Squall: Final Fantasy VIII: I need help! Cant get jacket to close right!

[Egon Spengler]

I'm working on this squall jacket and so far the thing is turning out great but theres one problem. The pattern made the sleeves really large and i have a lot of vinyl/ fake leather to work into attatching at the sleeve. I don't want it to be a big bulky mess. What do i do?


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Edited: Original post below




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I know you can buy Squall jackets online but I am not in the least interested in any of them.

I am looking to find a pattern that I can buy and modify to make his jacket.

I was just at the local fabric store and none of what was in the datalogs was good enough.

The jacket is similar to a suit jacket. It has no seam across the back or down the middle of the back.

It has a zip up front with two pockets.

I'm looking for a pattern for a fitted suit jacket or just a fitted coat that I can shorten a little above the waist.

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Here are some reference photos.

 

[ObiWannabe]

You know, most of the kids I see who do this costume just buy some kind of leather coat at a thrift store and modify it, cut it off and don't even hem or anything. You have my admiration for wanting to make it from scratch and accurate.

Decent coat patterns are very hard to find, particularly through fabric stores. The first thing I would check is, actually, the costume section of the catalogs, because the pattern companies have been doing ripoffs of popular movie franchise costumes lately and they might have something similar that can be modified (e.g. the Matrix coats have been used to modify for KH coats and such). Barring that, I'd ask, did the store only have McCalls, Simplicity, and Butterick, or did you have access to a Vogue pattern book? Vogue patterns are more expensive, but they're the only ones I know who've carried suit patterns and real men's patterns.

If that still brought you up to nothing, I'll look around. I know I saw a mention somewhere of a pattern company that had real-world patterns such as what you're looking for, but I can't remember the name. One of those smaller companies that don't have their catalogs in fabric stores. I'll see what I can find.

 

[Egon Spengler]

Thanks Yeah I'm not about to settle for just buying a coat, gluing on fur and calling it done.

I checked out every pattern book in the store and none of them matched what I had hoped for. So I just went with the pattern I used for Spike Spiegel but will be changing it drastically

 

[Egon Spengler]

Okay. Going nuts here. I have the pant legs sewn but attatching them together to make the actual pair of pants is driving me nuts. I can't even remember how I did it with the Spike costume.. Help?

Nevermind... screwed up from being tired. Accidently made one pant leg with the inner part facing out :-/

 

[NavMidn]

For your sleeve problem, have you tried using a running stitch (if your using a machine set it to the largest stitch length and don't backstitch at the beginning and end like you normally would just leave it open) to tighten up the sleeve head a bit(kind of scrunch it up by fixing one end of the threads and pulling on the other) and carefully stitching it into the armhole? usually sleeve patterns have extra fullness built in at the arm seam to creat the fullness at the shoulder that you see on most coats, if you have more questions i could post detailed instructions with some diagrams a bit later

this is usually the most difficult part in assembling a coat by the way, so it's not at all unusual to have a lot of difficulty in this area, it may take a bit of practice to get it right

good luck,
John

 

[GeneralMayhem]

Have you considered enlarging the body portion's armhole a bit to compensate?

 

[Egon Spengler]

NavMidn:Thanks for the advice. I've tried adjusting the settings on the machine but it just seems like theres way too much to work with right.

GeneralMayhem: LOL Thats really not a bad idea. LOL nice. Hm... I don't know if that would turn out looking silly or not.. .

 

[BatDemon]

What NavMidn suggests is the way most patterns are designed to be put together, it's called "easing", I personally hate it. Plus it doesn't work well with some materials. You also have to be careful with enlarging the armscye, as you can loose the shoulder length rather easily. Unless you really want to hack into your pleather, I always suggest making a mock-up in muslin or any cheap fabric you have lying aroung to get your patterns correct. What I would do is baste stitch the lower half of the arm in place, put the jacket on a model or form and see where the armscye hits the sleeve cap. Mark this new line, baste and see how that fits.

 

[Egon Spengler]

Stitch only the lower part, where it would meet at the underarm area, and then try to find the rest out that way? hm. not a bad idea

Easing with pleather isn't going to work on this one. lol

 

[ObiWannabe]

God I hate ease. So few jacket or shirt styles need it.

Rather than enlarging the arm holes, make your sleeve's underarm stitch smaller. Make the sleeve fit the hole. No, your "notches" and dots and whatever other markings are on the pattern won't match up anymore but you don't need them to.

I usually sew the sleeve seam and the body underarm seam first and then fit the sleeve to the hole. Some patterns will have you leave them both open and sew the sleeve flat to the body at the shoulder seam in order to take up that ease, but when you don't want ease, you don't need to bow to their wishes. Patterns suck. Good for starting out, novice sewing, but once you get to my level you throw patterns out the window.

 

[Egon Spengler]

I know it's just sewing. I've used this pattern before successfully. It worked great and came out well. Well, this pleather... I can't help it. It's royallying pi$%^ng me off. ARGH.

So Okay. I need to remove the entire sleeve seam stich, the thing that makes the sleeve a sleeve and size the shoulder area to fit the shoulder seam?

Sewing takes patience yes, but after getting stuck with needles about five million times trying five million ways and times to do this, I've lost patience at this point. Argh.

Thanks for all the help everyone. If I come off as angry in this, well I am. Not at anyone here so please don't take offense. I'm just extremely frustrated

 

[Egon Spengler]

Well, changing the sleeve seam worked. Thanks Obiwanabe

 

[Egon Spengler]

Just two photos of my Squall Jacket I'm currently working on. Forgive some of the sharp angles on the bottom of the jacket. It's still pinned together.

 

[Old Timer]

I think its looking good.
Though in the game the shoulders almost seem lightly padded. Also you might want to bring the bottom up some more.
great start.

 

[Egon Spengler]

Thanks Yeah. The bottom needs to come up just a bit more and I need to get some shoulder pads. It's still a work in progress. I have to add the fur, the lining, the zipper, the pockets.

 

[Egon Spengler]

I've run across another problem. I can't get the jacket to close correctly. The pattern I used was originally for this was

The guy with the hello ribbon around his waist. I pinned back the two flaps to see how it would look 'Squallified' and shortened the length. Now when I wear it though I can't seem to get the thing to close correctly, just by holding it closed. How do I find out how much to trim down? This would be so much easier if I had a mannequin of my size to work on it on.

 

[GeneralMayhem]

Looks like you forgot to leave enough for an overlap.

 

[Egon Spengler]

I have way more than enough for a overlap. The jacket isn't supposed to have a big overlap over the front. I'm trying to figure out how I find the center zipper 'line'. The jacket in the photos above is pinned down, with the excess flap overlaps inside.

I have enough of overlapping flap to look like Luke Skywalker ROTJ in this thing. LOL. Just trying to find out where I need to trim it down. Guess I'll have to try to put it on and pin the excess back until I find a comfortable 'line' for the front opening of the jacket.

 

[GeneralMayhem]

Then I don't understand what you mean when you say it won't close correctly. You don't know where the center line is? Look at the pattern pieces. I have that pattern, and the center line should be clearly marked, no?

 

[ObiWannabe]

Well, really, ask yourself this: does Squall ever close his jacket?

If he doesn't, and you don't plan to ever close it either, then it doesn't matter whether it meets comfortably. I assume you pinned back the excess in front at the "center line" marking on the pattern? that's as good a place as any to put the zipper. You're lining the jacket, right? Then the zipper will be sandwiched in between the outer part and the lining, so it's safe. You just have to remember to leave yourself some seam allowance - don't cut off the front excess right at that center line, give yourself 1/2 inch or whatever for seam allowance.

The only reason as I see it that the jacket would need to be comfortably closed is if Squall does, or if you plan to wear the jacket as part of your regular wardrobe while not in costume. I always ask myself that when I'm getting ready to do something that's not uniquely costume-y - whether I want to wear it normally, and if so, does that mean I need to have it close comfortably and/or have pockets that may not be in the original design.