The trench coat is a solid sewing challenge and I felt like I had made enough coats to be able to tackle it.  It took a lot of research for me to decide on what material to use and where to source it. Obviously faux leather or pleather would have been easy and affordable, but these materials degrade over time and would give the coat a much shorter life. Knowing how complex the coat was and how much effort would be required to make it, I decided to splurge on real leather so it would break in over time and last for decades to come.

Then it took more research to decide which type of leather and weight to choose. I ultimately went with a drum dyed Cow nappa in 2-3oz (or 1.2mm thickness) from Leatherskins.com because they have quality hides with consistent color, and the cow hides are large enough to accomodate my long coat pattern pieces. I could have made do with two hides but I bought three to have more wiggle room for tests and mistakes. The leather is fantastic quality, highly recommend.

Cow nappa is a bit too thick to sew multiple layers on a regular home sewing machine. So I used the Reliable Barracuda Command, a home-sized Industrial sewing machine that can easily handle leather, canvas and other thick materials. 

I made a mock up using my McCalls M7644 trench coat pattern - one of my most trusted patterns, then cut and sewed the leather using Wonderfil home dec thread in 30ct and 60ct (for the bobbin). Each seam was double stitched, then top stitched open. 

The inside lining of the coat is a holographic light teal, and I had the perfect fabric for it in my Cosplay Fabrics collection! It's called the Light Blue Oil Slick stretch and is available in Michaels right now!

I used Thermoweb's HeatnBond Versafoam one-sided adhesive foam stabilizer to create the puffed up shoulder and sleeve pieces. The Versafoam was sandwiched between leather and scuba fabric and hand stiched onto the coat. I definitely went through a few needles during the hand stitching sessions.

This method worked so well that I used it again for the belts, so they have some oomph and shape to them. 

The bodysuit and gloves were also made with my @cosplayfabrics using the navy superpreme and a geometric texture. I used my trusty McCalls bodysuit pattern and serged the seams for extra stability. 

The belt is brown leather with a fun triangle buckle!

And yes, I made the shoes by altering and painting a pair of sneakers. I used Angelus paint to paint the once white shoes and made extra pieces with foam and fabbric that velcro to the shoes. 

As you can see, this outfit has SO MANY BUTTONS. I hand stitched every single one on.

My wig was styled by @malinda_chan using a @purplepluminc base wig

Brian had the P-90 prop gun for the past 20 years because we are big GitS fans and Shirow has featured that gun in his art! I will make some of Major’s weapons this winter.