[Sale on historic patterns at reconstructinghistory.com]

Hmmm, that's good to know. I know the source that the draft for this pattern was made from, which is why I haven't bought the pattern.

[Hairstyles]

For short, feminine styles, you can also take a look at Arihnda Pryce, with her bob. I usually keep my hair in more of a pixie cut or shorter, so keeping it neat or out of the way isn't an issue. Many of the women officers wear their hair in buns near the nape of the neck, from the art and onscreen characters I've seen. It looks nicer and neater than a ponytail, in my opinion.

[How-to: Flare Stiffening]

6 hours ago, Mnt33r said:

Thanks for posting this--I'm getting ready to try it out.

 

Question: When you place the adhesive on both the front and back of a flap inside the pant leg, are the two sides then glued together or do they remain separate?

 

Cheers,

Chappie

If you use heat n bond, you'll need to make sure that either you use a backing fabric on the adhesive to prevent them from melting together, or leave the backing on the adhesive until you've finished ironing the adhesive on both sides. Otherwise, yes, it will adhere to itself when heat is applied.

 

If you use an ironable interfacing, as kman suggests in the post above, then it wont be a problem. Make sure to use a medium weight or light weight interfacing, as heavy weight interfacing will likely be much too stiff.

[Uniform Mods for women]

Congrats on drafting progress!

 

Okay, I accidentally stumbled across a thread that talks about the ANH staff uniform, and it might answer some of your questions. From what I understand, the collar fastens at the side, not the front, the sleeves have the seam open at the bottom wrist part way up the forearm, the back torso seams mimic the front seams, and the center front and back panel of the tunic seems to overlap the side fronts and backs on either edge. There may be more differences than these.

 

 

[Director Krennic CRL Discussion]

It looks like the cape is a cotton drill, from the photos you took, which I guess could be called a light weight cotton fabric. As far as surface treatment goes, I have no clue. That's not something I have experience with.

[Staff Officer Ranks]

This thread has a tutorial and links further down in the posts for where to get the push buttons.

 

[Uniform Mods for women]

Oh, wow, I hadn't read that at all. I can help you out with the changes once they're decided. Once you have a tunic that fits, changing the placement of seams is not that difficult.

 

I wonder if the back of the uniform will be more similar to the Imperial uniform in the Rebels tv show. Once I finish my ISB uniform, I'm going to be working on Arihnda Pryce, and though the front of Imperial uniforms in Rebels look like the seams match the current CRL for for officers, the back is very clearly different, as it has a single center back seam and no visible princess seams. In that case, all the shaping done by the princess seams gets moved to the center back seam, or maybe also shared with the side seams. 

[Uniform Mods for women]

I hadn't seen that. I thought it was just that there will be new CRLs for the Rogue One officers. Where did you see that the CRL was going to change?

 

I'm looking forward to seeing the progress you and your friend make. I need to get back to sewing my uniform. I had to put it aside to work on some other things (ceramics) but I really just want to be done with my jodhpurs so I can move on to the tunic. 

[Uniform Mods for women]

Yeah, there's a lot more variation in the details of the IOC costumes than one might expect.

 

So, even though I'm using a block I'd drafted for my uniform, I did come across a pattern from Burda that is a fairly good starting point for people who don't want to draft. It also is a good guide for the shapes of the pattern pieces for the standard uniform tunic. You'd have to modify it more heavily for ISB. Even though I didn't plan to use it, I tried it out to see how well it fit me. Granted, this pattern is meant for a heavy coating, but I found it had a lot more ease than I cared for. If anyone does use this pattern to start with, you may want to try going down a size. Also be aware that the pattern doesn't include seam allowance, so you'll have to add it. I find that helpful, as I can trace the outlines of pattern pieces onto my test fabric and then when I make fitting alterations, it's easier to make the right modification to the pattern.

 

So here's a photo of the pattern pieces laid out. (Click for a larger photo)

 

 

 

And here's the pattern itself:

BURDA - Long Wool Coat 12/2012 #104
http://www.burdastyle.com/pattern_store/patterns/long-wool-coat-122012

 

The collar seems a bit looser than desirable, so I'd fit the bodice and make sure the neckline is the correct height before adding the collar. What I really like about this pattern is that the princess seams are correct for the uniform tunic, it has a waist seam and it has a multipiece skirt. I'm not entirely sure if the back sleeve seam matches the back princess seam correctly, but that should be simple to fix if it doesn't.

[Uniform Mods for women]

Actually, the ISB tunic is different than the other tunics. The backs of the tunics are the same, but the front seams and overlap are different. The ISB tunic front flap cuts straight across from the bottom of the collar out toward the shoulder, and there are no code cylinder pockets. The actors wearing the uniform don't seem to have shaping seams on the front of their tunics, but I'm gonna have to, since I don't think a baggy uniform looks good.

 

I'm just following along the lines of the front panel, and then having the front princess seams end closer to the armpit to make them less noticeable, but still allow them to do their job. The few times I've seen drawings of women wearing the ISB tunic (i.e. Alecia Beck, though some details on her tunic are suspect) that seems to be what's going on with the shaping seams of the uniform, and it makes sense.

[Uniform Mods for women]

Nice! I have "How to make Sewing Patterns" by Donald H. McCunn. What I like about it are the detailed instructions for measuring, and fitting and how a pattern works in relationship to the body. I'd tried many other books and they just didn't get as in depth as I wanted. It also has style alteration info, but I've done so much pattern altering previously that I don't use that part of the book.

 

It definitely does take trial and error, but it's helpful to have a person with you when you're fitting, so you're not messing up the fit of the garment as you're trying to fit it to yourself. Which costume are you making? I'm working on the ISB uniform from ANH, and using my best guess for how it should look fitted to a lady's torso. I haven't posted a photo yet, since I need to buy my final mock-up material.

[Uniform Mods for women]

Which book did you order? I've drafted my own patterns before, and ended going back to the bodice block I'd drafted as a starter for the uniform tunic. I just had to do some fitting to account for a different fabric choice for this project, but it was much easier than trying to alter a commercial pattern to fit.

If you need any fitting or pattern assistance, I'd love to help out. I really enjoy pattern making more than sewing, tbh.

[Director Krennic CRL Discussion]

Tough Gloves is the brand I was looking at, as well. Depending on how much of the wrist you need covered, they have a couple different styles. Do you mind taking a photo of how well the gloves cover your hands, and fit under the sleeve of your uniform tunic? I've been wondering how noticeable the gap between the wrist of the gloves and the cuff of the sleeves is with that style.

 

The other style without points is the Marksman-X.  http://www.leatherglovesonline.com/np/MensGloves-ByPrice-50-75-td215-ultra-thin-marksman-x-cabretta-gloves.htm#page=details

[Director Krennic CRL Discussion]

Have you been looking at police gloves? I found a few pairs a while back that didn't have lines. I don't have the link at the moment but I can scare it up if you'd like.

[Star wars Rebels new officer (spoilers)]

I've been waiting to see her since the first season, and now that we know what she looks like, I need to be her. After I finish my ISB uniform. I've been pestering my friend with how much I can't stop talking about her, even though we've only seen seconds of her so far.

[How-to: Flare Stiffening]

The only way to avoid that is to test on the same fabric as your pants before actually applying the heat n bond to your pants. Thinner or more loosely woven fabric are susceptible to bleed through. There's no fix that I know of, once you've applied the heat n bond, since the adhesive is heat activated and bonds extremely well to the fabric. Once it's saturated the fibers, it's there permanently.

However, sometimes wool fabric will turn shiny when ironed with a lot of pressure and without a cloth between the iron and the fabric, so if that's the case, that's fixable. To remove the shine in this case, you'll need a cloth (a white, clean dishtowel or pillowcase will do) that you'll place on the right side of the fabric, and make sure the iron is on the wool setting with steam. Hold the iron so it's very close to the press cloth, but not quite touching, and steam it. Be careful not to burn yourself. After steaming, while the fabric is still warm, use the press cloth to rub the shiny areas, to raise the fibers and reduce the shine. You can repeat this until the shine is gone.

[THRAWN IS BACK!!!!!!]

I am so hyped for season three!

[How does this Merr Sonn power 5 kit look?]

Setting aside material quality, one difference between the Etsy kit and the Shapeways kit is that the Etsy kit is completely unfinished, and requires you to sand/polish it, which, depending on the quality of the print and the tools you own, can be a huge hassle. The Shapeways kit is already polished. I don't know if that's enough to make up for the difference in price, but it's something to consider.

[How-to: Flare Stiffening]

Sometimes Heat n bond will wrinkle, if the fabric isn't flat when it's ironed. If you still have the backing paper, you can try ironing it again, from the fabric side, with the paper keeping the adhesive from sticking to your ironing board or anything else. Make sure to gently pull the fabric flat before you iron it, but don't stretch it out of shape. When the adhesive is warm, it will take allow the wrinkles to be flattened out by the pressure of ironing, and they should stay that way, as long as you allow it to cool in the flat position.

If you need more detailed instructions, let me know.

[Fabric Advice UK]

Honestly, if the German fabric is wool and you can afford it, I'd use that. It will wear better, and be more comfortable than wearing polyester fabric. The color also looks better.