Tuxedo Mask, because capes and top hats are awesome.

Fabrics have finally arrived. From left to right: Linen canvas (a very stiff interfacing); wool canvas (a.k.a hymo); hair cloth (possibly the same thing as crinoline); silk grossgrain (facings, cuffs, etc); wool for the jacket, trousers, and cloak; marcella for the waistcoat, shirt front, and bow tie.

I had to order it all in from overseas. My local fabric shops don't stock decent tailoring fabrics.

All the widely available ironing boards have a metal (rather than wooden) base. I suppose that's OK for busy muggles who want to get the ironing done quickly, but it's hopeless for serious pressing. The steam travels through the boards too quickly, and also unevenly due to the holes. The thick padding is another problem, it makes it hard to get things really flat.

So today I went ahead and made my own. Here's how:

1) Take a sheet of plywood, sand it down, and dust it off. I used a wide sheet so I can iron from selvege to selvege.


2) Take an old towel and cut off the edges to make the padding. Anything with some weight to it will do, as long as it can resist high temperatures.


3) Stretch out the padding with the iron, staple it down at one end. Some of the staples didn't go all the way in, so I hammered them the rest of the way.


4) Carefully stretch the padding material and staple tightly at the other end. Do the same for all 4 sides.


5) Also staple it on the underside for good measure. There's nothing worse than having it shift when the board is in use.


6) Iron a sheet of calico (or any other cotton) over the padded board. It's important to completely remove all the wrinkles.


7) Do the same stretching and stapling thing, except this time only staple on the underside.


8) Trim the edges, fold them under, and staple them down.


Job done. If only all sewing could be done by staple gun.

Shirt, waistcoat, and trousers for Tuxedo Mask. I haven't made the detachable shirt collar yet. Also note that the cuffs are just clipped together. I need to pull them apart and adjust them a bit before putting the buttonholes in.

Shiroe - Round Table Alliance ver. [Log Horizon]

The secret: use self-adhesive book covering. You can print onto the back (mirror image of course), then cut it out and stick it to the material you want to apply the stencil to.

Far left: the stencil design printed onto ordinary paper. Centre left: My first attempt at applying the stencil. I cut one out of cardboard. Notice that the paint bled horribly. Centre right: The backing from my second stencil. Far right: the final product, no bleeding at all.

I used masking tape to fix the patch to the sleeve, and I covered the surface of the patch with masking tape except for the stiching line. I was able to sew this quickly and smoothly, and the masking tape did not damage the patch.

I'm very particular about putting every seamline in the right place, sometimes it leads to weird patterns: