Link

This is one of my favorite costumes, simply because my brother was so pleased with the final results.  When I told my brothers that I would make them costumes for the Renaissance fair, the younger of the two decided that he did not want the typical ren. garb, but wanted to go as Link instead.  What followed were weeks of looking at images of the "real" Link, looking at patterns, and thinking about how to do this.  

I felt that the most difficult thing was going to be the fabric; after all, what kind of fabric do you get to drape like a cartoon?  Since we really were dealing with an illustration here, I decided that we would not be able to stick with period correct fabrics.  We ended up getting a white poly/cotton knit for the body suit, and a green crushed panne velvet for the tunic and hat.

I decided to make the body suit in two pieces, using a pattern for sweat pants and a mock turtle neck.  I began by drastically taking in the pants pattern before cutting the fabric; the whole idea is that the pants and shirt hug the body, so I first measured my brother and then took an additional 1-2 inches off the pattern.  I then sewed the pants together as normal, including the elastic a the waist.  I did the shirt in the same way; it was a little easier because the pattern was already designed to be tight fitting, but I still ended up taking some width out of the sleeves.  I did make one major change to the pattern; I added a split to the front, which meant that I also had to change my front facing.  Link's undershirt is supposed to be partially open in front and lace up.  I ended up getting rid of the facing that the pattern came with and I created my own facing by recutting the top portion of the front pattern piece to serve as the facing for that piece; I cut it just long enough to come down to the end of the front opening, aproximately 7 inches from the neck.  (Now that I think about it, this was actually a rather complicated process that I would not recommend for a new sewer.  I have done necklines similar to this before, so I knew how the pieces should go together.  If you have never attatched facing to a split front neckline before, I recommend that you get a pattern that will actually explain how to do it.  It is a similar process to regular facings except that you cut a slit in both your fabric and your facing.  While you are sewing around the neckline to attatch the facing, you sew down one side of the slit and up the other site to complete the circle. With this kind of neckline you MUST grade your seam allownaces and clip your corners, or the final neckline will not lay flat.  You can then turn the facing to the inside, press, tack, and voila!)  After that, all I had left to do was add the eyelets to the front opening of the shirt.

The tunic was a little more complicated (but, of course, I think that any garment with a collar is more complicated).  I think I ended up using a sports coat pattern in order to get the right kind of collar, cutting the sleeves to just above my brother's elbow, and then sewing the front closed below the collar.  I also adjusted the length to come down almost to his knees.  (The tunic needed to be longer than he really wanted it to be because the belt would blouse it, shortening the final lenth.)

The final piece of the costume was the easiest and required no pattern--the hat.  The hat is simply a long isosolese triangle.  The base of the triangle is my brother's head circumfrence, and the hight is how long he wanted it. (He wanted it hanging pretty much down to his waist in back.)  I then folded the triangle in half, sewed the length closed and then hemmed the base.  I also added a little bit of elastic to the back of the hem in order to help keep the hat on his head.

My brother purchased the belt, boots, and he was set to go, but did the costume achieve it's purpose?  Well, it wasn't really anything close to a Renaissance costume, but at the fair we heard several people remark in hushed amazement, "Hey, it's Link!"

Home
Costume Page