Beginning coat modifications for Cantor/Zuse
The goal is to achieve something reminiscent of Michael Sheen’s costume as Castor/Zuse in Tron: Legacy.
Without having to build a frockcoat from scratch.
I started with a very inexpensive costume “frockcoat” purchased via AliExpress. It was essentially constructed like a labcoat — no lining, made of inexpensive cotton/poly twill, and the “waistcoat” is actually part of the coat.
The first step was to take all the buttons off the coat, and the “pocket” flaps. Next was to attack the center fastening. To avoid a visible stitching line, the costume coat had no seam defining the lapel fold line of the coat vs the “waistcoat” underneath, so if you exerted tension across the center, the lapel would unfold across the chest. I’m getting rid of the lapels anyway, so the first step was to stitch that line firmly in place.
With that stabilized, it turned out the coat fit pretty much perfectly with the original button line of the waistcoat. I set out to replace that with a hidden zipper. It should be a concealed zipper separating based on the photos, and the only white separating zippers I have were standard coil zippers, so I used the trick of sewing it in inside out (with the pull tab *inside* the garment) to make the outside smoother. It pretty much went in perfectly the first time.
Next step will be to trim the collar and lapels; then I have to decide how close I want to mimic that spread neckline appearance of the original costume… And whether I want to paint/overlay the white to get those grey areas. Not sure how much I care about that. The wire I’ve ordered for the lighting strips (that should camouflage well with the white) arrives tomorrow.
