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Here be dragons!
Nov. 20th, 2010 10:02 pmSo, I've been trying to make a Dragon corps jacket. Green military jacket in an 18th century style. Still no idea if I'm going to do M&M but I wanted a project and have been wanting to make this for a while.
Not quite sure where to go with what I've done so far.
Naomi Novik thinks the dress uniform would be something along the lines of a green version of the Navy uniform. What does she know? I disagree. Something more frock-coat-ish rather than a tailcoat seems better. To keep things simple I went for a Costume pattern. Based it off a pattern for an American "patriot" costume, and used polycotton drill for the fabric.
Last Easter, I was given the tip to trace the pattern onto plastic sheeting. It's a brilliant idea. It's 75p a square metre form a hardware store, a lot easier to cut and to pin, easy to trace through since it's totally clear. And the nice thing about tracing is that it makes modifications easy. I wanted a modification. I wanted turnover cuffs on the sleeves so I extended it appropriately.
I'm getting better at this. Granted I'm still useless at following patterns. Sewing patterns instructions always seems to be a little confusing to those of us used to Lego. Given the price of these things I'm sure they could justify an actual instruction booklet with photos, but anyway - I only had to unpick once due to not quite understanding how the sleeves work. Must remember in future to test these things when tacked before doing any actual stitching.
So it's assembled according to the instructions. I still have some work to do on it. Quite a bit actually.
Still not sure whether I want to do it with this coat or start again. One issue is that the sleeves are a bit short. Yes - that's another thing I learned. Measure first. Not too much of a problem since I extended the sleeves. Just makes the turnovers a little shorter.
The other problem is that it's a little bit tight around the shoulders. Sadly I have no idea how to deal with this. Even if I were to start again it will still have the same problem.
I'm also a little concerned that it feels a bit unfinished. The pattern is just for a costume so it's unlined but that feels cheap and the front will come unflapped. I can make a lining easily enough. It also doesn't look all that military yet. I saw a nice piece of fanart that adds some yellow trim which might work. How the hell do I do that though? What do I use? My coat is collarless so I'd only put it around the cuffs. I should be able to find some dragon buttons but if anyone can point me at some I'd be grateful. Still, at this point I'm flying blind.
I'm also wondering about accessorising. It would be a good Eastercon hall costume but it needs a little more work to make it obvious what it is.
I realise without a picture to guide it's not that easy but if anyone has any suggestions on the above I'd be grateful.
Not quite sure where to go with what I've done so far.
Naomi Novik thinks the dress uniform would be something along the lines of a green version of the Navy uniform. What does she know? I disagree. Something more frock-coat-ish rather than a tailcoat seems better. To keep things simple I went for a Costume pattern. Based it off a pattern for an American "patriot" costume, and used polycotton drill for the fabric.
Last Easter, I was given the tip to trace the pattern onto plastic sheeting. It's a brilliant idea. It's 75p a square metre form a hardware store, a lot easier to cut and to pin, easy to trace through since it's totally clear. And the nice thing about tracing is that it makes modifications easy. I wanted a modification. I wanted turnover cuffs on the sleeves so I extended it appropriately.
I'm getting better at this. Granted I'm still useless at following patterns. Sewing patterns instructions always seems to be a little confusing to those of us used to Lego. Given the price of these things I'm sure they could justify an actual instruction booklet with photos, but anyway - I only had to unpick once due to not quite understanding how the sleeves work. Must remember in future to test these things when tacked before doing any actual stitching.
So it's assembled according to the instructions. I still have some work to do on it. Quite a bit actually.
Still not sure whether I want to do it with this coat or start again. One issue is that the sleeves are a bit short. Yes - that's another thing I learned. Measure first. Not too much of a problem since I extended the sleeves. Just makes the turnovers a little shorter.
The other problem is that it's a little bit tight around the shoulders. Sadly I have no idea how to deal with this. Even if I were to start again it will still have the same problem.
I'm also a little concerned that it feels a bit unfinished. The pattern is just for a costume so it's unlined but that feels cheap and the front will come unflapped. I can make a lining easily enough. It also doesn't look all that military yet. I saw a nice piece of fanart that adds some yellow trim which might work. How the hell do I do that though? What do I use? My coat is collarless so I'd only put it around the cuffs. I should be able to find some dragon buttons but if anyone can point me at some I'd be grateful. Still, at this point I'm flying blind.
I'm also wondering about accessorising. It would be a good Eastercon hall costume but it needs a little more work to make it obvious what it is.
I realise without a picture to guide it's not that easy but if anyone has any suggestions on the above I'd be grateful.
