EL Wire Waist Coat (Semi) Finished

       This is one of those projects that started as a scrap piece of material that kind of looked like it could be made into a coat and it just spiraled out of control from there. First it was cut and shaped into a waist coat, then a hood was added, then some electric blue ribbon for trim so it wouldn't be all black, then I decided to add some EL Wire around the trim so it would glow at night...

   As the project began to take on a life of it's own I had to keep walking away from it to work on other costumes and garb. When I was away working on something else I would always find myself wondering what else I could add to the waist coat. Next came the applique on the back, I had never done applique work before so it was an exercise in trial and error, after I worked that bit out I took on the most challenging part of the coat so far... adding EL Wire to the applique.

   This was a piece that was trial by fire. I had one shot to wire what was a practice run because I started running out of time. I got it mostly right but I think it turned out rather well. So the applique was sewn on and it looked great... from behind. I really needed some more light on the front to balance it out but I was down to one evening, running a fever, and down to scrap pieces of EL Wire that I had to solder together just to get something for the front.

   The front looked alright, but I knew it was me being lazy and pressed for time. I did get it done in time for the Texas Renaissance Festival and was able to show it off. I got lots of questions and compliments and was rather pleased with the way it turned out.

   However, now that I have stepped away from the project I am having more ideas. After the New Year I am going to strip the front and make more appliques and weave more EL Wire thru it so that it balances out and the front looks as good as the back does. I will update this as the time comes. Until then Happy Workbenching.