Jackets, coats and short stays...oh my!

I have lots of pictures for y'all of completed projects. So let's get to it!

First is the short stay that I made for Jessie. The short stay is made using Sense & Sensibility Pattern's Regency Underthings pattern.

Front. This is pattern size 20 with D-cup bust gussets

Front/Side detail. The boning in this is plastic.

Back

Closure detail

Next we have Admiral Stewart's dress uniform jacket for Star Command.

Front on hanger

Braiding detail and epaulet 

The braids and tassels were done by hand. I spent a few hours in the green room braiding yarn. Each finished braid is made up of 3 smaller braids, coloured hemp cord and jewelry chain. The tassels are just yarn.

I had forgotten how fun tassels can be to make. I hadn't made any since I was about 10. Making tassels is a skill I bet my Grandma would never think I would be using for costuming when she taught me how to years ago.

Closure to get in and out of braids

Front on Kay (the actor who plays Admiral Stewart)

Left side

Right side

Back

The jacket turned out amazingly. It's exactly like my sketch. I'm still a bit in shock by how nice it came out.

Since her jacket is done, I have started in on the boy's dress uniform coats. I am using McCall's Civil War mens jacket pattern (M4745) but with a few alterations. I have attached the top and bottom pattern pieces so that they are now one long piece and I have removed all back pleats. This in turn has made the pattern much less complicated and quick to put together. It is still a costume pattern and has it's problems with fit.

 I have Jason's done minus epaulets and just got Ben's to the point where I need to do a first fitting.

Front of Jason's during his last fitting

Jason's fit almost perfectly from the start. I have a good inch of overlap for buttons, the collar was able to be stitched down as is and still had the small gap I wanted. The sleeves only took a narrow hem. The only issues I had was that the back side seams needed to be brought in about 2" and the shoulder seam is not actually on the shoulder. I should be able to fix the shoulder seam on Ben's before putting in the sleeves so his doesn't have the same issue.

Front right before buttons were added.

Jason's jacket accidently got one too many sleeve stripes so today I had him come in and help me by seam ripping the extra stripe off. It was his punishment for giving me faulty information.

I had a productive sewing day outside of Star Command today. I made myself a dice bag and finally got to work on the Vogue coat (V8307) I have had sitting around half cut for over a month.

Dice bag made from a scrap and ribbon

Front detail of coat (V8307)

Front of V8307 finished

Back of V8307 finished

The outer fabric gave me a few headaches while I was working with it. It is a loose weave so it was fraying like mad as well as stretching oddly. I was working at the barn and didn't have my serger with me so I zig zaged all seams after I stitched the pieces together to help keep it from fraying too horribly. The lining should also help keep wear on the seams down. 

I ended up top stitching the collar as well as the front fold of the coat to keep the seams flat. I finished the sleeves and bottom by using bias tape on the outer fabric, folding that under and over the lining then stitching it down. This should help with the fraying as well as allowing for a nice, finished edge. The only real change I made to the pattern is to use 4 buttons instead of 3 and to actually make button holes instead of having loops of cording.

It fits really nicely. The only thing that bothers me is that the collar does not quite hit where it should but I think that's due to the weird nature of the outer fabric. It still looks good though. It's nice to have it done and no longer sitting around half cut and taking up much needed table space.

Tomorrow brings another day of working on Star Command jackets. We'll be having a work day at the studio. This should allow me to get Ben's finished since I will have him captive, in one place for a few hours. That means I won't have to chase him down too hard when it's fitting time.

I can't wait!