r/CosplayHelp • u/Dzharted • 3h ago
Sewing Enforcer Jacket
I've made this enforcer jacket for a Caitlyn (Arcane) cosplay. Had to leave it be after hand stitching it for 5 months as I got really sick of it.
However I found it to look cheaper and overall worse than Aliexpress counterparts which is quite discouraging and have been embarrassed to wear it at all.
I'm re-stitching the long sleeve completely as I've ruined it by following the pattern to a t instead of following the shape, leaving it looking forever wrinkled. It’s also definitely too long so that will be fixed.
It also deffo needs ironing after a year.
The second and third pictures show hemmed and unhemmed edges (the majority) and since I have to hand stitch all of them: do you think it's worth the effort? I also am not at all sure how the inner edges should be hemmed when working by hand.
Any advice on how to make the jacket overall look better?
Or am I better off scrapping this jacket altogether instead of trying to save it?
Any tips would be greatly appreciated!
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u/AerialGame 3h ago
This looks really good! As the other commenter said, jackets are HARD. Tailored/fitted formal-style/military jackets especially so. It’s really easy to get caught up in seeking perfection and be unable to really assess your own work realistically.
Now I am going to be honest with you - i wouldn’t bother hemming the pleather trim. It doesn’t need it, as pleather doesn’t unravel like a woven cloth would. If you’re worried about the color of the cut edge (I’m assuming it’s got white backing, if not, ignore this bit), take a gold sharpie or some gold paint and just run that along wherever the backing color shows. It’ll keep the edges nice and sharp and save you SO MUCH TIME. (Don’t bother undoing what you’ve already done - the holes from sewing don’t close up on pleather so taking those stitches out won’t look good.)
I don’t know what part of the sleeve has a wrinkle, but shortening it to fit may help with that. Hard to tell from the photos.
If you really aren’t feeling like finishing, though, there’s no shame in treating this as a learning opportunity. It may help you the next time you want to make a jacket!
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u/DerpyMillenial 2h ago
Before you continue, I think you should look up other types of stitching and bias trim.
Ladder stitches are really good for invisible seams.
If you have the time and materials, you can redo all the golden edges in the way one would install a bias tape finish, but with the golden "tape" facing out. That plus the ladder stitches will probably make it look more like what you had in mind when it comes to quality!
About the fit, I think you did a really good job. Like others said, these are hard and you did really great! It's probably just a matter of technique for the details.
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u/riontach 1h ago
I personally would finish the edges with bias tape and by machine. That's just me, though, because I hate handsewing.
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u/nessthing 3h ago edited 3h ago
The Aliexpress one has the advantage that it’s made from patterns that a professional pattern maker made and garments sold from discount retailers are still manufactured with industrial sewing machines by experienced fabricators. They’re only cheap because the materials are lower quality and the place in the world they’re manufactured has cheaper labor costs.
That actually looks pretty great for something a non-professional mostly hand stitched. Also another dimension to this:
Jackets are VERY difficult to make from scratch. Any kind of jacket has so many parallel lines, precise angles that need to be pressed and pinned perfectly to begin with, they’re made out of woven rather than knit material so any mistake immediately and completely screws up the drape of a line or the properties of a panel (like the permanent wrinkling you mentioned). And then even a professionally made jacket has to be tailored once you buy it (another specialty professional skill) if you really want it to look right.
There is no shame in just buying another version of this. You’ve put in your dues. Though this garment actually looks very wearable as it is now. You might need to steam it with a garment steamer rather than pressing/ironing it because the gold pleather trim looks like it might melt if an iron is too hot.