A Mesmerising Coat

Hello and welcome to the first (official) post for my craft blog. Today I will be discussing my latest (and first 'big') sewing project; a 'Mesmer' coat. Now, I realise a lot of you will have no idea what on Earth (or should that be Tyria?) a 'Mesmer' is unless you happen to be inclined towards participating in online games. Long story short, the game Guild Wars (and its sequel, the creatively named Guild Wars 2) has a number of professions to choose from, one being a Mesmer. Mesmers are essentially illusionists, whose skill set include hexes, misdirection and enchantments. Throughout both games their armour/clothing has had a distinctively 'masquerade' or pseudo Italian Renaissance feel, right down to the fact their head armour is, yes, a mask. They sort of look like they've walked out of a more birghtly coloured The Phantom of the Opera.

Anyway, the reason I was sewing this particular jacket was for a fancy dress party with the theme of 'M'. I fancied having a go at honing my sewing skills (I feel a bit of a pants re-enactor having done it for nearly ten years and still not made my own clothes yet) and it was a toss up between Major Motoko Kusangi or a Mesmer. The latter won out in the end because, quite frankly, as much as I love having purple hair, I couldn't be arsed to dye it, especially when it is such a lovely colour right now. I spoke with my mum (our resident seamstress) about it and asked her how difficult it would be to put together a decent costume. After much deliberation, we decided that, if I could make a jacket, it wouldn't be too difficult after all

Guild Wars Female Mesmer Armour

Using the above image (admittedly from the original game) we decided to work on a sort of composite costume. Being a beginner sewer (and on a time limit and budget) I didn't make a carbon copy, like I know a lot of hardcore cosplayers (some of my friends are included here) would have. Instead, we looked for a pattern that looked about right; we actually found a pattern for a Steampunk jacket that, with a change of colours, would turn out to be perfect. (Fortunately, one of my Steampunk friends had said coat pattern and is of similar build to me, so I borrowed that and didn't really need to make any adjustments).

Originally I was just going to make the outer as it was just a 'dress up' costume, but when I found some ivory silk at a bargain price, I decided to line it. By this point I had already cut out and sewn together the outer layer, from purple watermarked taffeta that my mum had laying around. It was already looking pretty fabby by this point and it seemed a shame to not line it; at least, now, with the lining it can be worn out and about, which, being me, I do plan on doing.

Ivory silk with purple stitch

The ruffles, also made from the silk, nearly killed me. They were edged with a decorative purple stitch, which was fine, but just about everything that could go wrong when I added them to the collar and cuffs did. I managed to sew one of the arm holes up at one point. Having got through the rest of the process fairly stress free, it really was rather aggravating falling at the last hurdle. I got them sorted in the end though, but not before a good, long tea break.

Perfect buttons for the job!

Currently, the fastenings are false; at least, the buttons are decorative and the jacket is currently held to gether with poppers. This was due to time restraints; despite having started this project at the end of July/beginning of August I some how ended up working right up until the last minute. In total, we've estimated that it was three solid days' work, although this was spread out over a few weeks. However, now that the party had come and gone (it was amazing, by the way), I can sit down at a more leisurely pace and sew in some button holes. It'll be good, because the poppers kept, well, popping open.

Malice the Mesmer?

Of course, you're all probably quite interested in seeing the finished product now (as, unfortunately, I never took the time to take 'in progress' photos). To the left is a photo of my entire costume (nothing else was handmade, with the exception of a ring I am wearing, which was not by me) and images of me modelling the jacket (in less flouncy clothing). Sorry for the poor quality, I was using indoor lighting for the photographs. Bit image heavy, but they better shows off my handiwork. All in all, I don't think it's a bad effort for my first piece of sewn clothing (and only my second ever sewing project).












A few simple facts for the more sewing conscious of you; the pattern used was Simplicity 2172, without the addition of pockets or the epaulettes. In total, there was four metres of fabric used, two of the taffeta (outer) and two of the silk (lining). The silk was a rather fraying material, so needed zigzag stitching, which contributed to a rather large amount of thread being used. I think three spools were used to complete the jacket.