Do hyu lak my coat? It iz a varry nize coat!

One of the dangers of costuming a family is that sometimes the family makes demands. My daughter announced several months ago that we need to go as a family of Jagermonsters for this year's Norwescon. If you're wondering what on earth is a Jagermonster, you need to familiarize yourself with Girl Genius. Adventure, Romance, and most importantly MAD SCIENCE!

I scored a ready-made jacket for my costume at a local antique mall last month, a West Point Cadet coat:



Not so lucky for my offspring or spouse. So I'll be altering coats for them. I got the husband's almost finished last weekend. I started the alteration of a black sport coat at BeyondCon, the Beyond Reality Costuming Guild's annual convention, where I did a panel on altering thrift store items. I know - that's such a stretch for me, isn't it? :p

Of course, I didn't take "before" pictures, but I started out with something pretty much like this.

I cut away the front just above the pockets, back to the seam line, to make the tails, and cut off the sleeves just above the elbows, replacing them with a brocade fabric that will cuff with a bit of a poof at the wrist.



Yes, this is also my first attempt at applique!

I made a front placard out of brocade and duck cloth, and trimmed the *bleep* out of it.

Stage 1:



Stage 2:



I cut tabs out of front of the collar and reinforced it, then covered it with more of the brocade. The front flaps of the coat fold over and snap together now. The placard is sewn down on one side and snaps on the other.





Still to go - jacket for the munchkin and HATS!