Phantom/Musketeer Outfit

This is the first thing I have made for a couple years.  The first outfit of 2006!

Started - first week of October 2006 finished - October 30 2006

cost  - approx $52.00

27 October 2006 - My friend approached me about making him a Halloween costume in September.  I had been wanting to start sewing again. But on what.... So this was a perfect reason to start again, get some practice before I jumped into my Riding corset.  He described his vision as a mix of musketeer and the Phantom of the Opera. We went through my pattern stash and he pick Butterick 3072, "with some changes".  A couple days later he brought me a picture of what he wanted. The vest was completely different!!! I would have to cut it basically in half and 'V' the bottoms. The shirt would also be shortened. I made all these adjustments to the pattern pieces after he cut them out, and then had him cut out the fabric.

This project was a pain to start with. It took me ALL day to cut out the shirt pattern pieces. That is when I remembered my dislike for pattern cutting and enlisted the help of the Costumer to cut out his pattern and fabric in exchange for half my labor costs. The other half is to be paid by him cutting out my riding corset pattern and fabric... *grin*  Otherwise it could very well have taken me a week just to cut out the pattern.

In the first day alone I broke two needles and spent 2+ hours trying to work out the tension.  But it was a learning experience. I learned that the needles come in different sizes for different fabric. I had been using the needles that came with the machine. I also learnt that the the bobbin also has a tension that can be adjusted... Next time I won't take so long to fix these errors.

After the first day sewing went a lot smoother until I asked him to try on the shirt. He couldn't even fit his head through the neck hole.... The first 'error' I had to fix. So even though the shirt collar does not go further down I cut the seam longer. After some hand sewing it looks as if I meant to do that but I was disappointed that I ran into a problem already.  The rest of the shirt was a breeze.

I started on the vest before I realized my next problem. Buttons.... I have no clue on how to do button holes. NO CLUE!!!! And both the shirt and the vest call for them.... so again I improvised. Ties and hooks and eyes!

The vest was fairly easy. Only one minor gripe. The bobbin thread was white for some of the project that shouldn't have been seen. One of my seams was slightly off and you could see it. So I took a black sharpie after it. *GRIN* Never under estimate a beginner sewer!!!!

The pants went fine until I was going to attach the back.  Is it only me or does this pattern seem completely backwards. Why, unless I am making bell bottoms, would I want the legs to be bigger then the waist. But yet this is what the pattern does. I would of tried to reverse it but the curve of the crotch does not allow it and I didn't have anymore of this fabric to re-cut my own pieces.  I did reverse the elastic pieces, again because it made no sense to me. I am sure it makes perfect sense to someone.... but they are not here to explain it to me so I am making it up as a go.

Turns out the pants still do not fit the costumer.... Well dangit... I cut the size 32 going off that was pant size and this guy is scrawny so I doubt he lied about his waist size.... So now I get to attempt to fix this... not sure if I will be able to by Halloween but we shall see. All that is left is some hand sewing on the shirt for the ties on the sleeves. The bottom hem of the shirt. The attempt to fix the pants, the hand sewing for the waist and leg cuffs of the pants and the cloak, that I haven't even started.

28 October 2006 - I guess techniquely it is the next day even though I haven't gone to sleep yet. I decided to put a gore into the pants. I basted that in and had him try them on. They fit! I told him to sit down and everything to make sure. He says they are comfortable. I wish I still had some scrap from the original fabric. But I found that this fabric that will be used in the cloak is a doll to work with. I wish I knew what it was. I may attempt a burn test. I no longer think its some cheap satin. Well for $8.00 a yard I knew it wasn't 'cheap' but I only looked at it when the costumer bought it. I never touched it....

Due to it being late and me living in an apartment I decided against sewing in the gore and just set out on all the hand sewing I have left to do. I finished the leg bands of the pants and one sleeves of ties. I hate attempting to rip out seams sometimes. You sew it so it doesn't come undone and here you are trying to un-do it. Well off to bed for me.

29 October 2006 -  I finally got around to sewing in the gore. I drafted the pattern for the cloak yesterday... well I drew what I was planning on a piece of paper. Today I will attempt to transfer my idea to the fabric, cut it out, pin it together and sew it together. I have 4 more rental movies to watch while I do this and my husband won't be home until tomorrow at 0800..... I should get this done.... Or make a HORRIBLE mess trying.

31 October 2006 - Well I finally 'finished' this last night.... I was doing really well the night of the 29th. I had marked out my fabric, cut it out, sewn all the seams within a half hour. Then when I went to attach the cloak to its collar I realized I had sewn one of the seams backwards. I swear I had checked this twice before I started.... I came to find out that it was impossible to take the seam out of this fabric. All it did was fray... and fray horribly.  Having very little patience I decide to just cut the seam out and re-sew it. The pattern I drafted consisted of three panels. The middle one I tapered the bottom hem from 52" to 50" long, the side two were 50" to 48".  When I talked to my husband today he told me the costumer was having some trouble with the cloak because of weight. It was to heavy so it was pulling down and choking him. I may take out the side panels. I was worried about that when I was attempting to put all the fabric into the 15" wide collar..... After I had pinned all the gathers in I basted the seam with a running stitch, using button hole thread. I did this because I wasn't sure if just sewing it in using the sewing machine would hold all that fabric.... The rest of the cloak was done by hand. I love the look of a hand sewn hem on cloaks then I do machine sewn. This of course took me into the 30th. I went to bed at 0330 that day.  The next day I finished up hand sewing the side seams. For the bottom hem I wanted to use binding tape. This turned out to be a horrible mess. I need to order some wide binding tape from Jo-Anns and redo this. The one I was using was much to narrow, so it kept slipping and not grabbing the under fabric so I was sewing a seam by itself not with the fabric it was intended to be a seam for.l

 When I was judging the weight of the the cloak I decided against using the ribbon that I had used with the shirt. Luckily my friend Jennifer had given me a book on sewing a few years back when I was first starting. I had dragged it out to see what it said about button holes to practice later. When I was going through the book I came across other closures. So I was determined  to make my own piping from the scraps. For my first time I think it came out very well, and compliments the cloak well.

4 November - I finally got pictures!!!!  YEAH!!!! I also ordered the bias tape from Jo - Anns. Unfortunately they told me it is out of stock.... Toads....  I finished the embroidery that I wanted to do on the collar. Now I just have to find Bias tape to finish the bottom  hem then I can actually give it to the customer.