Legend of Zelda’s protagonist Link is easy for an aerialist: shirt, pants, tunic, belt and baldric (I bought these last, as I don’t have leatherworking tools), and drop the boots, weapons, and armor. Not that I would mind having a chain mail shirt (I think), but even if I wanted to add that much weight to what I’m swinging through the air, my aerial partner told me in no uncertain terms that she did not. I can’t blame her: I would say the same thing if I were the base instead of the flier.
What I Did:
- shirt: I used a close-fitting princess-line jacket pattern and cut the center front as one piece. I meant to put gussets in the armpits, but I forgot. But it works okay anyway, not too much bunching at the shoulders when I have my arms over my head. Putting in that many eyelets was tedious, but I love the final effect.
- tunic: I used a loose-fitting shirt pattern. I faked the slit-and-laced-sleeves, mostly because I was getting tired of eyelets. I kept the side slits, but did lacing all the way down. The pictures of Link seem to indicate the side seams might be half sewn and half laced, but that wouldn’t make much sense for actually wearing. None of the pictures I could find of Link show exactly what the underarm seaming is, so I compromised by leaving the armpit seams open, but stitching the sleeve ends closed so the sleeves wouldn’t flap around. More eyelets and lacing (I used double-fold bias tape stitched shut) for the neckline decoration.
- pants: I took apart an old pair of pants that fit me (about 3 hours of ripping seams) to use as a pattern. Once you have a pattern that fits you, pants are easy. I did not add pockets or belt
loops, which cut down the work even further. Contrary to sewing rumors I’ve heard, the pants zipper was easy to figure out and put in, just by studying the existing pair I took apart.
How It Worked: The shirt is a little looser than I wanted, the tunic is a little shorter than I wanted, and I had to restitch the bottom 10 inches of the pants to make them taper enough not to flap when I do upside-down work. Also I made the buttonhole for the pants almost too small. Eyelets are a pain, but worth the effect. I really love the hunter green of the tunic against the white shirt.
Things I Might Do Differently If I Make This Again: Try gussets in the shirt underarms. Cut the tunic a little longer. The tunic side eyelets need facing or tear-away stabilizer or a deep hem, one layer of fabric is not enough (I may redo this after AWA 2015, but not right now). Adjust the pants pattern for perfect fit to start with. Beg, borrow, buy, or make a hole-punch sort of thing for cutting eyelet holes so I’m not endangering my fingers with an x-acto knife and embroidery scissors.