fil5117

I have based most of my costume on his.  Allrighty then. I'll pull the trigger! 

Yes, for those reading this, please understand I 100% appreciate the hard work you are doing, providing caps at low prices.
Without your hard work we wouldn't have as many cleared officers as we do.
These are not easy to make, that is clearly illustrated by the fact professional companies have problems and compromise on the design.
It's most likely the reason this hasn't been broached before is because as we've said the subject is a little delicate and we may sound a little ungrateful, we're not.

Hmm, a delicate subject to address, eh?  I wouldn't know how to approach it, other than similar to my post above.  Because I'm appreciative of what they've offered, and done for everyone.  How not to sound ungrateful, ya know?  

Yes, for those reading this, please understand I 100% appreciate the hard work you are doing, providing caps at low prices.
Without your hard work we wouldn't have as many cleared officers as we do.
These are not easy to make, that is clearly illustrated by the fact professional companies have problems and compromise on the design.
It's most likely the reason this hasn't been broached before is because as we've said the subject is a little delicate and we may sound a little ungrateful, we're not.

I have discussed the same issue with a couple of fan made cap suppliers, and come to a common ground with one of the UK suppliers.
There is a little variance in the cap peaks we see in the films, but on the whole I agree with you. My rule of thumb was the visor is just over half the height of the crown.
I think the main 'problem' stems from there being a pattern in the public domain and people have used this verbatim. Another problem is that caps are pretty tough to make in the first place. Getting anything half decent is a major achievement. I would like to see more accurate caps, especially the stitching on the visor, the gap between the concentric stitching can be a little too wide.
I have worked to help make improvements to the uniforms and helped raise the standards of the costumes produced, but don't have the time to do everything. I have found if you champion a cause, provide a convincing argument, produce an example, do it well people will follow your lead. This has been on my to do list, but other tasks have taken priority. If you could pick up the baton and approach one of the common cap suppliers who's cap is a 'little off' and work with them to improve the accuracy that'd be great.

I have discussed the same issue with a couple of fan made cap suppliers, and come to a common ground with one of the UK suppliers.
There is a little variance in the cap peaks we see in the films, but on the whole I agree with you. My rule of thumb was the visor is just over half the height of the crown.
I think the main 'problem' stems from there being a pattern in the public domain and people have used this verbatim. Another problem is that caps are pretty tough to make in the first place. Getting anything half decent is a major achievement. I would like to see more accurate caps, especially the stitching on the visor, the gap between the concentric stitching can be a little too wide.
I have worked to help make improvements to the uniforms and helped raise the standards of the costumes produced, but don't have the time to do everything. I have found if you champion a cause, provide a convincing argument, produce an example, do it well people will follow your lead. This has been on my to do list, but other tasks have taken priority. If you could pick up the baton and approach one of the common cap suppliers who's cap is a 'little off' and work with them to improve the accuracy that'd be great.

I have discussed the same issue with a couple of fan made cap suppliers, and come to a common ground with one of the UK suppliers.
There is a little variance in the cap peaks we see in the films, but on the whole I agree with you. My rule of thumb was the visor is just over half the height of the crown.
I think the main 'problem' stems from there being a pattern in the public domain and people have used this verbatim. Another problem is that caps are pretty tough to make in the first place. Getting anything half decent is a major achievement. I would like to see more accurate caps, especially the stitching on the visor, the gap between the concentric stitching can be a little too wide.
I have worked to help make improvements to the uniforms and helped raise the standards of the costumes produced, but don't have the time to do everything. I have found if you champion a cause, provide a convincing argument, produce an example, do it well people will follow your lead. This has been on my to do list, but other tasks have taken priority. If you could pick up the baton and approach one of the common cap suppliers who's cap is a 'little off' and work with them to improve the accuracy that'd be great.

I think your illustrations are clearer than my old ones
 

 
I managed to get this:

 
Changed to this, which was an improvement. I think it could have benefited from a little more but it was a definite improvement:

I have discussed the same issue with a couple of fan made cap suppliers, and come to a common ground with one of the UK suppliers.
There is a little variance in the cap peaks we see in the films, but on the whole I agree with you. My rule of thumb was the visor is just over half the height of the crown.
I think the main 'problem' stems from there being a pattern in the public domain and people have used this verbatim. Another problem is that caps are pretty tough to make in the first place. Getting anything half decent is a major achievement. I would like to see more accurate caps, especially the stitching on the visor, the gap between the concentric stitching can be a little too wide.
I have worked to help make improvements to the uniforms and helped raise the standards of the costumes produced, but don't have the time to do everything. I have found if you champion a cause, provide a convincing argument, produce an example, do it well people will follow your lead. This has been on my to do list, but other tasks have taken priority. If you could pick up the baton and approach one of the common cap suppliers who's cap is a 'little off' and work with them to improve the accuracy that'd be great.

I have discussed the same issue with a couple of fan made cap suppliers, and come to a common ground with one of the UK suppliers.
There is a little variance in the cap peaks we see in the films, but on the whole I agree with you. My rule of thumb was the visor is just over half the height of the crown.
I think the main 'problem' stems from there being a pattern in the public domain and people have used this verbatim. Another problem is that caps are pretty tough to make in the first place. Getting anything half decent is a major achievement. I would like to see more accurate caps, especially the stitching on the visor, the gap between the concentric stitching can be a little too wide.
I have worked to help make improvements to the uniforms and helped raise the standards of the costumes produced, but don't have the time to do everything. I have found if you champion a cause, provide a convincing argument, produce an example, do it well people will follow your lead. This has been on my to do list, but other tasks have taken priority. If you could pick up the baton and approach one of the common cap suppliers who's cap is a 'little off' and work with them to improve the accuracy that'd be great.

I think your illustrations are clearer than my old ones
 

 
I managed to get this:

 
Changed to this, which was an improvement. I think it could have benefited from a little more but it was a definite improvement:

I have discussed the same issue with a couple of fan made cap suppliers, and come to a common ground with one of the UK suppliers.
There is a little variance in the cap peaks we see in the films, but on the whole I agree with you. My rule of thumb was the visor is just over half the height of the crown.
I think the main 'problem' stems from there being a pattern in the public domain and people have used this verbatim. Another problem is that caps are pretty tough to make in the first place. Getting anything half decent is a major achievement. I would like to see more accurate caps, especially the stitching on the visor, the gap between the concentric stitching can be a little too wide.
I have worked to help make improvements to the uniforms and helped raise the standards of the costumes produced, but don't have the time to do everything. I have found if you champion a cause, provide a convincing argument, produce an example, do it well people will follow your lead. This has been on my to do list, but other tasks have taken priority. If you could pick up the baton and approach one of the common cap suppliers who's cap is a 'little off' and work with them to improve the accuracy that'd be great.

So, I've always been wondering about the Officer hats that have been being produced lately by the several fantastic individuals dedicating their time to make them for us.  I preface this post with that, because I absolutely do not want to detract from the amazing work that is done with them.  But, I'm just wondering if the size of the visors have been incorrect.
 
When I see images of Officers, bridge crew, reserve pilots...basically anyone who wears the Officer-styled hat, I've always taken note that the crown is always much wider than the visor.  When I see images of us in the 501st, I've always noticed that our visors appear to be the same width as the crown.  I sampled some movie reference images over the internet, and compared the sizing of them by using the attached greeblie in the photo.  Here's what I came up with:

 
Now, I did the same with a reference photo of a random custom sewn cap I also grabbed from the internet.

 
Notice that the movie hats fit about three and 3/4 greeblies on the crown, while their visors are about two greeblies in width.  When compared to the custom hats, the crowns also fit about three and 3/4, but the visors fit about three greeblies.  A greeblie is about 1' in diameter.  I compared this to the custom hat I've purchased, and came with the same result...3 3/4' crown and 3 1/8" visor.
 
Is my assessment inaccurate, or perhaps should the patterns that are being used be adjusted to reflect my findings?  Or does it really not matter at all?  I'm just curious for my O/Cs sake...  

Not really.  I think if you were to go onto the FB page for McDonalds and ask for a real picture of their hamburgers, you're either going to get the same response, or just a picture from their advertisements.  No one is going to walk back into the kitchen and take a picture of a hamburger for you.

Hans,
Thanks for your submission. I'd like to ask for a number of hopefully minor tweaks.
Neck, I believe I can see your neck above the zip and below the collar. If you could add a piece of black fabric to act as a modesty panel that'd be an improvement.
Imperial cog on your left arm. If it's possible without ruining your flight suit or leaving unsightly glue residue I'd like to see the cog a little more central, like you have on your right arm. If this is tricky or risks messing up your suit I'd leave it, whilst not ideal it will do if it cannot be easily moved / replaced.
Forearms, if you can take the forearms of your flight suit in a little that'll reduce the bunching in your arms and gauntlets.
Belt, if you can pull your belt up so it sits over your navel and covers the elasticated central flight suit section that'd look better and also help your belt boxes sit better.
Cap your peak only appears to have 5 concentric circles instead of the required 6 or 7. You will need to get an extra set of stitching added, to match the existing concentric stitching.
Whilst a nice quality your belt boxes do not appear to be accurate, they're a little over sized. I'd have a look at the suppliers we have here on the forum for something more accurate.
 
On the whole a nicely fitted suit, the legs look good. Hopefully these tweaks can be easily achieved. I look forward to seeing your alterations and approving you soon.
Phil

I just wanted to share this boot bag I bought for my officer boots. It is from Todd's Costumes and is only $14.95. I had my ID# embroidered on it and added an IOC patch. Here is a photo of my bag followed by a link to the bag on Todd's Costumes in case anyone wants to get one.

http://www.toddscostumes.com/costume-supplies/boot-bag/

Wow, thanks. It took me ages to figure out a clean way of attaching the buttons, I'm so glad it's helped someone, thanks!

Thanks Gary, your post made me chuckle. I was on my way back from parents and have only just started to catch up with the forum.
 
Push buttons have a cream coloured inner button which gives the button a little more depth. Looking at high resolution screen grabs we've concluded push buttons were used on the original rank bars in A New Hope, and The Empire Strikes Back and probably the Return of the Jedi. Return of the Jedi is a little unusual in the fact that all of the rank bars have 3 red buttons and 3 blue buttons, regardless of rank.
 
It is a personal choice, we have an excellent supplier of plexi glass rank bars here, who has served a large number of officers, and are perfectly suitable. Personally I prefer, and encourage people who are producing costumes to Executor and Imperator level of clearance to have a look and consider push buttons.

Thanks this was a great referrence page
 
Yeah looking at the uniforms here i'd say the collor is a little off. i'll probebly have to make another one once this is done but by then i'll have sharpend my sewing skills and perfected my pattern
 
Thanks!

A number of Officers in the films have holes in their belts. For higher level clearance when emulating a specific officer I would encourage a costumer to copy the number of belt holes the officer had in the film. Though, from what I can tell that uniform appears to be a 181st Officer. Do 181st Officer have belt holes in the comic? I don't know off hand. But I do have the comics at home.
 
I'd say generically you should allow it, on the grounds some officers do in the film, but on the whole it's not a good look.
 
You could also discourage it, from an accuracy perspective, if it proved the 181st Officers in the comics didn't have holes in their belts (which I'd imagine to be the case).

Also make sure the belt buckle sits over the belly button, this is the widest part of the chest. Also ensuring the belt hides the central seam.
 
Positioning the buckle there is not only accurate, it means the buckle sits correctly and improves the look and sharpness of the uniform.

The originals (or at least this particular jacket) didn't have a princess seam under the front flap.  It has a center front seam, horizontal seam just above the chest line (where the code cylinder pocket is), and a waist seam:
 

 
This would make it easier for the costume shop to stitch up a bunch of jackets for extras and move the snap closures to wherever they needed to be, without worrying about exposing a fitting seam.  Case in point: the unfortunate extra at left who's ended up in a jacket that's a little small for his belly:

 
However, adding that princess seam under the front flap makes it a lot easier to fit to the body, instead of trying to manipulate the pattern so all the chest fitting happens in the horizontal seam (where the code cylinder pocket is).  It's almost a requirement for the female officers in order to accommodate the bust, unless of course you're pretty flat-chested like me. 

I made my own, I bought some aluminium, a metal saw, glue, push button and some magnets. There a bit of an outlay but it was a rewarding experience.

Tiggie on this forum make great ones.

I actually used your mini tutorial for gluing the buttons Phil. It was really helpful!!
 
If you end up making your own, his posting is here: http://www.imperialofficer.com/forum/index.php?/topic/5335-easy-way-to-glue-push-buttons-on-a-rank-bar/