This was hands-down the most ambitious costume I've made to date. I learned so many new skills and techniques for this project, and I majorly leveled up as a seamstress because of it. A big shoutout to my friend Ceriene for posting a ton of WIPs and info while making her tactician coat! Without that, I'd have been floundering for sure.
The coat base is a black stretch suiting that I adore working with and use for all my longcoats (see Kirito), since it has weight but is very flexible, draping and moving beautifully for photos. The purple fabric I'd had my eye on for a year before finally digging in and buying nearly 6 yards of the stuff (I'll definitely be using it again). It's a lovely textured poly blend which I used for all the lines on the outside and lining the inside. I used the same dull gold satin everywhere, including making my own bias tape. The shirt and pants are made of a very light, off-white suiting, with some cotton trim. The skirt(?) is made of the same black suiting as the coat, lined with a light, iron-on black stabilizer to really solidify the satin-stitching.
Speaking of satin-stitching, there sure is a lot of it on this costume. if there's a line or design anywhere, I satin-stitched it. I followed Firewolf826's glorious tutorials, using heat'n'bond to attach clean designs to the desired fabric, and stitching them on from there. Having to stabilize everything was a pain, but a must for stretchy fabric. I used the Honk Kong method of attaching all my bias tape, and it comes out so clean that I'm never doing it another way again! I hand-stitched all the gold braid around the button bits and on the boots. I recycled my SnK boots for this, though I completely replaced the uppers with pleather. The belts and arm guards are a lighter pleather, with custom buckles I made with Wonderflex and medium-gauge wire.
My tome is simply a book covered with fabric (like those stretchy textbook covers) and the design painted on with acrylic. The spine cuffs are topstitched onto the cover.

Debuted at Katsucon '15