This page contains a variety of costume separates I've made over the course of many years, as a catch all for those items that are not part of a specific ensemble.

Armor

The best armor is to keep out of range.

                          - Italian Proverb

I created the chain mail using 14 gauge galvanized steel in 7/16 inch inside diameter rings knit in a 4 in 1 pattern.

Lessons learned: Although I learned how to make chain mail long ago through friends who did this as a side business, the process of making chain mail is now well documented on the internet.  I will document the basic steps I followed here to help explain the lesson learned.  First, I went in on a purchase of 100 pounds of 14 gauge galvanized steel wire from a metal shop with a group of friends.  We wound the wire into coils on a table drill, then individually cut each ring from the coil using bolt cutters.  Then following the 4 in 1 pattern, I knit the rings into essentially a T-shirt.  The cost of supplies was minimal but the labor was extensive, which is why chain mail shirts are so expensive to purchase.  Were I to do this again, I would purchase the rings off the internet and only expend the labor in the actual knitting of the shirt.

Notes on wearing: The proper way to wear the above chain mail shirt is to belt it tightly at the waist and pull up a little bit of the bottom part above the belt.  This better distributes the weight to your waist, instead of pulling down on the shoulders (the above shirt weighs about 15 pounds).  Alternatively you could do as one of the friends who went in on the steel purchase did: nightly push ups in the chain mail until your shoulders are muscular enough to support it without pain. ☺

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Blouses

I sewed the brown blouse in a brown cotton blend sheeting.  I sewed the grey blouse in a grey brocade satin blend.  The grey blouse is trimmed at the neck and cuffs with maroon Chinese braid. 

Deviations from the pattern: The pattern calls for picot trim on the edges, the brown blouse has none (I wanted a plain peasant look) and the grey blouse has a braid trim along the edges.

Notes on the pattern: This blouse pattern is a great standard renaissance blouse.  It can be worn both on or off the shoulders and can be made as plain or dressy as desired.

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Capes/Cloaks/Mantles

I sewed the brown mantle in a brown stretch cotton blend "suede".  It is trimmed with brown double fold quilt binding.  I sewed the red mantle in a red cotton interlock.  It is trimmed with red double fold quilt binding with a red, black and gold diamond trim overlapping the binding at the bottom.  I sewed the black and white mantle in cotton interlock.  It is trimmed with contrasting black and white double fold quilt binding, note the mitered point at the back.  This two color mantle is great for teams with distinct colors, as an alternative to the two color tabard.

Notes on the pattern: This mantle pattern is a great piece to quickly change the look of a plain costume and can be made as plain or dressy as desired.

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I sewed the cloak in a black crushed velvet, lined with a turquoise satin with black velvet stippling.  The clasp is pewter, purchased online. 

An embroidered pouch is hanging from cording at the left waist. The embroidery design is a freebie named Fan00007 that I downloaded from the web in my early days - before I  kept track of where I downloaded freebies from.  So my apologies to the original artist for not giving credit where it's due, if you are that person please email me with your web page so I can post a link here.  The pouch is not part of a pattern, rather it is my own that I will be uploading soon.   

Deviations from the pattern: The pattern calls for the upper collar to be of the same fabric as the outside of the cloak, I chose to use the lining fabric instead.

Notes on the fabric: This is a good example of building a cloak from the inside out: I purchased the lining fabric first and found the outer fabric to match.  I wish I had purchased more of the lining fabric as I really like it but can no longer find it.  It was also sold in a red with black velvet stippling that a friend purchased at the same time.  Thankfully we each wanted different colors or a scuffle in the fabric store would have ensued. ☺

Notes on the pattern: The collar on this cloak pattern can be flipped up to look like a vamp hood, as shown in the picture in the table of contents, but it won't stay that way unless pinned to your hair or a hat.  I have since purchased matching cotton turquoise to make a gothic dress and hat to go with the cloak.  When I'm done that project, this costume piece will be upgraded to an ensemble of its own, maybe even in the full vampire makeup used for the character that wears this cloak...

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Doublets

Finalist in the 4^th Annual Inspired by Threads (2003) contest!!!

I sewed the doublet in a purple wool, lined with purple shantung.  The clasps are antiqued gold.  This was specifically made to incorporate the following articles from Threads magazine to qualify for their annual contest, of which mine was one of the finalists (see page 20 in the slide show):

Deviations from the pattern: The pattern calls for sleeve caps, I chose to go without.

Notes on the pattern: The Fantasy Fashions doublet pattern was used for everything, but because the pattern is for a man, significant modifications had to be done.  In the interest of fit the front neckline was lowered, the collar was shortened, the front and back body length was shortened at the chest line, the front below the waistline was angled up, front darts were added, and the front width was increased at the opening.  I removed the front self facing because of the thickness of the quilted fabric.  An earlier modification of this pattern was done for the copper doublet.

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Tabards

I sewed the tan tabard in a tan corduroy.  The trim on the body and sleeve sides is red and metallic gold flat trim, on the bottom of the body is a gold upholstery weight piping, and on the bottom of the sleeves is a gold flat trim.  The gold appliqué was a gift.  I sewed the green tabard in a hunter green denim, the sleeves in a navy blue polyester blend.  The trim on the body and sleeve sides is a gold metallic flat trim.  The symbol is silk screened in a gold metallic.

Notes on the fabric: The tan tabard was originally sewn as a prototype (muslin) for the green tabard.  It showed that the fabric for the sleeves needed to be a draping fabric, not the stiff fabric of the body.  Having said that, I dislike how the navy polyester blend looks so unauthentic in the sunlight.  I would choose a more authentic draping fabric next time.

Notes on the pattern: The pattern does not have a cut out in the body for the neck hole, you are merely instructed to cut one out. ☺ After making the tan tabard prototype's 'boat neck' opening, I made the green tabard collar on this cloak pattern a more rounded opening.  Over time, I also reinforced the shoulder seams at the neck opening as they were the stress points, so I would suggest that to anyone sewing this pattern.

Lessons learned: I sewed about twenty of the green tabards (for a team of people) before sending them with a friend to his silk screener.  When they came back, one of them looked more shiny than the others (the one pictured above) which I didn't think on too long, until after I washed them and saw that the gold silk screen had mostly fallen off on all but the shiny one.  The silk screener claimed that this was a symptom of the metallic paint and had to be silk screened again in a non metallic gold, after all the metallic paint was removed - though no answer was given to my friend as to why one of them did not lose any paint.  I had to scrub them all down with a stiff brush and rewash them over and over until the remaining gold was gone.  The silk screener then redid them and an additional twenty tabards I made without sleeves - in canary yellow!!!  What a disaster!  Some time later I asked another silk screener about this experience and she said that the original silk screener was incorrect.  The reason the shiny one did not lose its gold metallic paint was because it had been properly cured, the ones that lost their paint were not, and thus the issue.  So my advice to anyone getting a costume item silk screened: deal directly with the silk screener (rather than through an intermediary friend), get the silk screening done on only the pieces of the costume being embellished (so the entire garment is not ruined if something goes wrong), and wash the silk screened pieces before sewing them into the costume (in case they were not properly cured, better to find out sooner than later).

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