Sew What Have I Been Doing?

This week I've been turning an ordinary man's suit jacket into a Hussar's Uniform -- that's the short story.  I've been helping out at my son's high school doing costumes for their rendition of Phantom of the Opera.  It's a lot of hard work but it's also very fun.  This jacket is coming out really cool.  When it is all finished I'll post another pic plus some of the other costumes I've done. 

 

 

Cut off th bottom in a military 'V' style.

 

Adding some shiny gold braid.

 

This gold gimp shifted and moved all around no matter how many pins I put in it.  My solution?  Blue painter's tape to hold it still and that worked very well. 

Almost done!  I added gold grosgrain ribbon for the placket and came up with some clever button loops which I then realized were not practical for a fast change during the play.  I'm going to replace them with velcro.  I'm also having about 30 buttons put on the front and I have to finish the chevrons on the front of the sleeve.  If I  have time I'll make a half jacket/cape thing too.