Yes I Made That Jacket: Nocturne

It's 2016 and I'm realizing that I don't have as much cosplay material on this blog as I want.  So I'm going to start keeping up with costumes that I've made and make "Yes I Made That Dress" a more regular thing.  So with each cosplay I finish I'll have a new one!  And in the meantime, since I'm still working on my latest commission, here's the last commission I finished.

Some History:

Nocturne is one of the many games in the Shin Megami Tensei series that has a small but seriously loyal following.  Along with the Naoto and Marie hats I usually make, requests for commissioned items from this game are pretty common - because sadly there isn't much in the way of merchandise out there.  I was asked to recreate the main character's Track Jacket for a friend and their upcoming cosplay.  

Making the Jacket:

My not so secret is out!  I don't make my own patterns.  Honestly, it's really not a secret.  I never learned how to do this and I don't see the point when I've gotten so good at 'frankensteining' existing ones together.  Instead I have a HUGE collection of patterns from many different companies in my sewing room basement.  Simplicity 2208 is the one I used for this commission, with very few alterations.  You can also see the fabric I picked up for the jacket.  Comfy sweatshirt material and knit cotton.

Piping was something new I got to try for this jacket, and it's actually a lot easier then I thought it would be.  Just a couple pieces of yarn, braided together to get the correct shape and sewn into place and it duplicated the look quite well.  Definitely something I'm going to keep in mind for my own future designs, because I love it as a small detail. 

Next up, the detail on the sleeves...

The little dancing cats design doesn't exist that I can find, and I'm not really one for special ordering fabric because it's so expensive!  So instead I decided to see if a stamp would work.  I made the stamps out of extra thick craft foam and carefully stamped the figurines onto some test fabric first.  Then I went back in with a paint brush and filled in the thinner spots. Worked pretty well for a guess!  Paint used is a simple craft acrylic paint - if you put it on thin enough it just soaks into the fabric and won't crack at all, and it will survive normal washing.

(In the future I'll be correcting this method by adding felt on the stamps, so it holds more paint.  Keep an eye out for that on the Markiplier dress coming up.)

Next part I sewed on the patch piece over the seam of the sleeve.  I avoided making this panel it's own piece and put it on top so there wouldn't be an issue of stretching in the future.  I wanted to avoid cracking or stretching the design throughout wear on the outfit, so that detail lasts longer.  

Finished Product

And finally, with it all sewn together we have the track jacket!

If you'd like to commission me for a dress or have any questions on how I make these pieces, please send me an email or message me through my etsy store.