Thursday, September 19, 2013

TOS Men's Pants - Roddenberry Pattern

These are the original series pants with the bell cuff at the calf. Like the other patterns I used the company clearly expects these to be bought by people with little sewing experience and recommends getting help for the construction. You will definitely need it!

Pros: these have the correct cuff, multiple opportunities to fit the garment
Cons: everything else

I ended up with extra pieces. In my 15 years of costuming I have rarely ended up with extra pieces, let alone 2 of them. This is because no where on the pattern or in the instructions does it tell you how many pieces of each pattern piece to cut.

The second issue is the fly front. Or at least I assume the pants are supposed to have a fly front, although you would never get there from the instructions. After meticulously following the instructions, which appear to have been photocopied in someone's basement, circa 1992, I turned to the trusty Readers Digest Sewing to complete the fly front. The directions for the pants are very detailed for all the other steps except this critical area.

Otherwise these pants went together quickly. They are constructed using more theatrical techniques than fashion industry construction techniques, which allows for more opportunities to fit the garment. Particularly the waistband, which is seen so it can be easily resized.

Final Verdict: Not Recommended. I honestly think most people, both beginning sewers and experienced would be better served just using a plain men's pant pattern from any of the big three pattern companies. It is much easier to cut the pants shorter and make the bell cuff than to mess around with this pattern. As a bonus, all those patterns will at least have decent fly front instructions.



Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Star Trek @ Dragoncon

A mimosa a day, keeps the Con Crud away.

Dragoncon was epic!  We had a great time, the costumes were amazing and we even managed to get to some panels. 

Here's our Original Series Star Trek Group

Photo by Noelle, you can see her flickr stream here http://www.flickr.com/photos/lbc42/sets/72157635312520852/ 

All the costumes were made from the Roddenberry patterns.  I'll get around to posting a review of the men's pants when I get some better pictures of the details.