The Casual Costumer: Caspian's Tunic

I've been gone a lot longer than I thought! Well, I'm starting to really kick into gear for DragonCon, so I've been working on a bunch of costumes. First up: Caspian's tunic!

I finally convinced my husband to be the Prince Caspian to my Queen Susan. He made the boots a few weeks ago (you can see that on his Tumblr here), and just finished the chain maile the other night. I've been working on his tunic and trousers.

Here's the finished product, but I'll go into more detail below.

I made the trousers by ripping a pair of his old jeans apart, tracing the fabric, and then making a new pattern. The fabric for the trousers was Soho Suede Green from Fabric.com. The fabric for the tunic is a brown suede from JoAnn Fabrics. It probably should be the same material from Fabric.com, but you literally see just his elbows and collar, so Matt was kind of meh about what fabric I used. I found the pattern for the tunic here - it's the same one that I used for Eomer's tunic.

Step-by-step instructions for constructing the tunic after you've made the pattern and cut out the fabric follows (the green fabric is for a Robin Hood costume):

Step 1:
With right sides together, sew the front to the back at the shoulders.

Step 2:
Open the tunic up, and then attach the right side of the sleeves to the right side of the tunic. You'll want to put the middle of the sleeve on the shoulder seam.

So after you do that and open the whole tunic back up, it will be t-shaped.

Step 3:
Go to the edge of each piece of fabric and hem it up where you need it. This is much easier than trying to do it once it's all sewn together.

Step 4:
Fold the tunic at the shoulder seam, right sides together, then pin and sew the sides.

Step 5:
With the right sides still together, sew the sleeves together.

Step 6:
Find the middle of the front of the tunic, then make a straight cut about 2-3" long. Turn each side and stitch.

View of right side

View of wrong side

We go back to Caspian for ...

Step 7:
The collar, if you need one. I had to make my own pattern for the collar. I cut out four pieces and then attached them to the neckline.

Step 8:
Time for the eyelets! I do these after I attach the collar to make sure that I have enough room to actually sew the collar on. Mark the fabric where you want them to go, cut a tiny, round hole, stick your eyelets in, and whack 'em with the hammer!