The front was simply a long straight strip with an angled end, the top had the same shoulder seam angle as the back so that they matched up correctly. I toiled my patterns in Calico first, this let me see how the piece actually laid on a person, Toiling is always important to do before committing to your chosen fabric because if something doesn't fit right and you've already sewn it in your chosen material it will just be a waste of material, money and time. After checking the fit on myself I found I needed to lengthen the front and widen the shoulders slightly as the actual costume piece juts out past the shoulders.
Once these adjustment were added to the paper patterns I then lifted a copy of them onto a fresh sheet of paper. The costume piece has a pleated look to it and I planned to make each pleat as a separate piece, a 1cm seam allowance was added to all of these pieces, plus an extra cm on the sides of each of the pleat section so there was space to overlap each piece onto the next, to make the item look like one large pleated piece and not lots of separate smaller pieces stitched together.
Once these adjustment were added to the paper patterns I then lifted a copy of them onto a fresh sheet of paper. The costume piece has a pleated look to it and I planned to make each pleat as a separate piece, a 1cm seam allowance was added to all of these pieces, plus an extra cm on the sides of each of the pleat section so there was space to overlap each piece onto the next, to make the item look like one large pleated piece and not lots of separate smaller pieces stitched together.
I decided to use Douppion silk for the Tabard as it has a similar finish to it as the actual costume, I ended up with about 10 samples of silk, I didn't realize how many shades of gold there were haha.
Once the basic pieces were cut out and sewn together the pleats were pressed into the front and back.
Once the pleats were pressed in I ran a stitch along the pleats to prevent them from unfolding and giving me accordion shoulders.
Once I had reached this stage it was time to singe the fabric, this is done before adding the lining so that once the lining is attached you won't be able to see the clothing underneath through the holes in the tabard.
Lining attached and a quick test fit. Next step was to distress and weather the Tabard and Gi uniform underneath.
To give the costume pieces a ragged edge and distressed appearance I first unpicked the hem of the uniform, next using a craft knife I hacked at the bottom edge to chop little segment out so it was uneven, as well as a few larger chunks to add variation. I also slashed small star shapes into the fabric in random places to make small holes, all of this was then feathered out and torn to look more realistic using a rasp. I then grabbed random clumps of fabric and balled it up like a small cushion and grated it against the rasp, this help create a rough texture over large sections quickly. This was repeated all over the bottom of the garment from the bottom edge up to the waist as well as around the elbows.
To achieve the dusty look the bottom of the piece has I ground up some white chalk and sprinkled along the bottom and around any holes. I tried to add variations in the thickness of the line to make it appear more natural. This was ground in using my fingers and then I rubbed the fabric against itself to help ingrain the dust even further and feather it out a little more.
I used the rasp again to weather the bottom edges of the Tabard although this wasn't quite as extreme as the black uniform.
I tried 2 different dye methods on some scrap silk to see if I could get a nice grubby shade, the first was a bath of black acrylic, boiling water and a teabag, the second attempt was a small amount of black acrylic diluted in boiling water and left to soak for an hour which gave me a pretty close match to what I was going for.
I made a large dye Bath in this method and left the costume to soak in the bath for an hour. After rinsing the excess dye out of the fabric the Tabard was left to air dry, once it was almost dry I used a spray bottle full of the dye I made and added another layer to the bottom of the Tabard as it dried, this was repeated a few times as it dried to give a gradiated and well worn look. The edges of the pleats were dampened with a brush and then using another brush a watered down mix of black acrylic was lightly brushed along the edge and rubbed in with my finger to give a feathered and natural looking grubby effect. (the bottom of the Tabard is still wet in this photo, the bottom is a little lighter and blended much more smoothly into the rest when it dried)
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