Bucket List Item Completed: Jocelyn's Wool Ensemble from A Knight's Tale
This ended up being like some kind of blood sacrifice in tribute to my wool allergy. The little doggie things on the back, Jocelyn's heraldry, are clearly sight-hounds.
Although, I couldn't really get her to hold still long enough to totally figure it out. And tbh the original execution looked a little sloppy to me. So, I made mine fat-tailed sheeps. Because I wish I wasn't allergic to them. They're so darn cute.
Speaking of wool allergy: It turns out the wool content can drop to like 20% and still felt up nicely. I boiled the hell out of two bolts of this stuff all PPE'd-up like Walter White and it shrunk up so much that there was barely enough left for the hat. That's probably because the fabric was originally craft felt that was so thin I could see through it. And now it's a proper winter-weight wool, maybe as thick as a quarter inch.
There was so little wool leftover that I had to piece in a couple of places. Which is fine. It gave me the opportunity to insert a pocket.
I found the lining fabric at a thrift store for $14 dollars. Not per yard. That was the whole bolt, and it's this super heavy silk brocade. And since I got it for a song, I decided to commit the sacrilege of wasting this incredible fabric on the lining. I fussy-cut it so that it mirrors from side to side, and front to back. And wasteful uses of my focus and skills like this are why I would never sell this coat, because who else is even gonna notice that kind of mental illness symptom, let alone appreciate it?
Another change I made from the original is the higher level of structure. I'm sure the shoulders make you ask yourself, "How did I get here?" They might be the biggest shoulder pads I've ever made, but I have the daintiest little debutante shoulders and they did not look right earlier in the project. I also reinforced the collar with hat felt and wire.
In conclusion: I'm gonna wear the shit out of this thing. Just as, like, a winter coat. I'm not sure about the hat, even though it's loads of fun to wear, but it's a bit on the papal side for casual wear. But I do have one last mystery that I haven't been able to solve, and it's this: What are these littler circles? One on one sleeve, three on the other. I mean, I put it on there, anyway, but I have no idea what it means.