Well, I’m still alive. I had school, and then we started moving two weeks ago. We finished moving on the 30th. I also didn’t knit a whole bunch. But, I do have lots of pictures.
Now we are mostly settled in the new house, I have my textbooks sitting on my desk, and have class to attend on Monday.
Assassin’s Creed Costume // The Time I Made a Mildly Dangerous Prop
I never meant to make this. Best Friend Enabled me. I made it out of foam and cardboard at first, but I didn’t like how flimsy it was. Then I decided to make it out of wood and my delightful father went to 3 stores to find me the saw I needed. All of this was a very good arm work out.
My mom is convinced that I have made an actual weapon. And I will admit that parts of it are perhaps... more pointed and sharp then I had planned.
Materials:
1/8″ thick craft plywood
A hand saw
Sandpaper
Super Glue
2 colors of grey pain
Method:
1) Sketch your kukri out. Mine is mostly based on this.
2) Transfer the sketch to the wood
3) Take your saw (that your father may or may not have driven to 3 stores for) and cut it.
4) Sand a whole bunch
5) Paint. The blade has a fade on it.
6) Glue it together, with foam padding
7) Wrap the handle in fabric
8) Wrap the handle in vinyl and glue it
9) Sketch around the knife to make the sheath and cut them out
10) Cut 2″ strips of vinyl out (mine were 18″ and 14″ long)
The hood was supposed to be the last thing I made for the costume. I rubbed it off of my favorite giant hoodie. I then modified it as needed. It snaps into the collar of the coat.
Method:
1) Cut all 8 pieces out
2) Sew the side seams and the top seams on the lining. I made some adjustments at this point, which were transferred to the outer part before sewing.
3) Repeat step 2 with the outer set
4) Top stitch the seams on the outer part
5) Sew the two pieces together along the raw seams (the outer part is larger than the inner one)
6) Sew snaps to the coat and the hood. Binging the Lore show on Amazon is optional.
The crown jewel of the costume is the coat. It may be the sewing project that I am the most proud of. I made an actual coat. I now have a tailored coat to wear after Halloween during Florida’s “Winter”.
I rubbed it off of a pea-coat I have, and then I just modified those pattern pieces to meet my needs. I also made it fit better and give me a better ability to move my arms (The original does not pass the punch-test). The lining is just some soft red cotton that we happened to have, and I think it worked out really well. The shell is gaberdine, which I have never worked with before. Seam ripping was a nightmare with it, and nearly impossible in artificial light.
I also only used a little over half of what I ordered, but better to be safe than sorry I suppose.
The coat itself is a mixture of a few of the coats from the game, and a Burberry coat. I’d say it leans more towards being based off of one of Jacob’s coats, because Evie’s all have 6000 pieces and are not as easy to mold into something I can wear normally.
Materials:
- 2.5ish yards of Black Gaberdine (I got 4)
-1.5ish yards of thin cotton
-1yd medium weight interfacing
-4 1 inch Buttons
-Snaps
-A coat to rub off.
-A large store of podcasts to listen to
Method:
1) Take your coat and pin any mods you need
2) Rub off your pattern pieces and use them to make your proper pattern pieces, making any adjustments
3) Cut out the lining. I did the entire lining first so that I could make any fit adjustments to the lining first.
4) Sew the princess seams for the fronts and backs, then sew the shoulder seams and side seams
5) Also cut out the portion of the lining for the collar from the outer fabric. Also cut two pieces of interfacing using this pattern piece. Sew those onto the lining and iron on the interfacing.
6) Sew the sleeves (each sleeve has two parts) and then set them into the lining
7) Cut the skirt pieces, sew the back seam (only the top), and the sides
8) Sew the skirt to the bodice
9) Cut one collar piece out and iron interfacing to it. Attach it to the bodice.
10) Repeat the same general steps with the shell.
I did make some adjustments, such as shaping the back seam a bit, shortening the skirt, and widening the shoulders. I also top stitched the seams on the shell
11) Add the pockets. I kind of fudged these. The flap, the little extra piece, and the top part are sewn on by the machine, and the bottom part of the pocket was sewn on by hand.
12) Attach the shell and the lining. I used this tutorial.
(Croissant snack optional.)
13) Press everything, a lot. Top stitch as needed.
14) Add buttons (mine are 3″ apart, 3/4 from the edge)
Once I finished all of the components I went ahead and gave the attachments a first round of painting. Then once everything was attached the whole thing got painted and a little roughed up. I kept the same general colors as the foam, since I ended up liking them. You will also notice that the dart gun is now attached to a foam plate with little cardboard brackets.
Colors:
-Medium, dark, and light grey
-Soft black
-Earthen brown
-Dark green
-Metallic Silver
-Metallic Bronze
-Metallic Green
I also used some basic school glue later on
The above are from the first round of paint I did before assembling everything. I also glued the blade and grappling hook to foam bases to make them easier to glue.
Then I painted everything. I also sanded all the rough edges down and also roughed up parts of the gauntlet. I also dry brushed brown in some places to simulate wear. The ‘rivets’ are globs of glue that were painted over.
Lastly, I used a hole punch to make little circles to run along the edge. After gluing them on I used the hole punch to smoosh them down.
The gauntlet itself was very much a situation where I just made it up as I went. I couldn’t find any good pictures of the one I liked online, so I spent a good chunk of time looking at it in game. Further complicating things is it’s literally called “The Assassin Gauntlet” in game.
Its just foam and a couple o’ snaps. I made a mock up first, and then used those to cut the real one out. This also took a lot of trial and error.
Materials:
-Foam (thinish)
-Super Glue
-Small Snaps
Method:
1) Through trial and error, and a lot of pinning determine your basic shapes.
2) Use your mock up shapes to serve as templates for the real pieces. Cut one of each from your final foam
3) Start gluing them together, making sure you ease the curves together.
5) Mark the edges of the overlap , also mark where the dart gun is going to be. Sew snaps to the foam (I tried gluing them and that didn’t work, which is what the picture is of), positioning them so that they will be under the dart gun.
6) Cut two long rectangles with rounded edges, glue them to the outer side of the gauntlet.
Now it’s time for painting, attaching weapons, and more painting!
Because the gauntlet is a whole production in and of itself, I am just going to break it up into multiple posts. The gauntlet is what I would work on during the week, since I tried to keep the sewing to the weekends when I could do it in daylight. I based the hidden blade, grappling hook, and dart gun off of this instructable, with some tweaks. I also squinted at this picture a lot.
The grappling hook is another thing that had to be cut down before the final assembly, but not by much. I wanted to make sure that I kept it a believable size. It was very fiddly, so I didn’t get very many pictures.
Materials:
-Foam
-Thin cardboard
-Paper
-A bamboo skewer
-Sharp, accurate scissors
-An x-acto knife
-Super Glue
-Tape
-Thin wire
-Wire cutters
-A thin dowel/knitting needle
Method:
1) Make your templates. I just looked at the picture, guessed, and used a ruler.
2) Cut the base out of a few pieces of foam that are slightly smaller than the template. There the ‘bottom’ should be the part that is the smallest in comparison to the template. Glue them together.
3) Cut 2 of the base out of cardboard, glue them to the foam, making a foam sandwich.
4) Cut two appropriately sized cardboard disks.Cut out a few smaller foam circles. Make another foam sandwich. Add a decorative smaller circle to the top.
5) Attach the circle to the base by using two tabs.
6) Cut strips of paper (mine ended up being about 2 inches wide) and roll them into a tube, tabling new ones on as needed.
7) Wrap two thin cardboard rectangles around either end of the paper roll, glue the paper roll into the bottom of the base. This is why the foam needs to be so much smaller on the bottom.
8) Make another, much thicker paper roll. This one used 3/4″ strips and is at least 1/2″ in diameter. It needs to be placed on the skewer, so I wrapped the paper around the skewer to make it.
9) Cut 8 small foam strips and glue them to the paper roll. I did the four compass points first and then filled in between them.
10) Make Another paper roll, about the same width as the first (longer) one, but wrapped around the skewer. It should be between the two other rolls’ diameters.
11) Cut two of the hook out of cardboard.
12) Put a few small foam circles on the skewer, then put the smaller paper roll, push the skewer through the foam core of the top. Align the circles with the back of the base. Glue them into place, position the paper roll and glue it.
13) Skewer another small foam circle and glue it to the outer side of the base top. Add the longer paper roll and glue it. Trim the skewer and glue the two grappling hook pieces onto it. The skewer should run up the middle and to the tip of the hook.
14) Take your dowel/knitting needle and start tightly wrapping wire around it. Once it reaches the desired length, clip the wire and slide the coil off the dowel.
14) Gently shape the coil and glue it to the end of the skewer, and to the end of the long paper roll. (Up and over the disk).
Because the gauntlet is a whole production in and of itself, I am just going to break it up into multiple posts. The gauntlet is what I would work on during the week, since I tried to keep the sewing to the weekends when I could do it in daylight. I based the hidden blade, grappling hook, and dart gun off of this instructable, with some tweaks. I also squinted at this picture a lot.
I did the hallucinogenic dart gun next. I used the same box as I did for the hidden blade. It’s just a few little tubes, a skewer, bits of foam, and a base.
Materials:
A cereal box
Foam
Strong, accurate scissors
An x-acto knife
Super glue
A bamboo skewer
1) Make the outer barrel, about 4cm long with 7 5mm sections. Glue it into a hexagon. Cut a 1.5cm long section out of the outer barrel 1 cm from the back of the barrel.
2) Make the inner barrel, 5cm long with 7 7mm sections. Glue it into a hexagon.
3) Glue the inner barrel into the outer barrel, with about 1cm overlap.
4) Make a foam and cardboard base for the barrel to sit in.Glue the barrel into the base. Insert a cardboard tube into the barrel to block the window.
5) Make a ring out of two pieces of foam, glue the end of the skewer between them. Spear 3 foam rings onto the skewer cut it down to size, and glue the foam rings to each other and the back of the barrel.
Because the gauntlet is a whole production in and of itself, I am just going to break it up into multiple posts. The gauntlet is what I would work on during the week, since I tried to keep the sewing to the weekends when I could do it in daylight. I based the hidden blade, grappling hook, and dart gun off of this instructable, with some tweaks. I also squinted at this picture a lot.
The blade is the first thing I tackled. It is a chopped up cereal box, some yarn, and little bits of foam. I got a lot of super glue on my hands, so I didn’t get very many pictures.
Materials:
A family sized cereal box
About 14″ of yarn
Foam
Strong, accurate scissors
An x-acto knife
Super glue
A hole punch
Method:
1) Draw out your knife shapes. You need three basic parts, which slot into each other. The ‘base’ needs to be the most box-like
2) Cut 2 of the tip and 2 of the middle section. Cut one of the base
3) Assemble each blade section, adding the needed decoration. Make sure to seal one end of the yarn in between the tip pieces.
4) Slide the tip up through the middle part. Extend it as far as it needs to go. Tie off the yarn to the middle part and glue it. Don’t cut it.
Now, this is where I initially went wrong. I put this little bumper thing into the base, making it longer than it needed to be. Which meant that later. I had to disassemble the entire thing and shorten the base. More on that later.
5) Repeat the yarn measuring process with the middle and base, attaching the yarn to the inside of the base. Finish sealing up the base.
6) Add some little foam bumpers into the base if you need to.
7) Make the wheel. This was a pain.
8) Glue the wheel to the back of the knife assembly. I also added a support to the back of it. The little ‘rivets’ are just little discs I made with a hole punch and glued on.
So after I finished the whole thing, including the other weapons, I realized that it was too long for my arm. I guess I didn’t take the wheel into consideration when I started making it. So I had to cut it open, and fix it...twice. The first time I foolishly cut the middle part down too, instead of just removing the bumper. So then I had to redo the entire middle part of the blade, redo all of the yarn attachments, and reseal the poor base once again. You can see the comparison below.
Part two of the costume is the sweet cape! Really it is a shoulder-pad cape combo, but it is mostly a cape. It will be removable from the shoulder of the coat, so that the coat can be a normal coat. I’m thinking of using hooks and eyes for that purpose, but I will cross that bridge when the coat actually exists.
It’s two pieces, the cape and then a shoulder pad made from some vinyl and the leftovers of the waistcoat fabric. It’s kind of heavy, but really fun to wear and not very obtrusive once you get it on. I spent about 15 minutes swishing around in it.
Materials:
3/4 yd poly-satin
12″ x 8″ vinyl
12″ x 8″ cotton
Matching thread
Some yarn
A pen
Method:
I should preface this by saying that I am about 5 feet tall, so 3/4 a yard of poly satin was enough for me to just fold it in half and have the cape hit around the back of my knee.
1) Fold the satin in half, right sides together. Pin around the edges to keep the satin from slipping around.
2) Cut a length of string as long as the side with the fold (plus a little more for tying it to the pen) and tie it to the pen. Use this as a compass to make some marks on the fabric. Put pins on those marks.
3) Fill in the rest of your semi-circle with pins. I purposely didn’t make mine a perfectly circular edge. Do not cut anything yet, but you can take the pins out of the square edges now.
4) Sew along the pinned line you made. Also sew along the straight edge and leave a gap to turn it right side out.
5) Now cut the excess off. Clip the seam.
6) Turn it right side out and press it.
7) Top stitch.
8) Make two pleats 2" deep. I started mine 1 1/2″ from the edge. Press these, and then sew them into place.
Set the cape aside
9) Make your shoulder pad pattern. I did this by putting paper over my shoulder and then cutting and taping and cutting again.
10) Take your new pattern, but the right side of it against the right side of your lining fabric and cut 1/4″ from the edge.
11) Take the cape and pin it to the back half of the lining. I found the right placement mostly by guessing.
12) Sew the cape to the lining. The cape has some heft, so I sewed two lines of stitches to really anchor it.
13) Cut a shoulder pad from the vinyl, exactly the same size as the pattern piece. I traced it onto the back of the vinyl and then cut it.
14) Now you need to pin the lining to the vinyl. I just kind of folded the edge under and pinned as I went. I only got a bad facebook messenger picture of this, which I sent to Best Friend to show her what I was doing.
15) Top stitch around the edge. Leave the cape free, it should only be attached where it was sewn to the lining.
The waistcoat is the first thing I properly tackled since I had everything for it first. It is also one of the more straightforward parts of the get up, only requiring two pattern pieces.
I mostly based it off of Jacob’s waistcoat in basically every piece of promotional art for the game. I left an actual collar off because it won’t be seen, I didn’t feel like having it, and from what I can tell that waistcoat doesn’t have one anyway.
Yes, I did google pictures of him in the craft store and squint at my phone to try and figure out what buttons to get. I didn’t get ones that look like ones from the pictures - so I failed on that front. I just used a striped cotton that I got at H*bby L*bby (Still a necessary evil). For the pattern I just traced off one of my shirts.
To make it more form fitting there are fisheye darts in both the front and the back. I didn’t feel like making one of those little cinch things on the back. Again, no one is going to see it or even care if they do see it. I forced myself to choose my battles on this thing, because I could go absolutely wild.
Materials:
1yd cotton
A few little squares of interfacing
Buttons
Method:
- Cut 4 fronts from the cotton
- Cut back from the cotton on the fold and a facing from the fold.
1) Sew the side seams and shoulder seams
2) Sew darts
Repeat 1 and 2 for the lining
3) Plan where your buttons and button holes are going, fuse little squares of interfacing to those spots
4) Sew the lining and shell together (wrong sides together)
The three pictures below are my sewing crimes on the arm holes. Because I was lazy I just sewed the lining and shell wrong sides together around the arm holes, used that stitched line to help me fold in in and then top stitched it down.
5) Top stitch.
6) Make the buttonholes and sew on the buttons (sewing buttons while watching Kingsmen with your parents in optional. This was a foolish choice on Older Brother and I’s part).
Now, I had to do some... sewing crimes... during this. Like on the arm holes. And the facing was made up on the fly when I ran out of fabric (because of my stripe matching). So I didn’t exactly follow my own instructions. Also the darts are way different than on the pattern pieces. Oh, and I sliced a giant hole in it when opening the buttonholes and had to fix that - I’m just going to claim it makes it look more like I have perhaps fought some people.
I planned on being reasonable and being Sucy for Halloween. But then I started playing Assassin’s Creed Syndicate again, and I got the itch. Then I posted about my itch and was enabled. But I told myself that I needed to be reasonable, and not make a fully-fledged Assassin outfit. Then I started planning the Sucy outfit.
Next, I realized -quickly- that I was not going to be able to walk in any kind of reasonable fashion. I was absolutely not going to be able to go up stairs. I tried to figure out how to make it so that I could walk. But then I realized how much fabric I was going to need, And I kept thinking about the alternative. Then I worked it out, and concluded that it was going to be more expensive to make the Sucy outfit – and I was going to need a wig. Then I started justifying the assassin coat – I could design it so I could remove all the assassin-y things and then I would have a winter coat.
The deal was sealed.
So now I am making an Assassin’s Creed costume for Halloween. Am I going somewhere on Halloween? I don’t know. I’m basing it off a coat I have. I decided not to do any character’s coat in particular, so that I could have a normal coat afterwards. Thus, I kind of blended Jacob’s coats, Evie’s coats, and a Burberry coat. You can spot them over on my costume pinboard. I will have a real coat at the end, so it’s fine.
The Materials:
-4yds Black gabardine
-1yd medium weight fusible interfacing
-1yd Grey vinyl
-2yd red cotton
-1yd striped cotton
-3/4yd poly-satin
-Buttons
-Foam
-Cardboard
The components are:
-The coat
-The hood
-The boot covers
-The cape
-The shoulder pad
-The waistcoat
-The gauntlet which has : A hidden blade, hallucinogenic darts, and a grappling hook
The last costume I made was a sentient sailor uniform. That costume required me to basically just wing it and spend a great deal of time draping fabric on myself in varying states of undress - not the best for recording the process. Since this is a coat and a cardboard/foam murder gauntlet, I will try to document the process this time.
Like I said before, I have done a good bit of knitting over the past few weeks. Included were a birthday hat and a commissioned lamb, but I also have a few new things up in the shop! Much of this knitting was fueled by re-binging The Adventure Zone in the lead up to today’s finale.
Two new Strata hats are done. I really like these, since they put odds and ends to good use. Strata II has merino, silk, and alpaca. Strata III has llama, icelandic wool, merino, alpaca, and cashmere. Strata I is also still up.
There is also a miniature animal blanket. The blanket itself is smaller than the rest, but it is so very soft.
I also worked up a new version of Undercurrent, one of my personal favorites. This one is merino and bamboo, and is a striking blue.
All of these and more can be found over in the shop.
baratheonpilled
romaincrisis
ellievsbear
snowghoul
