Not too long ago, I decided I wanted to have a go at making my own replica of Jennifer Parker’s waistcoat, as worn by Claudia Wells in Back to the Future (1985). I wanted to create my own digital version of the floral pattern and get it printed onto fabric, which I would then use to make the waistcoat. I was slightly hesitant about this project, since I had never made clothing before, and still haven’t learnt how to use a sewing machine yet, meaning that the entire thing would need to be hand-sewn. However, I decided I wanted to give it a go and see how it turned out.
I already had a Jennifer waistcoat which had been custom-made for me, but after finding new photos of the waistcoat she wore in the movie, I realised that my current one wasn’t completely screen-accurate. For example, after finding the photos shown below, I noticed that Jennifer’s waistcoat had flowers on the back of it, and not just on the front. My current waistcoat only had flowers on the front, as I hadn’t yet seen any photos of the back at the time I got it commissioned.
Another thing I noticed when inspecting Jennifer’s waistcoat more closely was that it seems to have four buttons, whereas mine only had three. The buttons on her waistcoat were also bigger than the ones on mine.
Another thing about my current waistcoat was that the folded-over part on the front had polka dots, whereas Jennifer’s had small flowers, which was another thing that I wanted to fix when I made my own version.
After studying Jennifer’s waistcoat and making note of all the details, I was ready to begin making my replica. The first step was to create my digital floral design. I did this by tracing over my reference photos in Adobe Illustrator. It took a very long time, but I was really happy with the end result. Once all of the flowers were done, I created a digital mock-up of the design, and worked out the placement of the flowers on the waistcoat, using my reference photos to help me.
Next, I worked out the measurements that I would want the waistcoat to be and started gathering supplies. I got a pack of mixed size black buttons from Hobbycraft and picked out the ones that looked closest in size to the buttons on Jennifer’s waistcoat.
The next step was to get the fabric printed. This was probably the most challenging part of the whole project, as I had to work out how far apart the flowers would need to be when they were printed onto the fabric, as well as what size they would need to be. After lots of calculations, I chose to order the fabric through a printing company called Contrado. I chose 300gsm woven canvas for the main waistcoat fabric and 172gsm cotton satin for the lining.
Before I started cutting the fabric, I made a paper pattern to use for reference, which was largely based on another waistcoat that I already owned. After tracing the shape of the other waistcoat onto some paper, I made some tweaks to the shape of the paper version. For example, I made the front panels longer and more pointed at the bottom, and made the waist go in more. When the paper template was done, I cut it out, taped it together and tried it on to make sure it fit, which it did!
Next, I drew the outlines of the shapes that I needed to cut onto the back of the fabric. I started by tracing around my paper pattern, but then had to make some small changes to the shapes to make sure that the flowers would appear in the correct places on the finished waistcoat.
After all the shapes were cut out of the fabric, I hand-sewed everything together. I wasn’t really sure what I was doing, as I’d never done anything like it before, but I think it worked out quite well. While sewing, I discovered I had printed some of the fabric slightly wrong, so had to get a few parts re-printed. I sewed the buttons and some fake pockets that I had made to the front of the waistcoat, and then (my favourite part!) made the button holes, which took FOREVER and now I never want to make button holes ever again!
Here is the finished waistcoat! I think it turned out pretty well considering this was the first time I ever made my own clothing or completed a big sewing project.
Have you ever made your own cosplay pieces before? What was your favourite project to work on, and what was your most challenging one?
Poppy x
Pink Blossom Cosplay 