Cape mod update:
No paper clips or anything like that, although for my final look I will probably do a little of that just to make it that much sharper. I need to cut of that little nub on the corner of the cape. And I still need to figure out how to make the inside black. I tried using Rit dye and Elvis was right. It doesn't hold with the man made fabric. Right now I'm looking into "disperse dye", which is supposed to work even with polyester.
Anyway, here's a pic of my dying attempt:
I brushed it on instead of dipping it. (I'll get to what the arrows are for in a second.)
It was looking great as I went along. In fact even after it dried it still looked pretty great. First I checked if the black would rub off to the touch. Didn't seem to. Then I tested it under running water. Washed right out.
If you don't mind knowing that it can wash right out then go ahead and try the Rit dye. Note that I did do
two "coats", which I would recommend for a deeper black. Keep in mind that the dye is just kind of sitting on top of the fabric, so if anything drips on it, it will run. And I expect that it would rub off even when dry. My test of that wasn't very thorough.
The arrows are for liner removal tutorial. The red arrows represent the edge that gets cut off - the bottom. The blue arrows indicate the edges that (in my opinion) should have the seam removed - the sides. Before I understood that the seem along the bottom was pretty much just for holding the wire, I ripped almost
all of the seams - which was a huge pain in the arse.
Below is a picture of the bottom edge after I ripped both seams and then started to cut along the folded edge. I will say that it's probably easier to keep that cut right in the fold with the seams removed, so maybe it wasn't a complete waste of time.
In the case of the front/side edges I highly recommend removing all the seams and the fabric held within the seams (you'll know what I'm talking about when you try it). That leaves you with a thin strip of folded pleather that lays nice and close to the body in the most natural way possible, while not having an ugly cut edge exposed [see blue arrows above]. That flap is not held down by anything but that's not a big deal. I think after I figure out how to get the inside black I will use a few little dabs of fabric glue to keep the flap in place.
That's it for now. Any more ideas for how to get the inside black would be most appreciated.
Almost forgot. If you don't know what I mean by 'ripping seams', I'm referring to using one of these:
They're called "seam rippers" and they work great. You are assured of removing the seam without damaging anything else. Good to have in your moding-tackl-box.
!!!
