.


























And the caul.  Which is a circle of muslin, machine stitched in a grid, with beads.  I actually added some fabric at the top for my big noggin, but it's hidden.  Put it all together, and snap a picture (or stand grimacing and saying 'take the damned picture already').

Thursday's Child - the Girl Friday blouse - Lisa

I bought this pattern from Decades of Style at Costume College along with a pattern for 'lounging pajamas'.  I will make the wide legged pants out of black linen.  Soon.  First I wanted to tackle the top.  When I looked at the finished measurements I wasn't sure if, or how, I would add to the bust.  I emailed the question and what I suspected was the best solution for me.  I got back an answer quickly.  Which is awesome.  The pattern has shoulder darts and front tucks for shaping.  I didn't want to add in those spots because it would create additional volume that I don't need, so I added side darts.  Because who doesn't want MORE DARTS!  And I did it on a pattern that doesn't have an armscye.  Because I like to torture myself. I made a quick muslin, though, and it fit decently.

The appeal of this pattern is the crazy collar with embroidery.  I made the blouse with an ivory and black print in cotton sheeting.  I was perplexed about how the embroidery would look with the print and what colors I would use.  I did a row with black and a row with dark red.  I thought about alternating them. Then I did a couple more rows.  Then someone said 'why did you do all that?  It looked better before'.  Usually I can ignore those kind of comments, but this time it resonated with my own worries. I slept on it.  And when I woke up in the morning, I pulled it all out and replaced it with a single row of soutache.  Much better.  Downside; even with careful measuring, the soutache didn't line up perfectly when I attached the collar.  I opted to match the top collar since it's the most obvious visual point.  And I officially loathe invisible side zippers, even though they look good.

Now I want to make the pants.  I know I will love them because I love wide legged pants.  However my yardage is based on the pattern recommendation and I have since discovered that I need to add 5 or 6 inches to the length.   Yikes.  That's probably 1/4 yard in the layout.  So I'm not looking at it for a week or so.  Maybe if the fabric sits around and watches TV for a while it will get fat.






(see, you can hardly tell it doesn't meet)

There is no final picture of me wearing it with pride.  I had to wash it to get the needle holes from the embroidery out.  Now I have to iron it.  Please do not hold your breath.