"Absence, Hear Thou My Protestation"

Well, this one has been a long time coming. I think I started this in late August, put it away for a while, and picked it up again just recently. I had already finished the bulk of the work, I just hadn't found the time between other projects and school/work to do all the remaining detail work. Claire's riding jacket in Outlander has always been one of my favourite costume pieces of the series. Caitriona Balfe looks stunning in everything, but she's particularly radiant when wrapped up in luxurious white furs and what I'm guessing is a brown tweed fabric.

I had very limited fabric for this project. The brown tweed was $20 per metre from a small fabric store in Oakleigh, so I only bought two. And the fur was hideously expensive - even when on sale at Lincraft - so I only bought one metre of that. It meant my sleeves came up a bit short, the hood isn't nearly as roomy as I would have liked, and the fur isn't as luxurious and overpowering as it was in the series. But I don't mind. Making costumes on a budget is so much more challenging and means I don't want to claw my eyes out every time I look at my bank balance.

I always knew that I wasn't going to find a pattern for this costume, but I was lucky enough to find one on eBay that was similar enough to work as my base pattern. It was Sew & Sew B5446. It doesn't have a hood, the sleeves are bell sleeves, and the collar is just extremely unhelpful. All I took from the pattern was the bodice - and even that still required customization. The best way to do this is to just copy the pattern onto some fabric and then make all of your adjustments on a dress form. The sleeves and hood were taken from two other patterns and the peplum was made like a circle skirt.

Putting the pieces together from there was all very straightforward. I put some box pleats into the back and sides of the peplum before attaching it to the bodice. I don't think there's any pleats in the top of the actual costume, but I put some in the bodice of mine anyway. The hood presented a bit of a problem. I didn't have enough fabric to make it one piece, so I cut two. But then it wasn't big enough, so I used what little fabric I had left to make another piece for the underside of the hood. It looks a lot better with the fur attached, although I'd still love to go back and remake the hood later so that it has a more natural shape.

The lining was where I hit a roadblock. I would like to say that I was too busy with my new job and other projects, but mostly I just lost interest. The lining pieces were cut from a plain brown cotton when I started the project and needed to be hand stitched to the bodice, sleeves, and peplum. The difference it made to the peplum is miraculous. It used to be so limp when put on over a bum roll and petticoat, but now it flares out! Just the way I wanted.

After the lining, all that was left were the buttons and fur. And let me tell you something about fur. It sheds. It sheds everywhere. No matter what you do, no matter how you cut it - it sheds. I knew it was going to be an issue when I purchased the fur back in Sydney, so I decided to line it as well with a white cotton before hand sewing it to the hood and sleeves. It was still messy to cut and sew, but at least it won't shed every time I put the jacket on.

And that's it! All done! I can't wait to share my next Outlander costume with you all - hopefully next time it won't take as long.