Caplet top stitching

The shoulder extensions, caplets, how ever you'd like to describe them, have five details. Two are on the edge of the piece. I sewed less than a 1/4 inch seam on the edge, then one 1/2 inch in and another about 1/8 of an inch from the second row. I used the inside edge of the presser foot as a gauge for the 1/8 inch . Depending on your pressure foot and the markings on the sole plate of your sewing machine you can determine what you'll use as a guide. I will baste the sleeve in before dong the top stitching on the armhole. My current idea is to get the seam allowance, place the metal studs and then sew in the seam with a zipper foot. The concern is whether the studs will be secure through all the layers. As soon as I do a trial run I'll let you know.

The top of the photo above shows the interfacing in the collar section. It's a mid-weight sew in interfacing. It's possible a light weight would have be sufficient since the doubled fabric is fairly stiff. Not show is the clipping of the outside curving edge, clip out little "v"s so when it's turned inside out there will be a smoother curve.

Flynn Rider goes on the road

Taking the Flynn Rider blog on the road is harder than I thought. I'm actually using my Blackberry to post this. No internet for the laptop.

The shirt for Flynn is probably easier to purchase than make, especially if it's a second hand shop find. The sleeves are rolled so there's no worry over the length. The shoulders are under the doublet so no worries there either. $the only distinguishing feature is the collar. A short stand up collar is shown. If you like sewing you can always take an existing white shirt, take off the old collar and add the correct kind.

If you're real lucky a tux shop will have donated shirts to a Thrift store!

Flynn Rider moves along....

I'm traveling and have sporadic WiFi, hopefully we'll keep things updated.

The shoulder caps on the vest are double fabric, so it looks the same on both sides and the top stitching will show but I've also decided to add a middle weight interfacing. Hopefully this will not make putting rivits in to difficult. 

Similarly, the front collar will have interfacing so it stands up on it's own.

Here's a photo of the pants fabric

Flynn Rider vest details

Adding the details for the front of the vest has hit a snag. My plan was for the vertical lines to be simply stitches sewn down the vest, but as you can see it's practically invisible. You can see it somewhat in different light.

Here's a photo of the sample I did with different color thread and types of thread. The spool on the left is the color I'm using for general sewing. The spool on the right is the third color from the right on the swatch, next to it is a navy blue.

The thread on the 2 far right are with quilting thread. If I can find a thread color like the darker one I'll use that for the vertical top stitching.

You may ask why I don't double the fabric like the overlay. A double/triple layer would make the vest even hotter to wear, it's hard to say how hot it will be in Southern California for Halloween, it's been known to be in the 90's!

Flynn Rider's vest/doublet

A quick note, teal leather maybe available but I wasn't going to work with it, especially since not even the Flynn's at Disneyland Resorts have leather vests.

The vest is probably the most iconic part of Flynn's costume.  To the right you'll see the top overlay for the vest and the muslin piece that has top stitching pattern lines on it. You'll need to click on photo to see the details better. The pattern for the stitching was transferred using tracing paper and a rolling tracing tool but I didn't want to use a high contrast color so I went over the lines with a seamstress' disappearing ink pen. The lines are across the vest and along the edge, additionally, the sewing line was also draw on the flannel.

The process is 1) draw top stitching lines on the right side of the overlay, 2) draw stitching line on the "wrong" side of the flannel, 3) baste flannel to overlay at two edges, your choice, 4) draw stitching line on the front of the vest.

Shows how the stitching line matches up

 Next, place the overlay on the vest front matching the stitching lines. The overlay will lay down the front and be flipped up toward the shoulder.

Pinned overlay

Pin and sew. Pull overlay up and pin at shoulder seams. I did not press the front because I wanted the rounded look at the lower edge but this would be the point at which you could. 
After you match the shoulder pin. Top stitch the diagonal edge at the bottom of the overlay then work you way up. Start at the armhole edge and work to the center front. At the beginning leave a long thread to pull through and tie off or stitch a couple of stitches at "0". This will secure the stitching. 

The sample to the left shows the look of the different the stitch lengths. (Note 4 is a gathering stitch on my machine, 2 is the normal setting.)   I chose 3.      

The finished look is to the right. You'll notice the overlay does not extend to the front edge, this is okay, it will be part of a turned under edge where I did not want the extra fabric. Look closely and you'll see the bottom line narrows as it goes toward the center.

Need more information? A better explanation? Just let me know with a comment and I'll do my best to clarify.

How to make a Flynn Rider costume or an "un" Tangled tutorial!

Even though I've started costuming for a couple of school productions the Flynn Rider costume needs to be the priority. Here's where it's at.
After looking at a few fabrics we changed our mind on the suede-like fabric because it was too dark. We also passed on the greener teals and settled on a canvas-like fabric that is a combination of sky blue and teal. Washing the fabric gave it a much softer feel and nice texture.

This photo shows the muslin pattern that was basted for fit and then separated. The front-side/front, in the center of the image, shows the extra blue fabric that was added to the front for a little extra room as well as the sleeve caps which I want wider. If you look closely you'll see the body pieces were lengthened. Not pictured here are the tabs for the front closures.

The next picture shows the pattern pieces with the original paper pattern pieces for comparison. The front overlay, front lapels and back collar were hand made. The front lapel, especially, needs to be a trial and error piece.

You'll start with a rectangular piece and trim away until it sits the way you'd like it to. It has to be done on the person you're sewing this for or a mannequin. The collar/lapel seems to sit differently depending on the view but here's a view from Bria-Silivern's site.


Since we have this picture here it's a good time to take a closer look at the pattern piece.

To give the front a 3 dimensional look I decided to make an extra chest overlay. I'll also put a layer of flannel between the top piece and the front piece underneath so the decorative stitching will have more to define. Looking closely at the pattern you'll see the first lines were straight but in the real jacket they are actually curved. The ruler is on the first straight line, the black lines are curved. It's more work so it's up to you if you want to curve the decorative stitching. There are about 8 lines, equally spaced.
On the left side, but not the armhole, are two additional lines. One is the sewing line and the other is another top stitching line. This too curves, wider at near the armhole and thinner towards the mid-body edge. I'll be sewing the overlay to the front/side-front right sides together along the sewing line and then flip it up to sew the top stitching. The flannel will be sewn to the overlay before that step...but I'm getting ahead of myself!

Click on the posts to the far right to see previous posts about which patterns I'm using and a few preliminary items.

Flynn Rider Update

This is the muslin pattern with markings for the top stitching detailing marked. It doesn't look to good on a female mannequin but fits well on my son. I've decided there will be a second layer for the yoke which will add depth at the front edge, hopefully making it look more leather.

However, I'll have to put Flynn on hold.  The 1886 dress will be worn this weekend in an area which has dirt so it needs to have a duster, petticoat edging for the train.

Always more than one project at at time! Well, actually it's usually more than two, three, etc.....

Fynn Rider 2

While waiting to re-fit my son's muslin pattern, I put together a page for each part of the costume to note details and questions. This is the page for the vest, since it is the most detailed it seemed like the best one to illustrate what I mean. (There's a second page that has the vest hardware on it.) One of the things I noticed in reviewing the photos is how much top stitching there is. There are a few quirky things like a wide belt loop on his right side that seems to be for both the vest belt and the larger belt that holds his side pouch.

My original idea was to make the pants from a fake suede already in my fabric stock pile, but a closer picture shows it's more linen-like. I picked up something I think will work well but have decided to use a different pants pattern than the one that comes with the vest, Simplicity 4059. It has a yoke with more fullness in the legs than is needed. 

Hopefully, the shirt will be a thrift store find, maybe the boots as well.

Getting tangled in Flynn Rider

(If you're looking for the latest update, scroll down and click on October on the right side column.)
Over the years I've made far more costumes for my daughter than my son (age 25), so when he said he thought he'd like a Flynn Rider Halloween costume I was pleased to oblige. For those of you who are not Disney fans or do not have young children, Flynn Rider is the principle male figure in the movie "Tangled".

 Here he is, Flynn in all his youthful Disney glory. (A big thank you to  Bria-Silivren  and her detailed analysis with photos!)As usual he's a bandit who turns good, but that's not my project! I just need to replicate the outfit. Of course no man has such a tiny waist and broad shoulders.

The first thing was to look and see if there were any commercial patterns that would work. The closest one was Simplicity 4059. After a quick muslin mock up it's apparent there will need to be a number of alterations. The vest back is way to high in comparison to the front (C). The back will need to be in line with the "natural waist" of my son, aka where he wears his belt. Alterations of the shoulder flanges is simple enough, just a tapering towards the center of the armpit (no side seams on this pattern) (B). A stand up collar will also need to be added and the front slanted appropriately (A).  There's an addition over the hips too.

Here's a photo of where I'll be making pattern changes. At D I'll cut the fabric and fold it over for more of a separate piece look. Most people who have made a Flynn Rider vest have used a microsuede but I found a backed upholstery fabric that will have more body to it. The original looks like leather.

The biggest challenge will likely be the front closures but I have an idea for those!

NEW PAGE....Fashion magazine and book downloads Free! :-)

This new page, Free Downloads of Fashion Magazines and Books, has turned out to be a time consuming project. There are far more out there than I realized. Other sites list links to repositories but I wanted to have the reader go to a year and then directly to the periodical.

Yesterday, I spent the entire day listing and posting and there are many more to do! I really do need to finish at least one sewing project so I'll take a break. Looks like this will be an under construction project, more items will continue to be posted as I am able.

I hope this helps your research!