Okay, let's do it! Sorry this one's taken so long; I've not been blogging, I've had a lot of stuff going on, I won't go into it, but here it is!
Step one was actually the hardest, that was finding a pattern. I've not sewn nearly enough stuff to be able to draw up my own (without disastrous consequences), so I hopped on over to my local fabric store(s) and spent a while perusing their books. For this, I didn't even bother looking through the regular clothing patterns, I went straight to the costumes bit in the pattern books. After a lot of "ehhhhh, not quite"ing, I found a pirate-wench type thing which I thought would work nicely. My main criteria were that it be fitted, not too many panels, and hopefully lace-up. Necklines, sleeves, I can change the shapes of those easily enough once I've got something to work with. So, this was my pattern.
I traced it onto some pattern paper (I may not draw my own patterns from scratch, but my mum does, so we always have that stuff laying around). I ignored the little sleeve ruffle things entirely, I changed the neckline to a bit less square/scooped to more of a soft V, and elongated the bottom points.
The fabric I used is a lightweight leatherette. It has absolutley no stretch to it, it's not breathable... But it's got a great leathery look to it, so despite the whole $25 p/m thing, I had to have it. I also used a fuzzy fleece (they usually make baby blankets and dressing gowns and stuff out of it, but it's not polar fleece) to line it, given that Comic Con here is in the middle of winter, and this is pretty skimpy for winter clothes.
I cut the pattern pieces out of the leatherette, then pinned them on top of the lining fabric. My lining fleece stuff had a shaggy side (which would usually be the inside of the garment), and a more uniform looking side. I chose to reverse it, leaving the shaggy side facing outwards. I figured that way, if my cutting was a bit dodgy or anything, any fleece sticking out would give the shirt a fur-lined kind of look, instead of looking more dressing-gowny. ;)
I left the shaggy side facing out. It's just as soft though!
Then sew (duh)!I stitched the two fabrics together, then stitched the completed panels together to make the shirt. I didn't bother hemming this one, because a) neither of the fabrics need hemming, and b) who hems a leather shirt? (I don't actually know, but if I was making armour, I don't think I'd worry about hems).
Then it came to the details! I didn't take pictures of me doing this, but the back of the shirt in game has a little V, then a stitched-up tear. I cut the V into my pattern, then once the shirt was assembled, I cut through the outer fabric ONLY. That way, I won't get a chilly back, and it'll still look neat(ish) and keep it's shape.
As we can see in the above picture, there are little stitches around the edge of the garment. They seem to change, sometimes they look like a regular whip stitch, other times it looks like little X stitches. I went with Xs, since that's what I'd done on the belt. I also though it would give the tear a bit more contrast, since that clearly isn't Xs. So, I grabbed the same thread I used on the belt (it's a thick, beige crotchet thread) and stitched til I had blisters. First though, I put in the eyelets for the lacing. (I won't go into eyelets, there's instructions on the packet. I just drew dots on the shirt where I wanted them to go).
In game, the shirt is actually sitched roughly together from about belly button to underbust, then there's a single lace to keep the boobs covered up. Since my fabric doesn't stretch, and it's a close-fitted shirt (ie, it's not going to pull over my shoulders without dislocating something), I made mine lace up the whole way. My available colours were bronze, gold, black or silver, so I used black eyelets. The bronze would've worked quite nicely, but I wanted them a bit more invisible than that. I put these in first so that I could stitch around them, instead of having to have super wonky eyelets OR eyelets cutting through my stitches.
So, I stitched around the whole outside with Xs, including the arm holes. Then I did huge, rough stitches on the side seams (the ones that go under your arms)but not the seam under the boob. I wanted that one to be less noticable.
You can really see how leathery the fabric is in this one...
Note: I used stitches like this to sew back up the tear I cut in the back.
I literally did have blisters by the time I was finished with this one, but don't stress (if you're going to give it a go), it's purely because of the fabric/thread I used. Because my thread is really thick, I needed a huge fat needle, and the one I have is quite blunt. It's fine going through stretchy or soft fabrics (I had no issue getting it though the fleece), it needs a bit of tugging to get it through the shirt fabric. I really wanted to finish this, so I ignored the burning in my finger/thumb, and kept sewing, hence blisters. They were fine a few days later, and given how pleased I am with the finished product, I didn't mind so much.
Anyway, I bought some brown leather cord, laced it up, and that's it! A finished leathery armour shirt. I'm really happy with it. I love how lining it with fleece turned out. There's a couple of little furry bits sticking out of the arm holes and along the front where it laces up, but it's not hugely obvious because it's a pretty close colour match. But the fleece kind of bulks out the shirt fabric, making it look thicker and more solid, which I love. :)
It was really comfy to wear, and held up quite well against the cold, too.
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