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.

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.

TOS female skant, or what Uhura wears

Female Skant Pattern

Roddenberry Shop

Price $19.95

Wow, the construction of this dress is interesting. No two pieces are exactly alike and the sleeves are similar to a dolman sleeve an are cut in one with some of the body pieces. This would be difficult to flat pattern and is worth the price of the purchased pattern.

The pattern is drafted much more professionally than the men's pattern. This one actually contains notches and has detailed instructions. 

Be sure to measure the torso and sleeves before cutting as sizes run small, especially in the bicep. Based on my small sample size, n=2 of somewhat athletic size 10 and 12 nerds, you will need a couple of additional inches around the arm. I added to the seam allowance along the arm length evenly and then pinched out the extra at the neck hole and wrist.

The pattern also runs very short. If you have a large bosom or stomach it may end up barely covering, don't make my mistake, add extra to the hem.

Again there is an invisible zipper I omitted. If you are shaped like a rectangle and make this out of a knit you can probably pull it on over your head. Any other body type, and star trek purists, should not be lazy, and will need to insert the zipper.

The final product looks great but will absolutely not hide any figure flaws. Good underwear or lots of crunches, are probably a good idea. The pattern does not include Uhura's matching undies.  You will definitely want some shorts/cheerleader undies.

Final verdict: Recommended. Worth the price as it would be difficult to replicate by flat patterning or altering existing patterns.  Runs small!  Measure carefully and add extra, especially at the hem and bicep.

Demode 18th Century Court Ensembles Project

Another addition to the awesome group project idea.  Kendra at Demode came up with this one.  I don't think I'd ever try to do this on my own but with a deadline and a training group it seems possible (much like a marathon, my other major activity).

There are already a lot of fantastic costumers who have called dibs on specific gowns.  If you want more info head on over to the page Kendra set up for the Project.

Star Trek - Roddenberry TOS Men's Shirt Pattern Review

I'm heading off to Dragon Con at the end of the month for some nerdy costuming fun.  It's a mad dash of costuming around here for the next few weeks.  To make things a bit easier I ordered the patterns for The Original Series Star Trek costumes and will review them as I sew.  Patterns were purchased from the Roddenberry Store and are based on the originals from the show.

The men's shirt pattern is essentially a raglan sleeve shirt with some interesting extra pieces and a zipper.  The pattern is geared to those with little sewing knowledge and has good notes on fabric and materials.  The originals from the show are made of either velour (season 1 & 2) or doubleknit (season 3).  Seam allowances are 1/2 inch, which is standard for knits, but may confuse those who are used to home sewing patterns that usually have seam allowances of 5/8 inch.

 The sizing is very small.  I measured Hal and by that measurement should have used a size large, instead I used a size XL and added some additional width at the center front and center back.  I measured the pattern piece just to be sure and still felt that it was tight across the torso.  This was using a fairly stretch ponte knit so if you use velour you might want to include some extra sewing ease or cut a larger size.

The pattern is printed on nice heavy paper and is easy to trace.  There are 4 pattern pieces: front, back, sleeve and gusset. There are no notches! The sewing instructions have you matching the seams at the bottom to sew, which is a bit non-standard.  As a result my gussets line up correctly at the top on the back pieces but not on the front.  I walked the pieces to see if they lined up and they do not, so I suspect this seam was not trued. This seam between the front and gusset is the only one that did not match correctly.

There are good instructions for construction although there is an error in the step for basting the seam that will have an invisible zipper added.  The text describes the basting stitches as 5 per inch and the construction stitches as 3 per inch.  This would result in a very poorly sewn garment, standard sewing machine construction stitches are 10-12 per inch.  The zipper was on the original shirts so actors could dress without disturbing their makeup.  I omitted the zipper because my fabric was stretchy enough to be pulled on like a tshirt.  Instead of basting the seam I sewed it with a regular construction stitch.  Star Trek purists should follow the instructions and insert the zipper.

Summary: Recommended, with some reservations (for beginners).  This pattern appears to be the only one out there for sewing this garment, which doesn't give beginners any real alternative.  I found the actual pattern to be a bit sloppy and below industry standards, it has no notches and all the seams are not true.  The instructions are geared towards beginners and do not seem to expect the sewer to have much experience with home sewing patterns.  Aside from the stitch number error the text is fine.  The only difficult step is adding the zipper.  However, by using a stretchy fabric sewers can omit this step without changing the look of the final garment.  An experienced sewer, or someone who knows how to flat pattern, could make a similar pattern based on a raglan sleeve shirt.  Those without $19.95 to spend could approximate the look of the shirt using a raglan sleeve pattern from any of the major commercial pattern companies.

Accessorizing Head-to-Toe Challenge

I love the monthly challanges that have sprung up around the internet and Trystan, from Trystan's Costume Closet http://trystancraft.com/costume/accessorizing-head-to-toe-challenge/ has put together one I feel that I can actually accomplish! 
First up: Hats

Anyone want to go to tea in Savannah, GA? In Costume?

Want to go to tea in Regency Costume in Savannah?

I'll be visiting Savannah, GA later this month (March 2013) and am hoping to find someone to go to tea with me at Davenport House, preferably in costume.

Tea date: Thursday, March 21, 5 pm.  The website says 4:30 pm so I've sent an email to the museum asking for clarification.  Museum confirmed that tea is at 5 pm. I called and there is still space available and they are ok with us coming in costume.

Here's the info from the website:
Program dates and times: March 1, 7, 8, 14 and 15 at 5 p.m., 20, 21, 28 and 29 4:30 p.m.
60 to 75 minutes
Admission: $18
Reservations recommended. Limited attendance.
Learn about tea traditions and experience an early 19th century tea in the historic atmosphere of the Isaiah Davenport House Museum. Patrons will tour areas of the historic home where tea service took place and will participate in an afternoon tea with costumed interpreters.
The performance requires that guests be able to walk up and down stairs.

I can coordinate the reservation and I was planning 1820s or anything Regency  for costuming since that will be easiest for me to fit in my luggage.

It will be a bit of a tight scheduling squeeze for me since I'm not familiar with the area and it is possible my schedule may change.  If more than one person wants to go that would be fabulous in case, despite my best laid plans, I'm not able to make it.

Please leave your contact info in the comments or contact me through the contact info on my blog (which I can't figure out how to do) so please use email: sahrye @ gmail.com (take out extra spaces in email address when you send the email).