Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Ebony) - COMPLETE - PIC HEAVY - Completed Pics on Page 2

UPDATE!

I've started working on a new version, better, more accurate, and more detailed! You can find it here.

Okay, back to the old build.


================================================================


Hello all.

So this is my first new thread. Never done this before, and I hope I'm not breaking any rules. Let me know if there's something I need to know/do so I don't make any serious mistakes!

Anyway, I decided a few months ago (before the summer, actually), that I wanted to make a costume based off of Ezio's Brotherhood suit (the Ebony version), because I've always liked the Assassin's Creed series, and especially that suit. So I started making it, basing it mostly on the NECA figure I had. It hadn't even occurred to me to look at the verious hyper-realistic renders of Ezio (albeit in the white "classic" suit), until much, much, later, to my regret.

Anyway, I started making it, and in my excitement and intense focus on what I was doing I completely forgot to take MANY in progress pics along the way, so there are actually many steps missing, unfortunately. Anyway, I'll try my best to fill in what I've not shown, explaining to you guys what I've done.

As always, I'm open to suggestions, and I would love some advice on how to improve, what I could do better, tips, etc. This is, after all, my first costume (the first one I've made entirely by myself, that is).


Here's a pic of the finished costume, by the way




The rest of the pictures are on the second page.



Ooookay, so here we go.

I'm going to post a lot of pictures, and I'm probably going to extend this thread quite a bit. It will also take me a while to write up, since we're talking over 200 hours of work here so far.

Anyway, I started with the basic robes. I searched online for a doublet pattern, and after measuring myself to ensure a perfect fit, I went ahead and make the doubled out of some very nice fabric I had picked up from Jo-Ann's when I was in the States. I can't remember what it's called at the moment, but it's kind of thick, and has about 30% stretch.

Here are some pics of the finished doublet (as I said, I completely forgot to take progress pics):

(I think you can click on each picture to enlarge it, if you want a closer look - but I'm keeping everything at max 600 pixel width, because I don't want to fry all my broadband )





After finishing the doublet, I decided the best and most straightforward idea would be to simply attach the robe tails directly to the doublet, making it one piece. No one can see what's going on under that ridiculously oversized belt buckle and sash, so I decided I would just sew them on underneath the doublet. I prepared the pieces, using patterns I drew up myself (as you can see they are more curved than Ezio's original suit - I preferred this look.) I also didn't add the red trim because I felt there was too much red. Also, for the front panels, I kept to the color scheme of Ezio's white suit (going from largest panel to smallest - white, red, white) versus his ebony version (again, largest to smallest - black, red, red). I simply replaced the white with black, so had a color scheme going black, red, black, as in the pictures below.



(The first two pictures are the back panels, the third picture shows the front panels, and the color scheme I was talking about.)



Okay, so first I sewed the back panels on. It was actually quite difficult getting them lined up nicely - and in the end, I was sewing through more than 8 layers of this already thick fabric. It was quite a stretch for my poor sewing machine




It was looking pretty good, I though, so I decided to go ahead and sew on the front panels as well.

Man.

If I thought that the back ones were difficult, the front ones were even worse! At least with the back I could just lay the doublet out flat and fit them underneath. But suddenly since the front is open, I had to try and get them lined up straight each one on its own. Long story short, it took a while, but I got it done. I sewed them all in place.

I think this is a good time to mention that each panel is double-layered. I cut a double-piece and folded it over on itself, tucked in the edges, and sewed a double seam (with a single needle, so essentially I had to go over it all twice) all around. The double layer (and now quadruple at the edges) helped add to the weight of the panels and kept them hanging nicely. I also Ironed them before I sewed them on, which really helped them fall nicely. I definitely recommend ironing anything that has to fall straight - it really helps do a great job. I'ts been over 5 months now since I've ironed them, and even though it's been essentially hanging for all this time, I have still worn it, folded it, rolled around in it, etc. and they are still keeping their great shape. So, definitely recommend ironing.

Anyway, I sewed them on to the front, and was also pretty pleased with the overall result so far.



No, I don't think Ezio ever wore slippers. But then he never made his clothes either, so get off my case!


So the main robes were almost done. Time to make the hood.


So the hood has been a large source of controversy, because its shape is so unique and it seems very few people actually get it right. Usually, it ends up looking like a giant ring around the person's head, completely mis-shapen and just not looking very nice. Which is completely understandable. The hood is INCREDIBLY difficult, and not only that; but it's also not intended for fabric. Looking closely at the promo art, you can see that his "clothes" are actually made of leather. Soft, thin, leather. Maybe gazelle or something, I don't know. But leather is much heavier than fabric, and falls differently. Who knows, there is even a chance that it falls better with less effort.

In any case, I decided that I cared more about how not bubbly my hood was than how accurately it was attached to the robes, so I opted for a very slim shape, and decided to sew it INSIDE the collar, as opposed to OUTSIDE the collar. This allowed me to bypass the hood problem entirely, although I inevitably sacrificed the classic "A" shape. Nevertheless, I also don't (like, ever) have to worry about it falling off, because it fits very snugly.

I found a picture of a pattern online, (I forget who's it was), and based on the picture I drew up my own similar pattern, which I edited until I got the shape I wanted. I ended up making three hoods.

I first made a mock-up of the hood using some cheap fabric I had to finalize the overall shape and get it looking the way I wanted.
Then I made an entirely black version.
Finally I made a version with red lining, but that (at least in the beginning) could be flipped inside out to create a red hood with black lining.




I'm missing a picture of the finished third hood... eh, it doesn't matter, you'll see it in the final costume anyway

Anyway so without the hood, after a solid (I think it was 2 weeks) of work, here's what we have (minus the hood... for some reason).




Because I was originally intending on making a costume BASED on Ezio, rather than OF Ezio himself, I simply bought a pirate-type shirt (the kind with poofy sleeves) and was going to use that as an undershirt. It was looking pretty good, so why not?)

Having brought the suit to a satisfactory level (for the time being, I thought), I felt it was time I moved on to the leather armor.


I had decided from the very beginning that I wanted my suit to be as "real" as possible.

This meant no fake leather, no thin, cheap fabrics, and new plastic/clay/whatever parts. Even if you can achieve a very real looking effect with those materials, and I've seen some pretty awesome costumes utilizing those techniques, I decided against it.

However, I said, leather is expensive. So let's "cheat" anyway, and by some thin leather, from which we'll cut double-layer pieces lined with stiff paper to add thickness and strength.

So I did that. I went and bought some cheap, thin leather, and started working on it.




So what I did was I found an online pattern of Ezio's vambrace (from AC:II), and used that as a template. I decided brown would be the inner layer, and black the outer layer. So I cut 8 pieces of leather, 2 for each layer.

The idea was that the larger pieces would be folded over the paper and smaller leather pieces and then sewn around the edges to create the final layer.

I don't seem to have any pictures of the paper, unfortunately... although I though I had them somewhere. Anyway, the sewing machine couldn't puncture leather; I needed a special 500 euro (and more) machine to do this job, and since I had a VERY limited budget, no WAY could I afford a machine like that... not even a used one. Hell, I couldn't even afford a machine that was broken.

So I took it to the leather guys down town who were able to sew it for me, and who gave me some great tips on working with leather. Really helpful, nice people. They actually allowed me to hang out in their shop and work. (Little did I know just how much time I would end up spending there later on....)

Anyway, so I got the vambraces finished, and yeah I was pretty proud of myself. First leather project? Lookin, good, right?

(Looks like I've reached my cap for picture posting... the rest will be continued on another post.)

Re: Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Ebony) - Costume - Incomplete - (PIC HEAVY)

Okay, so here we go.

As I was saying, I was pretty proud of my vambraces.




But no, they weren't that great. I realized that they were actually pretty then, plus I didn't like the way the black looked. That particular leather texture just wasn't something I particularly liked. Anyway, the next step was to purchase some thick, stiff leather, and I re-made them replacing the paper in the black layer with the thick layer. It was better, but still not quite what I was searching for.





I realized that I would have to go all out and, if I wanted to do this correctly, I was going to have to purchase the regular thick leather. Somewhere in the vicinity of 3 to 4 millimeters, verses the 1 or 2 that I was using.

So I started on a pauldron.





I based it on Ezio's vambraces from Revelations, however, as I really liked the shape and though it would be a fun project.

So here is where, I confess, I COMPLETELY overlooked pictures. Over the next few weeks I spent probably over 50 hours down town in the leather shop working on my projects. I had to do them down there because occasionally I needed to either thin out the leather on the edges (so that I could fold it), or sew it down. I had neither of these tools available at home, so I was obliged to do everything over there. And have them use the tools, instead of me. However, while I didn't actually thin out the leather or sew it, I am convinced that it really wasn't a big deal at all; if I was allowed access to them I feel I could have done it just as well. I do have *some* experience with sewing and working with power tools before, so even though the guy down there did it, I feel as if I could have done it myself.

Anyway.

I put in the rivets, and ended up with this:



As I said, the next few weeks completely flew by and I gave not a second thought to taking pictures. But I worked for many hours and ended up fixing a rather decent amount of armor for our agile assassin.

I'll continue in the next post.

Re: Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Ebony) - Costume - Incomplete - (PIC HEAVY)

Okay, so I went ahead and took pictures of everything I've made out of leather so far.


It's the middle of the night here, so I apologize for the poor quality pictures. At some point I'll take a real photoshoot of them. For the time being, this is what we have.


The first thing I did was finish the pauldron. I made all the belts from scratch, as you may have seen from the previous pictures in the post above. I basically thinned out the edges, folded and glued the edges over to create a nice edge, and then sewed that all around to hold it in place. I did this for just about every piece, and I've decided to keep this theme throughout this entire set of armor.

So here is the pauldron.

Also, I've left them at 1000 pixels width, so you can click on them to enlarge them if you want to see the details




Again, I forgot to take pictures in between, so this is after I've weathered it. I used mostly sand paper, of varying grades, to distress it and then used a soldering iron to create the big scrapes and dents.


I also made a revamped version of the vambrace, using not only the previous black leather but also now the thicker brown leather. If I have time, I might make another vambrace where I reverse the two colors and corresponding leathers. Putting the black on the inside and the brown on the outside I feel will match my overall theme better and just look nicer.





Okay, after the vambraces I worked on the belt. I'm actually really happy with how the belt came out, but it was also quite difficult to rivet all the straps together towards the end!

Also, I forgot to take a picture to show it here, but the two side panels are detachable; they're held with two buttons each, so they can be removed to provide the belt with extra customizing options. This way I can use it with more than just the Ezio costume.




I'm really happy with how the weathering turned out on the belt, also. I think it's one of the best of all the armor pieces.


After finishing the belt I moved on to the boots. The boots were a little bit tricky because I, as with all the leather pieces I made, had no pattern. So I had to draw one up. But this time, I based it on the action figure's boots. I liked them a lot, and wanted to copy them. But, because I had never made boots before (Or, to be more precise, boot tops - I didn't make the actual boot bottom because that would have been too complicated for right now. There are, after all, the first projects I have ever made with leather. I wanted to take it a little bit slow, you know?).

Anyway, I ended up making them too small so I had to keep expanding on the sides to accommodate my unfortunately inaccurately-measured lower legs. In the end, however, it helped add to the design and I actually think it looks pretty cool. Again, everything was made with the same basic idea: a bunch of pieces, thinned, folded over, and sewn on the edge, stuck together with rivets. Except this time, Ezio's boot called for lacing of the two forward panels, so I made some holes, put in some eyelets, and laced the pieces together. Then I laced the two sides together, added the buckles and other bits, and weathered it.

It's really fun using the soldering iron across different panels, and as with the belt, I had ample opportunity to try it out on the boots as well.




Last, but not least, I made Ezio's other pauldron. This one, I might add, is still note finished. I'm currently working on the shoulder cape, and so I'm in the process of finishing the pauldron and the cape together. I just made this pauldron, as opposed to all the previous pieces, so I did remember to take ample in-progress pics (although I forgot to take more than a few at the shop... got caught up in the moment, again, I guess). Anyway, this is what it's looking like now:




In the next post I'll show you guys how I built it. Now that I finally have some progress pictures! Yay!

Re: Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Ebony) - Costume - Incomplete - (PIC HEAVY)

Wow that's some quality work you've done there, awesome work :thumbsup

Re: Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Ebony) - Costume - Incomplete - (PIC HEAVY)

Drac said:

Wow that's some quality work you've done there, awesome work :thumbsup

Click to expand...

Thank you very much!



So, leather is a really fun material I've realized. Unlike fabric, which sometimes misbehaves, or metal, which is a pain in a certain posterior region, leather almost always does what you tell it to do. It may require a little nudging here and there, and occasionally some frustrated swearing to remind that you're the boss, but generally it does what it's told and behaves very nicely. Okay, so let's get into it.


I started by drawing out a basic pattern on a pad (completely freehand - the exact shape of the pauldron didn't seem like it was something worth spending hours of research on, so I free-handed it and I think the basic shape came out fine). I used this pattern to cut out the shape in some thick leather (the same kind I'd been using previously).




Next, I cut out and sanded the panels for half the pauldron. I did the by eyeballing the vambrace on my figurine, and putting lines where I saw all the riveted panels went. After cutting out each piece, because I don't have a burnishing tool (it's essentially a special piece of wood you use to smooth and round out the edges of thick leather), AND because I wanted to give the pauldron a more weathered look, I decided to sand the edges of each piece. I used sandpaper with high grain, somewhere I think in the 200s.






After sanding the edges I gave it another test fit to make sure all the pieces lined up correctly:





They do, nice.

Dyeing time!

I took each piece and gave it around three coats of dark brown dye. Don't ask me what kind it is or anything, I really have no idea. Whatever it says on the container. However the guys at the shop told me it would be a good idea to coat the finished leather in varnish to keep the dye in. I've been handling the leather a lot now, and I've not noticed any dye leakage, so I'm skipping that part. I don't want any kind of shine, anyway. These are supposed to be older, used pieces of armor. Anyway, the dyeing process:




So, dyeing process was successful. Time to cut out the next piece of leather. So my design for this was something as follows: I would have on piece of leather which I would cover in red fabric to create the red border as seen on the figure and to add thickness. Then, on top of and riveted to that, I would have another piece of leather on which would rest the individual panels.

So I now had to cut out the second big pauldron panel. I left it the same size as the bottom on, even though it's supposed to be smaller by a centimeter all around because I would also thin, fold, and sew the edges of this piece, the result of which would be to reduce it by a centimeter all around. So that all worked out fine.




Time to dye this piece as well. Larger surfaces are a bit trickier to dye, especially with the tiny sponge thingy I have, so the way I like to do it is essentially put a layer on slowly, working my way up the piece, and dipping every square 7 centimeters or so in order to ensure an even spread. Then I can just keep building layers until I have a pretty even and satisfactory coat.

Keep in mind that any unevenness in color, while it may not be what you want, is how leather naturally works, so it looks more natural than a solid coat of color. Also, in my opinion, it looks nicer.




Okay, so it's been dyed and is looking good. Now it's time to cut out the other half of the panels. I essentially copied the panels from the other side onto this side, with a couple exceptions. I joined the second few panels together, creating one giant panel, and then put a small one on top of that to create some depth. I also changed the shape of the middle panel because.... well, it's the middle.



And the test fit:




So this is the point where I neglected to take pictures. And the most annoying thing was that I EVEN HAD THE CAMERA WITH ME! It was in my bag, but I still forgot. Damn.

Anyway, I covered it in fabric and sewed it down, as well as turned the corners of the second main panel.





I punched holes all around, and through all the layers...




....and laid them out once again in their proper places, doing some final trimming and adjustments to the upper panels (the small ones) to ensure they all fit correctly.


And again, I got REALLY focused on the work I was doing, because I had just made five belt pieces which all had to be riveted together and ALL onto the pauldron, so at one point I had FIVE layers of leather I had to stick a rivet through. Let us not forget that this is thick leather, so five layers (plus a belt buckle thingy [the big round silver doohickey]) is actually REALLY difficult to put together. But I finally got all the rivets in and ended up with this, the (semi) final product:





Now I need to finish the shoulder cape and attach it to this pauldron.



I'll talk about that in a another post below, but most likely late tomorrow; I really need to sleep now so that I can get up and continue working on this project in the morning. I'll keep you guys posted on the progress.

As always, any comments, critique, suggestions, tips, ideas, etc. are always appreciated!

Re: Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Ebony) - Costume - Incomplete - (PIC HEAVY)

Okay, so I have some time for a couple of updates.

I had begun working on the shoulder cape, which should have been easy.... unfortunately I made it difficult for myself.

I started out by cutting out a half-circle of black cloth. I realized, however, that it wasn't falling the way I wanted it to, and as such I would have to extend the edges, so make it more of an elongated circular shape. So I took out my second piece of fabric, the light grey lining, and cut out a better shape.

View attachment 305636

So this is where it started getting difficult. Because I had run out of fabric, and couldn't afford to purchase two more meters just for this cape, I decided to use some scraps I had left over from previous cuts and attach it to the black I already had. So I made a pattern for it. The black bits I needed were essentially the difference between the grey and black pieces in the picture above. So I taped a bunch of smaller papers together and drafted the pattern, not looking for absolute detail but kinda loosely tracing the outline.

Also I had draped the grey lining fabric over the mannequin (I know it's a female body, but beggars can't be choosers. A friend is letting me use it and it works well enough, so I use it) to check the fit before decided on a final shape. Which was a slightly elongated semi-circle, as I believe I mentioned above. However the one side of the circle was longer than the other side. What I mean by that is the part of the shoulder cape that hangs over the back is longer than the part that hangs over the chest. So the oval was asymmetrical along the vertical middle axis. Which means I had two different black strips to cut, which slightly complicated matters. Eh, it wasn't too bad, though.





Here's a pic of how I placed the black fabric on the grey lining before drafting the pattern for the remaining pieces. I basically folded the black fabric up (after I had laid out the grey), and placed in one point and then started unfolding, adjusting as a went along. Once spread out, the two fabrics (luckily) had some pretty great friction so they weren't sliding around at all. I think actually that's one of the reasons the final product holds up so well.

Actually, I didn't mention that the first fabric I tried using for the lining was a complete failure. I had gotten a sort of synthetic thin canvas-like fabric (like the kind you see in cheap tents or like toddler's toys) because it was stiff, and the man at the fabric shop said it would help the cape hold its shape. Needless to say, the result was disastrous. As soon as I draped the black fabric over that stiffer grey, I knew it would never work. It made the cape look like someone had coated it in glue and left it to dry. It didn't move or flow or fall nicely at all. So I completely scrapped that and purchased the fabric I'm using above, which is essentially just a very light, mildly stretchy grey fabric. It works very well, and I'm quite pleased with it.

Anyway, here it is laid out:



I used the pattern to cut out the two black pieces. I hemmed both the edge of the central black piece, as well as the tops of both the other pieces. I then laid them out on top of each other, and intertwined them amongst each other. So first was the grey fabric, then came the black piece facing in one direction, and then the other black piece laid out in the opposite direction on top of that.

Something like this:




It was kind of a pain to get it all to line up, but I'm pretty happy with the result. Sewed it all together and tested it out on the mannequin.




Okay, trim time!

I had gone to the store earlier and purchased some white lace-like trim for the edge, and then as I was looking at it my brother suggested I put some red on it. I happened to have some red trim on me leftover from the robes, so I thought it was a great idea. The result would look something like this:




Pretty nice.

But first things first. I went ahead and hemmed the bottom edge:




It came out okay, but I forgot to cut the Vs in the fabric, I simply slit it, so it came out a little wrinkly. Also, the fact that this black fabric (unfortunately a little different from the other black fabric I had been using) was much stretchier. So it was also more difficult to sew properly, at least without using a zigzag stitch.

So then I sewed the trim on.




My cousin decided to take a couple of photos of this moment.

The first time I sewed it on I was stretching the wrong side, so it came out all bumpy and bunched. There was too much trim per black fabric, so it wrinkled on me. It was pretty horrible. So I had to remove all the stitched as redo it, being careful not to stretch at all the black fabric, while keeping the trim as taught as I could. The result:




Pretty happy with it, Now it's time to add the straps.

The basic idea was this:

If you observe the character, there appear to be two straps holding the cape in place. One goes right under the armpit, and the other is a little bit lower. They essentially surround the strap for the pauldron (in some renders of the character, it looks like the main strap holding the pauldron is actually composed of three individual straps. But since in some renders it isn't so, and I think the three individual straps are rather ugly, I went with a single solid strap in the pauldron.)

So what I decided to do was attach a piece of leather to the underside of the cape, using multiple rivets, and rivet the straps to the piece of leather. Then, I would cover the entire thing with two pieces of thin leather, and sew those down.

Here's a rough diagram of what I'm talking about:




So first I cut out the straps and died them. They still need to be burnished, but I figure I'll do that a little bit later.

Because the cape needs to able to be "flung" over the shoulder (when Ezio is in his "I don't care if you see me" mode and gets all tense), I needed the cape to flow freely over the should past the middle of the shoulder. So in order to achieve that, I only riveted half of the thick leather to the actual cape, and let the straps coming around the front simply attach to the thick piece of leather.




As you can see, the straps passing over the chest (in the second picture) are only attached to the leather piece, not also to the material of the cape itself.

In the first picture, the little pieces of leather under the rivets are there to help spread the tension. A rivet is designed for sturdy materials, less likely to rip. Since fabric like the one I'm using is certainly quite capable of ripping, I placed thin leather pieces underneath groups of rivets to help disperse the tension and spread it out a little. This way the fabric is very unlikely to rip where the rivets are. Once I sew on the piece of leather which will cover the whole thing, the problem should be essentially non-existent.


I don't have any pictures of the finished cape yet, but I hope to take a couple of pictures of it in the next few days; hopefully by Thursday evening.

As before, and comments, critique, suggestions, etc. are greatly appreciated!

Re: Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Ebony) - Costume - WIP - (PIC HEAVY)

Let's move on to the sleeves. The sleeves were a challenge. And I ended up going through two versions before I found something that I was satisfied (though not entirely - I botched one of the steps) with.


The in-game model




shows Ezio's sleeves as having a lot of stripes. So, being the newbie I am, I said "Hey, I know what to do! I'll take a strip of cloth with some tan trim on the end and just wrap that round and round. That should create some nice stripes."

NOPE.

At least, not the stripes I wanted.





(Oops, sorry guys, forgot to shrink these pics... )

So I was left with this:





I wrapped it around my arm and tried to sew it, but to no avail. The sleeve wouldn't fit over the bottom part of my machine (the bit with the bobbin) or, as it happens, ANY domestic sewing machine. So I was unable to sew all around the spiral like I wanted to.

I must have visited 5 or 6 shops down town before I finally found someone with a sewing machine that BARELY fit the larger part of the sleeve. They spent about half an hour trying to sew it, because the thing was a pain. Those of you who sew may understand what had to happen here. Try it for yourself. Wrap a strip of cloth around your arm, forming a tube, and then try and sew it. Not happening, right? Right.

So anyway, they managed to do it for me, and I brought them back and sewed them onto the sleeves of a T-shirt I had lying around. A really stretchy, really annoying T-shirt.





Anyway I managed to get it to fit, but in order to sew the sleeves onto the shirt I had to rip open and hem the front. Also, in an attempt to deal with the insane stretch, I sewed some stiffer fabric under the edge of the rip (the leftover from the failed shoulder cape drama) and hemmed it.

But it honestly it wasn't that great, and I wasn't very happy with it at all (even if it was my first ever attempt at sewing a sleeve). The sleeves were also hanging too low, the trim didn't go all the way up, and it must have slipped when I was pinning it because one sleeve was a bit longer than the other.

I put it to the side, and though to myself, as the filmmakers have a tendency to do, "Eh, I'll fix it in post."

But then I got my hands on some EPIC high-res pictures, and realized just how crap my sleeves actually were compared to the actual costume.





So, I decided, I need to make some better sleeves. Nevermind the fact that I just wasted over a meter of cloth, over 8 hours, and more than 15 euros (the seamstress people took 10 euros from me to sew those sleeves, since I was unable to do it )


So I studied it a little more and came up with a better plan.

Re: Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Ebony) - Costume - WIP - (PIC HEAVY)

Okay, so sleeves version 2. Let's make it work this time, right?

That was the plan.


I went ahead and bought myself a meter and a half of black fabric, and a half a meter of a sort of beige / tan / cream color they had. I wasn't able to perfectly match the other tan colors I had been using, but since it would be difficult to tell the exact color of the sleeves anyway, I went for it.

First step was to cut the fabric up into strips. Had to measure them all, make sure they were all the right width. I wanted to be as accurate as possible, since this was going to be very important for the overall result.



After measuring and cutting about five strips, which I figured would be enough, I had this:

five strips of fabric each 150 x 12 cm. This should be pleeeenty, I said.



I started by folding over and sewing all the edges. These edges would border the stripe, so I had to make sure they were as straight as I could get them.




I used a straight stitch with a very high spi count, and, though I know you're not supposed to do this, I stretched the fabric to it's full extent as I sewed it. I experienced no problems with bumping or pulling or anything, and when I was done, the fabric easily popped back to its original size and the stretch was retained very well. So I was pleased.

I quickly sliced up four strips of the tan fabric, for the lines, and I now had a nice looking pile of fabric waiting to be turned into something nice:




Okay, time to start doing things.

I took my first strip and laid it flat. I pinned the white strip to the end of it, leaving ample seam allowance, and then pinned the next black strip to that about 6 or 8 or something cm from the other black strip.



(Poor tomato... )

Once that was done I stitched it using a relatively wide zig zag stitch with a medium spi count. It worked really well, and I was able to retain the full stretch without any stitched popping or anything weird happening.




Many hours had already passed though, and many more were yet to come. I started adding layers, moving as fast as I could but still way to slowly for my tastes. Sewing is time-consuming! Even with a machine. Imagine how long it would have taken to sew all this by hand! I have a new respect for Renaissance tailors now, for sure.

Anyway, little by little the fabric started enlarging. To be quite honest, I felt it was looking really good. It felt a little like a fabric-ception. Using fabric to make a fabric..




It was at this point, while drafting my sleeve pattern, that I realized five strips was actually too little. Back to the grindstone, then, as I re-did this process for two more layers. The difference really was immense though. It was actually starting to look like a pretty decent piece of fabric now.



I copied the pattern for my sleeves onto the "fabric," and cut them out.




It was here I made that mistake I mentioned earlier. I had positioned the sleeves incorrectly in relation to the direction of the stripes. Part of this was due to my inexperience with the whole thing, and also partly because if I had JUST A LITTLE BIT MORE fabric I would have been able to fit the sleeves the way I wanted.

I put the sleeve patterns like this:

sleeve 1 sleeve 2

..../\ ...../
../......./
/ .....\/

Top, ....bottom

I should have placed them like this:

sleeve 1 sleeve 2

.../\...../\
../ ........\
/ ...........\

top; ......top, but opposite direction

(ignore the dots)

This would have caused the stripes to run the correct way (in opposite directions, that is) when I sewed it into the shirt. Right now, they both run in the same direction. It's not a tragic mistake, but it irks me that I got it wrong. Part of the problem is that I didn't have enough length to fit it like that, but the other part was that I just didn't know what I was doing.

Anyway, tragic hero flaws aside, I got the sleeve cut out and it was looking pretty sweet.





I don't have any pictures, but I did a quick mock-up of the sleeve with some cheap fabric I had lying around to make sure it fit right on the shirt before I cut this fabric. It worked quite well, so I cut it out and pinned it to my shirt in preparation for stitching.




I stitched it all together, keeping it tighter on my forearm and looser over my bicep, as I had observed from the trailer for the game.




Another thing I wasn't please about: the stripes didn't meet each other. although that was inevitable. I didn't have time to play around with finding the perfect angle and stripe width / difference to make sure they all met as the sleeve went around. So I just did it and lived with it. Hopefully no one will be bothering to focus on the stitch line, so I should be fine



I did the same for the other side, and the sleeves were all finished!

And looking much better than the previous version, I might add, which kind of looked like something a clown would wear. Anyway.





So this is the shirt as I've progressed it so far. Tomorrow I will add the ruffle collar and sew it on, as well as (hopefully) those little bits that drape over his shoulder and help provide the transition from the spiral sleeve to the shirt proper. I might also add some layers to the front, because the front of the shirt might show a little bit through the gap of the outer robes.

We'll see.

Anyway, if anyone can let me know how they think I'm doing so far, and maybe give me some tips as to how I might proceed (before I accidentally botch something), it would be quite appreciated.

That's all for today, expect more updates tomorrow!

Re: Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Ebony) - Costume - WIP - (PIC HEAVY)

I love your leatherwork, and it makes me very excited to see how this is turning out.

Excellent job so far, and I completely feel the sleeve problems and think you're doing a great job for a first time attempt, and I think your sleeves as they are right now look great! Keep it up!

Re: Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Ebony) - Costume - WIP - (PIC HEAVY)

The details on this are just incredible, the leatherwork ( and the weathering thereof ) is stunning.
Subscribed to your thread!

Re: Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Ebony) - Costume - WIP - (PIC HEAVY)

Thanks so much guys!

I'm sorry I didn't post any more progress yesterday or today, but I'm swamped trying to finish this for the con on Saturday.

I still need to finish the inner shirt, make the hidden blades, and finish the other two belt pouches. Plus a couple of odds and ends to clean up. And I have one and a half days. So from Sunday I'll continue posting progress. Gotta finish in time for the contest though! Wish me luck

Re: Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Ebony) - Costume - WIP - (PIC HEAVY)

Okay, so even though it's around 2:30 in the morning and I really need some sleep, I thought I'd share some WIP photos of what I have so far (sans the boots and vambraces).

Tomorrow, in order to finish the costume, I need to fix the sleeves, sew some buttons on the collar, and make the other two leather pouches as well as the hidden blades. I've got a lot to do. But at least I finished the inner shirt (besides the buttons) as well as the straps for the shoulder cape, so I'm happy that I'm at least making progress. Oh, I also have to distress the other fabric bits. Haven't done that yet, in particular the shoulder cape.

I promise I'll do a full write-up of everything I've missed so far for you all after Saturday, at which point I will also most likely have some nice photos of the finished costume.

Anyway, sorry these pics are so bad but at 3 in the morning you have few options.







Right, I almost forgot.


I took some (selfies, i think they're called?) because no one is awake to help me take them D: to show how the hood and collar falls. I think it's looking okay, even though it isn't entirely accurate. Meh.

Re: Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Ebony) - Costume - WIP - (PIC HEAVY)

Athanasios said:

View attachment 306893View attachment 306894View attachment 306895View attachment 306896
View attachment 306898View attachment 306899

Click to expand...

Wow. That looks amazing.
Loving the detailing on the bottom half of the tunic, it adds a ton.

Can't wait to see the whole thing together. This has to be one of the best Ezios I have ever seen.

Re: Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Ebony) - Costume - WIP - (PIC HEAVY)

Okay, so it's the weekend, and I'm gonna try and make good on my promise.

I will finish the write-up first, though. I don't have any good photos, yet, but for those of you impatient, here's a *decent* picture of what the final suit looks like. (Never mind the blue pants, they were a place-holder until I find something better).

Here ya go:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202755814449747&set=a.10202749024800010.1073741861.1631471827&type=3&theater]Ezio[/url]

Stay tuned, I'll post as many updates as I can later today.

Also, as soon as I get some good photos, I'll post the finished suit.

Re: Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Ebony) - Costume - WIP - (PIC HEAVY)

Okay, time to move on to some interesting stuff.

But first, the final pics from the shoulder cape. Here are the straps I had riveted on:




I beveled the edges with a knife (since I don't happen to own a beveling tool yet), and then sanded them to give them a nicer, round appearance. Then, of course, I dyed them.


So I have my cape, and I also have my sleeves. Time to add the collar.

i started out with a basic pattern I cut from paper. Essentially I just cut a long slice of paper and shaped it while on my neck. I would look in the mirror, eyeball where it needed to change, cut it, try it on again, and repeat the process until I had it where I wanted it. Madam mannequin was quite useful for this process.





I then used the pattern to cut out three layers of fabric. The two outer layers were the material of the rest of the clothes, the material that would show, while the third material was a thicker material I hoped would be helpful in helping my collar stay up. In retrospect I probably should have lined it with leather, or more pieces of the thicker cloth. Because it couldn't quite stand its own weight and would collapse despite my greatest efforts.





Once I had hemmed them and sewn them together, it was time to add the ruffles. For the ruffles I took a long piece of ribbon and folded it over and over, each time sewing the bottom the the fabric about 1 - 1/2 a centimeter apart. This created the ruffles. Again, in retrospect, I probably should have used a much thicker piece of ribbon, Or, since they didn't seem to have anything thicker, maybe I should have used some thick off-white fabric. Anyway.




So this was probably one of the most frustrating parts of the collar. I had the inner layer, with the ruffles, and the outer layer. I had to wrap the outer layer around the inner layer, and under the ruffles. You guys following that? So that when you look at the collar from the outside you can't see that it's multiple layers and, most importantly, you don't the see incredibly ugly stitches from the ruffles.

So I pinned it in place, folded it over, and began sewing. i had to bend each ruffle back so that it could fit under the foot of the sewing machine. Then, once I (finally) managed to finish sewing it (I had to restart a couple of times), I ended up with a pretty decent result. I trimmed off the excess and was ready to rest it on the mannequin.




I sewed a couple of half-circle pieces onto the head hole to close up some extra space:




Because I was madly running through the build to have it done on time, I was up till really late at night. Since we share a room and my brother was sleeping, I took over the kitchen.




So since I hadn't quite sewn the ruffles on correctly, I was not able to simply sew up the front and call it a day. Also, my head would not have fit through the tiny hole that would have been left. So instead, I sewed a quick strip of fabric to each end of the collar, and attached some snaps. Eh, it worked... decently. Finally I sewed (with great effort and sub-par results) the collar to the shirt. I'm not happy with the way it was sewed on, but none of it is visible since it is all beneath the outer robes. So I guess it's still all fine.




And there you go. That's the collar done, which completes the inner shirt.

Next up: Belt Pouches!

Re: Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Ebony) - Costume - WIP - (PIC HEAVY)

Dude, your progress (and your leatherwork in particular) is fantastic! I've been doing all the leather bits for Connor, and while they're genuine, I was wondering what they were missing… proper weathering! Especially after seeing this, I'm getting better ideas! Nice work, and I'm definitely following this!

Re: Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Ebony) - Costume - WIP - (PIC HEAVY)

Thank you, Nibenon! Yeah, in general I've found that proper weathering is crucial for achieving the desired look. The key, I've discovered, is in trying to make everyone think that what you are wearing is not a costume. In other words, to make it as real as possible. So that when they look at it it doesn't look cheap, and it doesn't look like it was just made (even though it probably was).

Take the Lord of the Rings, for example, one of my greatest inspirations. Look at any, and I mean any, of their pieces. The leatherwork is phenomenal, not only in build quality but also in the weathering and distressing. And so, too, are the rest of the outfits.

Anyway in a sec I'll have up how I made the molded leather pouches for Ezio's belt.

Re: Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Ebony) - Costume - WIP - (PIC HEAVY)

Yeah, the pouches!

This was probably one of the most exciting parts of the costume. I was really excited because I essentially did everything completely by myself. In other words, I didn't have to have the leather guys down town sew the leather for me with their machine; I could do it by hand. So, first things first.


The molds.

I began the process of making the pouches by folding a piece of paper in half and drawing out half the shape of each of the three pouches Ezio has on his belt. I was mostly eyeballing it, but it worked out fine anyway.

Actually before we start I just wanted to get one thing out of the way. You guys in america think you have it all, but do you have Caprice?




Yeah, I didn't think so.




Anyway once I had my design I was able to transfer it to a block of soft pine wood to start forming the mold.





I used a jigsaw to cut them out real quick. Fortunately they were easy shapes and the soft wood is very easy to work with.

Once I had my shapes cut out I was able to start forming them. Rounding the edges and making them look more like pouches.

Because I wanted the smaller pouches to be a little bit thinner, I used a planer to remove some thickness from the small one, and a little bit off the long one.

I then used a combination of files and thick sandpaper to round out the edges and make everything look acceptable.




Awwww, look at them. So cute, so innocent...




Next step was to screw them to some boards. I used the sides of an older wooden box, because it was strong enough to take the pressure of the clamps (you'll see what I'm talking about later) and was also soft enough to accept staples. (Again, you'll see what I mean in a moment).

Not very many pictures at this stage, because I was too wrapped up in my work and forgot, but essentially I traced the shape of each wooden pouch mold onto a piece of plywood, which is a very strong wood, and cut out the inverted shape. So I was left with a piece of wood that fit around the pouch mold, with a gap of about 4 or 5 millimeters. This is important because when you place the top piece over the leather, there has to be room for the leather to fit among the top and bottom pieces of the mold.







Molding the Leather:



So after spending all evening working on making the molds, I could finally start with the leather. I began with a really nice piece of thick, natural leather.




When I say "natural" I mean mostly that it hasn't been dyed at all. This is important, because un-dyed leather takes the color much better than pre-dyed leather, even if it's just a light tan/beige color. Granted, it eats up waaay more dye, but the final result, especially after rubbing it with some seal far, is very nice. Very even, too. Even though it looked horribly uneven when I first applied the dye, once it had dried I was amazed at how even the coat was.


In order to mold leather, it has to be soft.

So I soaked it in a tub of water for about half an hour, or until the bubbles stopped rising. Once the leather stops giving out bubbles it means that it's been fully saturated, so leaving it in the water for longer than that is essentially useless.




Now the molding process begins.


I began by placing down the bottom half of my mold.





I placed the leather on top:




Oops, wrong way; it's upside-down. Sometimes it's hard to see which side's which when it's wet... and in a low-light situation.





Hey, there we go. Started pressing it down with my hands, working the leather into the shape you want it. I cut out little tabs on the side so that any excess material has a place to go, and won't bunch up at the bottom and cause wrinkled. This isn't so important in the pouches I made because they were so thin, but when it comes time to make thicker, (deeper), pouches, this step will be crucial.


More tabs have been cut out:






Once I was satisfied with how the leather was taking shape, I put the mold over the top. Pressed down a bit with my hands, then added three clamps (loosely), and started pressing them in sequence, so that the mold squished the leather evenly.




I repeated the process with the other two pouches, and left them to dry overnight.


Next step, putting them together!

Re: Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Ebony) - Costume - WIP - (PIC HEAVY)

Putting it all together:


So, while the molded leather was doing its thing, (drying), I began to cut out the back panels.

I used the templates I had made for the pouches and added a about a centimeter - centimeter and a half "seam allowance" all around where I would stitch the two pieces together. I left the flaps without any border, since those were ready, and only needed some beveling.


When I had the shapes cut out, I dyed them as well. The picture was taken when they were still wet, which is why the color looks uneven. When they dried though, the color was perfect.






Aww, look at them! Drying all together!




You might notice that one of the molds does not have clamps. Instead, it has screws. This was the first pouch I made, so by the time I got to the third pouch I had run out of clamps. So, since I had no time to wait, I just screwed the mold together with the clamps on, then removed the clamps and used them for the third pouch. It all worked out fine.


When all was dry, I took the clamps off or, as in this case, un-screwed the screws I had put in, and gently popped off the upper half of the mold.




Heeey, looking pretty nice!

So since I had only left them to dry for one night (you should let them dry overnight, take off the upper mold half (the presser piece), and then you're supposed to let them dry naturally for three days to remove any trace of moisture, which could cause you leather to get moldy once you apply sealants and such.)

I couldn't afford to wait that long, so I did some emergency blow-drying. Didn't take any pictures of that


Here are the three of them just hangin out after being removed from the mold:






Okay, so I forgot to photograph a very important step.

Before stitching the two sections together, I lined them up and and cut the two pieces to roughly match. There was a border of over a centimeter all around.

I took the pieces apart and spread contact cement on each one. Once the cement/glue becomes tacky (so it has to essentially dry), I stuck the two pieces of leather together and pressed them really hard, to make sure they bonded well.

In order to really cement them in place (pun intended), I used a hammer to smash the edges and really wedge the two pieces together.


Once the contact cement dried (it dries really quick. It doesn't cure for a while, but it's good to go in just a few minutes) I stared punching the holes with my awl to prepare for the stitching.





Then I passed waxed thread through in a double weave, working my way all around. Pass the one needle through, pass the other one through the same whole, and pull tight. Repeat this process all the way down the edge of the seam, and then tie it off in a double knot.





Once everything was threaded I took a hammer and smashed flat the threads, sealing them in place. (This is where the wax becomes particularly useful, because it fills everything in and prevents and gaps from forming.






All that remained was to trim the edges up close to the thread, and then bevel and stain them.


In a frantic rush I added some belt buckles but I wasn't even thinking about taking pictures during that time, so I have no pictures of that. But it was pretty simple,

Anyway, I'll show you guys the finished pieces as soon as I can.

But that's all I got for the pouches so far.


Stay tuned!

Re: Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Ebony) - Costume - WIP - (PIC HEAVY)

Excellent job!