Hoth Snow Speeder Swatch

I ordered a swatch of orange lining taffeta from Sy Fabrics to see if it might possibly work for the Hoth Rebel Snow Speeder jacket. Unfortunately, it was too thin, and too pale...

Here it is on top of my flight suit:




Here it is on top of the quilted nylon I found for Jason's & my jackets (I think that fabric is pretty much perfect color, thickness, sheen, and texture-wise except for the quilting stitches I have to pick out):

Pockets!

I haven't had much time to download pictures, but I thought I'd share this one. I'm working on 3 X-wing flight suits at once. One is a commission, one is for my husband, and one is for me (at long last, I'm finally working on ours!). I'm doing all the "steps" in the process of the three suits all at the same time. I've just completed what I call "prep-work".

Before I can sew the suits together I need to measure, mark, fold under, pin, & press all the edges of the pockets, and also double top-stitch the tops of all the pockets. 5 of the pockets have flaps, so I also need to measure and mark for the Velcro and sew the Velcro in place, then sew the two pieces of the flap together, turn, press, and double top-stitch. One of the pockets called a "comm pad pocket" has a rectangular window that also needs to be top-stitched.

Along with the pockets, I also have some prep-work that needed doing for the collars and sleeve cuffs, which require Velcro as well. So, I had to mark placement, sew on Velcro, and then sew the two pieces of each of those elements as well.

For 3 flight suits, that's 33 pockets, 15 flaps, 6 sleeve cuffs, and 3 collars! NOW I can actually begin to sew the flight suits!


Here are the finished pockets, ready to be sewn to the flight suits (I've marked each person's pieces with a different color safety pin, since they're all custom made to the wearer, I don't want to miss-match pieces!)

Happy Pilot Costumers

I've been too busy to post updates on my recent projects, the pictures are still sitting in my camera...but I realized that I had a few pictures of some of my costume clients after they received their costume element from me. Here are three pilots, two with flak vests from me and one with a flight suit from me:


Gil's flight suit:

(Updated 4-29-09 with some completed costume shots of Gil:)



Russ' flak vest:
(photos by Martin Miller)



Lauren's flak vest:

X-wing Flight Suit

One of my latest finished commissions is a X-wing flight suit. I did my best to research the actual screen-used costumes so that I could reproduce a faithful replica. This is a XXXL, custom fit to the client. Here are pictures of the finished suit:

Front View

Side view, right sleeve

Back view

Side view, left sleeve

Closeup of right sleeve pocket

Closeup of left sleeve pockets

Closeup of sleeve cuff, closed

Closeup of sleeve cuff, open (the original costumes used black Velcro, so I was sure to recreate that)

Closeup of front, upper torso

Closeup of front, lower torso

Closeup of front, upper torso, zipper partially open

Smaller "petite" ladies' X-wing Flak Vest

As a special request, a woman wanted a smaller more petite flak vest for her X-wing costume. Most flak vests are a standard "one-size-fits-most", but since women have more narrow shoulders than the men that the flak vests were originally designed for this makes sense.

Here, I've posted pictures of the finished ladies' flak vest compared with an unfinished standard flak vest:



Here is the vest on its own:

AT-AT Driver/Pilot Coveralls

My latest [finally finished] project is an AT-AT driver coverall. The coveralls that were used throughout the original Star Wars trilogy are all basically the same. The pockets vary slightly, some have flat pocket flaps, some have pointed pocket flaps. Some have an extra set of leg pockets. Some costume/Star Wars enthusiasts speculate that the original coveralls used in the movies were race car driver coveralls, which seems to be the closest theory I've heard.

There are no patterns that match the costume completely, so a lot of alterations had to be made to a purchased pattern from Kwik Sew.

Many thanks go to Leia Costuming for the information about the pockets and seams that are on the X-wing pilot coverall. This information was very helpful in making the AT-AT driver coverall as well. I also gleaned useful information from Troopers.com, thanks for the excellent Imperial coverall reference images. Echo Base was my source, thank-you, for the pocket patterns. Kim was also a help with her tips that she posted on the Midwest Base Rebel Legion forum.

Front

Back


Right Arm Pocket


Left Arm Pockets

From what I could tell, the "com pad" pocket on the left arm of the AT-AT driver coverall is slightly different than the ones on the X-wing pilot coveralls. The window in the center seems to be smaller and more centered than the X-wing version. Other than that, the pockets are nearly similar. The difference being in the leg pockets. The AT-AT version has two flapped pockets with pointed flaps while the X-wing version has 4 flapped pockets with flat flaps. Some other Imperial coveralls have a pointed flap on the right arm pocket. As near as I can tell, all Rebel coveralls have flat pocket flaps. The Imperial pocket flaps vary.

The AT-AT coverall that I sewed is made from Rodeo Poplin in "Grey Morn". It is closed with a zipper up the front and white Velcro fasteners at the collar, cuffs, and pocket flaps. It was made in a altered-to-fit 2XL.

X-Wing Flak Vest

The vest is made out of sport nylon, double layered to prevent transparency. The shoulder straps are made of sport nylon as well. The adjustable waist strap is nylon strapping. Instead of copper wire in the smaller channels, I used plastic string trimmer cording. This way, it can bend and flex without getting warped out of shape like wire does. Clasps are Tandy Leather clasps.