Finishing touches and logo.

I have gathered the majority of the badges and pins now, some of which are printed fabric versions. The Fanderson badge goes  for around £70 on ebay, so I had one made instead for a fraction of that cost, it's slightly smaller, but that's not too obvious really, so a good compromise.

I intend to print the remaining ones on fabric and glue on - the United States Paratrooper patch, hand of cards - what looks to be a king, and four aces with the ace of diamonds on top, and a  Thunderbirds badge. There are other small pins, but her jacket changes episode by episode, and I am going for Survival.

I had a couple of goes at the back - the first one  was too small, and  the second I have gone with and attached, although I may make it a little narrower at some point.

To make the back, I scanned a logo in, then increased the image size, and worked on it to remove pixelization, and create a clear template. The A is a great image which could be printed onto fabric, as the template is very clear. I then drew around the template, onto the white felt, and cut it out - then I drew a line around the red felt, so I had a red A of the same size. I then drew a second line, all the way around the red A, I didn't measure it, but it was probably about one half a cm. Then  I glued the two pieces together using copydex. This did seep through the felt a little, so if I did it again, I would use it more sparingly. It made the felt more rigid, but not too much - it was just about right.

I did a similar thing with the "ce". Drawing round a printed template - this time, I stuck the yellow to the white felt, and then cut around it once it was drying, as the yellow did no need a white border. I then removed the part of white felt which sat on the A, so that the whole logo had the same thickness.

Once it was all dry, I then used Fabric Fusion to adhere the logo to the jacket. I measured to make sure I was getting it totally centered, and left it for several hours to dry.

Here is the front, i'm happy to wear it as is, but will add those last touches once my replacement CISS for my printer arrives and I can print onto the fabric sheets I bought, as it's leaking ink terribly at the moment!

Adding and reinforcing patches.

Some more patches arrived in the post today, unfortunately, I had to pay £11in customs fees, although this was the first time I have ever had that happen with an international purchase.

I ordered a number of fabric versions of the harder to find badges, (from Spoonflower) as well as the logo, but the logo is around 2 inches too small. The proportions are great though, as I was having some trouble with the "ce" part, so I am scanning it in and using as a template to work on. The colours are not as vibrant as I'd like, so once I'm finished editing it, I think I will take it to a professional printer to get a good quality print, with vibrant colours.

I have also been collecting pins and badges from ebay - still a few to arrive, and a few more to get yet. I have reinforced them all, as one layer of the iron on fabric was not enough, they now all have two layers, and are much stronger. I do have some fraying on the one I have been road testing (smaller "1987" patch. So I need to address potential fraying.
 

Here is my collection so far!

The first patches

Large sheet of iron on fabric.

 I have so far purchased three large patches from ebay, and have recently received my first order from Spoonflower. So I visited a local arts and crafts store today - Berkhamsted Arts and Crafts who were very helpful and gave me lots of advice. I came away with suitable fabric glue (some need alot of heat, and may damage the jacket), and a large sheet of iron on adhesive fabric. This, when ironed on gives the printed patches a firmer backing.

 I then cut a piece out, and placed it, shiny side against the back of my sheet of printed patches.

 Now iron it on. The advice on the fabric was 8 seconds, but I glided over thoroughly after the 8 seconds were up.

 I then have my sheet of printed badges, firmly adhered to a backing.
I then did a small patch test with the fabric glue on the inside of the jacket - there is a small amount of the outer material inside the jacket. I will come back to this to check for suitability and adherence before proceeding to attach these.

 And my five printed patches, are now looking great with the ones I purchased from Ebay.

My next step is to continue working on my Ace applique for the back of the jacket, and when the one I have ordered from Spoonflower arrives, I will compare the two, and decide which one to go with, and continue to Ebay for pins and badges. Oh yeah, and buy safety pins!

Making an Ace Jacket - getting started.

Making a Doctor Who Ace jacket.

I am putting together my Ace cosplay. Clothing wise it's fairly straightforward - I have a few of the bits I need already, but the jacket is obviously the main thing.

So here you can follow my project along and see how I've approached it. Read on to follow my progress in photos.

Getting Started

Here are two very valuable resources.

At the link below you can find a detailed breakdown of the badges, pins and patches. This is immensely helpful:

http://warmcanofcoke.livejournal.com/637.html

It also identified the jacket as an MA-1 bomber jacket. These are easy to come by - they are normally in sizes small and up, I did spot some some manufacturers offering an XS, but they were not in stock when I tried to order, so I went with the S. I am a UK size 10-12, the small feels big, but I am also not used to wearing over-sized bomber jackets! I have been wearing it out and about for the last few weeks, and like this jacket so much now that I may buy another, non patched one, to wear at other times. It's so warm and practical, and has lots of pockets - it was a relief to have it to hand when my car broke down on a very cold night!

The second place which will be invaluable is Spoonflower  - you can order some of the more obscure or impossible to find patches on here. They also have the Ace applique for the back of the jacket. I have also been working on one, but struggling with the image editing for the "Ce" part.

You will need:

• Fabric glue
• Decent scissors
• An iron
• Sheet of iron on fabric - like wonder web  but stronger- this is for any patches you have printed that need the backing reinforced.
• Safety pins
• MA-1 bomber jacket
• Ebay - to search for the patches that can be bought