#and NO i dont want cotton twill tape

[gender-trash]

realized my pitiful little supply of linen tape was NOT going to hold up to the number of books i want to bind :p fortunately burnley and trowbridge Provides

[fabrickind]

Hello! I was wondering if you had any tips on making the duelist outfits from rgu. I want to cosplay Miki but I dont know where to start because I've never made a jacket like that before

Hello there!

For making Duelist jackets, you’ll need a few things – mostly, a good pattern (and a few basic tailoring skills), good fabric choice, knowledge of welt pockets, and the ability to apply bias tape.

I drafted my own pattern for Juri, but for a character like Miki, I think that something similar to a Civil War uniform pattern would work. You’ll have to make some modifications, but it’s a good base if you blend the waist seam into the rest of the pattern. Fit and proportion are critical to making these ridiculous outfits look good, so be sure to shape the jacket to your own body. Do at least one mockup to make sure that the fit and length are good before cutting into your good fabric. The linked pattern has shaping seams in the back, which will help get that 90s anime silhouette.

For fabric choice, be sure to use a woven material with some structure. Any kind of mid to bottomweight suiting that isn’t too floppy will work here. I used a bottomweight cotton sateen for Juri’s jacket (and polyester crepe for the pants/arm detailing). Twill is another good option. I’d recommend natural fibers as much as possible because you will be very warm.

For some of the detailing, thankfully Miki has probably the easiest epaulets of the group – these can be made of interfaced fabric, trimmed, and button on (you can make those big gold buttons functional). The sleeve patch and the triangles at the collar can be appliqued on. I’d recommend a material that doesn’t fray for this – I used gold pleather for both Juri and Utena for the triangles, and the same gold pleather for Juri’s arm detailing. If you are making the pants, save out some extra fabric for the blue on the sleeve, and if not, try to match it as closely as possible at the fabric store. the rope can be storebought, or storebought and dyed if you can’t find the color (look for 100% rayon so you don’t have to worry about polyester dyes). Look in the home decor section for that. I made my finial out of a bead and polymer clay. I also made my rose holder out of polymer clay and wire, and that attaches to the inside of the pocket with pin blanks (they poke through the pocket and the pins are on the inside of the pocket, with two loops of 1/8″ elastic in there to hold the rose stem in place better).

For the front opening, I went canon with Juri and did a million little hooks and eyes. I do not recommend this unless you’re a masochist. Use a separating invisible zipper, and just hook the top. 

I made my Juri cuffs functional, but Miki’s are a weird design, since they have red trim at both the top and the hand end. If you are confident, you can do functional cuffs with this, but if you aren’t, sew a self-lined tube of interfaced fabric (so that the lining and outside are the same material), attach this to the sleeve, and just sew the buttons on top.

Bias Tape Hell is a thing. I made all my bias tape (not as hard as it looks if you have a bias tape maker), though storebought is also fine. Here’s a tutorial on how to apply it.

Welt pockets are actually easier than they look, but I highly recommend doing a practice run before you do the real thing, since it’s not entirely intuitive. I think this is the tutorial I used. If that’s too intimidating (though I recommend at least trying), you can possibly just trim the pocket in red bias tape that’s folded over the edges (and with the raw edges tucked underneath at the ends), though it won’t look as clean or be as correct.

You may want to interface the whole thing. I believe I did with my Juri jacket, though it’s lined and I’m not home to look at it to double check.

I think that should about cover it. If you have any more questions or questions about a specific part, feel free to ask! :]