Hokuto Sumeragi - Mad Hatter #84

trim and apliqués off

The Finishing Touches

I wanted to finish the needed alterations before finishing writing the thesis, but the Summer-long end writing marathon was so stressful, I barely sewn anything. In March, I took the jacket's skirt trim off, took off the apliqués, marked where I wanted to cut the hem, inhaled deeply, and cut it. Phew!

taking the plunge (cut)

Then marked the apliqués new positioning and slowly started sewing them. They're not 100% parallel to each other, slightly tapering outwards, which sort of gives the illusion they are. This time I did it in a production line method: 1st: loosely pinned them all in place; 2nd: porcupine pinned the 1st apliqué, and started sewing it, with a ladder stitch. Each time I reached a pin, I switched it to the next apliqué, and so on. I think it took me about a month to complete the apliqués, sewing for about 2 to 3 hours each time.

loosely pinning the apliqués 

Then I started sewing back the trim, on and off during the Summer, but I only finished sewing the trim last Monday.

Then it took me about two days to sew the buttons, mostly because one was dirty, so I needed to wait for it to dry, and I ended up just making 10 small buttons, but I needed 12 in total. 8 for the sleeves, 4 for the shoes. I also sewed a pentagon to the top of the back slit (it's only drawn in part of the manga illustrations) and replaced the back strap with the first one I made, which is nicer looking and wider, much like the new ones.

the cuff straps

the back mstrap and slit reinforcing pentagon

The final step was sewing the back of the right shoulder seam, as it tends to rip in that area (another patterning mistake - sleeves are my Nemesis).

Aaaaand... *drum roll*

the completed jacket

HOKUTO SUMERAGI IS 100% COMPLETED!

+ Phew! It's finally done!And I'm overall very happy with this costume. It's fairly well done, even though it took me very long, I mostly enjoyed making it, it has tons of pieces (12 in total), and it's tight but comfortable, I just can't wear it in the Summer.

- The time it took to be completed was far too long, but it's excusable with so many life changes in between: a pandemic, the thesis and the costume's final purpose, and moving house. There are some construction issues, especially in the jacket's shoulders and sleeves. The polyester taffeta against the skin is a mistake I'll never make again, but everything else, like the jacket's length, was corrected and I ended changing the gloves fabric to a knit, and making the teacup out of fabric, instead of 3D printing (which I'll eventually make someday).

THE END