In one of my last posts, I started working on a garment o called The Sorcerer’s Vest, since it’s based on the McCall’s pattern for a costume that strongly resembles Dr. Strange’s costume in the first Marvel movie about him, and played by Benedict Cumberbatch.

My initial efforts were, genuinely, dismaying. Step one (of 33) consisted of making these two panels. I thought to myself, “self, this is going to be a mighty slog.”

But, as is usually the case, the first step of any pattern is often the most difficult. And even though steps 9-12 weren’t exactly easy, at least there was an orderly progression — step one was the mountain, and now we’ve got your back. The hard stuff in step one is now the easy stuff.

So it’s proving to be.

The next challenge was figuring out how to make all these pleats, which are Not. Easy.

In any case, overall I’ve made progress on this project, which is now as far along as it’s likely to get without having a sewing machine in hand to do repairs. That should be in a few days….

In the meantime, though, it fits.

But then, it was on to making the back of the costume piece, and then it was time to try it in for the first time. This is always an exciting moment in the life of any maker, really — especially in this instance, where I had to scale up the pattern nearly 10” larger than the largest size of the original. I didn’t want all that pattern work to go to waste.

And then it was time to make and attach the collar. The collar of any garment is a difficult thing to get right to begin with. This one is complicated because it has 5/8” hems at the middle, but the center back is marked strangely and it feels like it doesn’t come together correctly.

In any case, it’s coming together. My next step is to make the lining (two long back pieces, and two short front pieces), and gradually close up the seams.