Halloween in August

I apparently had a fit of planning ahead this week. I decided on Sunday that I wanted to be a Star Fleet officer from Star Trek. The original series none the less. That meant finding a short red dress, buying a Star Trek costume, or making one. Buying a red dress seemed to be way too much hassle, and would end up being more expensive than I would like. Buying a Star Trek costume was practically impossible last year (even though I did leave it fairly late… October 30th anyone?), not to mention expensive. No way I would spent nearly $70 on a costume. So that left me with making one. I’ve made clothing and costumes before, there was no sweat there. The only problem is that I don’t have a sewing machine. Still, no huge problem, I’m a decent hand sewer, it just takes so long to do it. I set about searching to find a pattern. In doing so, I stumbled upon this awesome idea. I was sold.

Monday I went to WalMart to find a 2XL men’s shirt. I didn’t really care whether I was Command gold, Sciences/Medical blue, or Engineering red. I just wanted a colour that looked like the Star Trek colour. I ended up with a red shirt. I know, I know, say it with me, “Expendable”. But there were no good blues, and no yellows to be seen.

Step 1, get the outline right.

Unlike the girl in the video, I have hips. So I had to make sure to leave room for them. I also didn’t want it to hug my behind like hers did. But that’s the great thing about making your own clothes, you can make them how YOU want them. This step would have been much easier if I had had a friend to help me, but alas, I was all alone and impatient.

Step 2, Cut, sew.

Magically a 2XL tshirt has turned into a cute little dress. I found using safety pins rather than straight pins made it easier to try on the dress as I went.

Step 3, try it on. Prance around like a fool. Smile for days.

I was insanely giggly when I got it this far.

Step 4, Sew on rank bands.

(No picture, I was too excited)

I researched a fair bit to make sure I got the rank bands right. Not sure if I could do two bands, or just still with one. In the end I went with just one band, signifying that I am a Lieutenant. This site was really helpful.

Step 5, cut off centre V neck, sew in black band.

(No picture, really way too excited at this point)

Instead of going out to buy black fabric, I decided to sacrifice one of my man black shirts. An old work shirt did the trick. I sewed it in fairly easily, basically just making a large funnel neck, but it stood up too much, so I sewed down the V so it laid a fair bit flatter in the front.

Step 6, try it on for the umpteenth time, do a little dance, take quick picture in the mirror.

I had first thought I’d wear it bare legs. I do have a pair of bike shorts (as seen in Step 3), but they were too long. Getting a shorter pair would be no problem. There was just no way I’d go sans shorts. Then I watched a bit of TOS (The Original Series), and noticed that a number of the girls wore tights. I have tights! Not only do I have tights, I have two weights of tights so I can either be really warm, or just covered. I brought the boots back from Halifax after my last trip there. I’ve had them since… probably grade 9 or so.

I still need the insignia. I’m going to try to see if any of the comic book shops have any patches (I want a patch, but I’d take a pin too). If not I know I can get them online.

All in all, this cost me under $10 for the things I needed to buy. Plus, I now have a spool of gold ribbon, who knows how that will come in handy.

-Cheers folks!