Imperial Officer's uniform F.A.Q.s

Making an Imperial officer's uniform F.A.Q.'s:

The pattern = Simplicity #7274 HEAVILY modified!
It is a civil war uniform costume.
You only need several of the pieces.
Jacket back, Jacket front, collar, sleeve and the two pieces for the pants.
BUT then you need to modify them.

Here is my explanation of how I did the front of the tunic alterations to Simplicity #7274:

Basically. You know how the front of the actual pattern has one piece on each side that match the lining pieces and the left folds over the right? They are all EXACTLY the same in the existing pattern, right?
When I altered the pattern, I drew the overlapping flap to extend it all the way around the neck to the edge of the shoulder seam (add seam allowance) Then I extended the line of the front edge up to the shoulder seam. I reversed this for the under piece, but they will be exactly the same shape, just a mirror reflection. Cut out the lining pieces from this new shape. The lining pieces will always look like this and you can use them as a guide to see how off you are with the front pieces. You will cut out your interfacing to this shape too. This is exactly how much interfacing you will need, but it will be cut into smaller pieces a little later. After you have all of your pieces of the outside fronts of the fabric cut out, you will put the interfacing only in the areas that will be in the front, facing out areas of the jacket.

What you will end up with is 2 separate pieces of fabric on the right side front of the tunic (Upper right yoke/pocket piece and lower right piece) and 3 separate pieces on the left side tunic front (Upper left yoke/pocket piece and lower left piece and the "V" shaped front piece) . The upper yoke/pocket pieces and lower pieces will be an exact mirror image of each other and the "v" shaped piece will be ON TOP of the left side.

The edge of the pocket opening is about just over 1/3rd of the way down the armhole opening. Draw the line where the pocket opening will be. Use a ruler and make the line perpendicular to the center line on the pattern front. I used the size of a pack of cigarettes (Vince smokes and he wanted a place to carry them) to determine how deep the pocket would be. I doubled that measurement and added a seam allowance to the upper piece of the tunic front top pieces. I cut it straight across the entire front, so the pocket area is all the way across the fronts on both sides.

--back to the interfacing--on the right side of the jacket, the interfacing will need to be cut at the pocket line. You will NOT need any interfacing inside the pocket. Mark the pocket line. Fuse you inter facing to the back of the upper and lower right side pieces.
On the left side, the interfacing will be in three parts. Cut out the "V" shape. Out of the remainder of the interfacing piece, cut the bottom shape up to the pocket line and the last little piece goes on the inside of the upper left yoke. Fuse 'em! Make sure you are ironing the correct pieces to the correct positions.
I did it like this to reduce bulk in the jacket.

----back to the sewing---

I sewed down the parts under the overlap after I had it all together, so the chalk holders and cigarettes wouldn't side around under the center. I left the center part accessible too, as an extra inside pocket to side small flat things into--like a convention badge pocket......
I cut the bottom front piece to the pocket line straight across the whole piece and added a seam allowance.
One problem is that the slanted line of the side openings is difficult to cut flat. I DID NOT even attempt to figure out the proper slant and cut the pieces straight down, perpendicularly. I folded the pieces together AFTER I had sewn the top of the pocket seam and understiched the seam allowance to the inside of the pocket opening. I folded it back to gether and then put a line of basting stitches across the top of the pocket to keep the pieces absolutely perfectly lined up together. Then I cut the excess material to match the slanted line of the opening. Basting all

 

Nos, you're a goddess!! THANK YOU!!!

 

Up!! **drink round for Nos #1**

 

Okay, I'm just about finished with the jacket for Grand Admiral Thrawn. It looks GREAT!! I'm SO happy with this project so far!! My only fear is that it's too small for the guy who asked me to make it! ACK!! He gave me all of his measurements, and I've been cutting and sewing according to those, but it still looks small... Guess he'll just have to come try it on. If it is, then I'll finish it, make him a larger one, and sell this one on e-bay.

Nos, thanks SO MUCH for all of your help and advice!! I just want you to know, too, that since the Grand Admirals don't have rank cylinders, I didn't do the "yoke" piece on the front-shoulders to make the pockets. I just extended the left-front top section a bit (where you put the "v" seam), cut, then sewed it back together before attaching it to the back piece. ... ummm... Maybe I'll do a sketched mock-up so you can see what I did. Anyway, it's gonna look SO GREAT!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

kreleia ^.^

 

Did you put on the eppaulettes?

Thrawn is a pretty trim fellow, maybe the person you made the costume for can slim-down to fit into the costume....

It worked for me and I have lost nearly 25 pounds...to fit into my armor better.

 

I haven't yet! I'm going to be making them cuz I never did trust the guy that I talked to online. So, I have the stuff for 'em, just gotta construct.

BTW - what exactly did you do for the pants modifications? You talked about an "s-curve" in the jacket stuff, but never went over the pants. I have a general idea, but I want to compare notes, so to speak.

Thanks!! ^.^

 

I cut out the pants pieces as per pattern instructions.
I measured the widest diameter of the calf and compared this to the pants width from the knee down.
Keep the inseam line as is and then measure the smaller dimention. I drew in the narrowest part of the leg, from the knee down and then drew a gentle "S" shaped curve to connect the two different widths.
I srewed up the first time on my pants, because I put the curve too high.
You have to measure from your waistline down to where the top of your boot is. The difference in the width should begin just as the pant is going into the boot and flare out to the wider width in about 4-6 inches depending on how tall the person is that will be wearing the uniform. I am short. My first pants had too long of a curve and it didn't look right.

I don't know if that makes any sense.....

 

**ponders** Actually, it does... hmmm.... THANKS AGAIN!!!

Congrats on the negative 25-pounds, too! That's GREAT!! I've been working-out like a mad-woman myself, and have currently shed 10. Thing is, the guy I'm making this uniform for... I don't think he *could* get any thinner! He's also of average male height (about 6 feet), so he looks even thinner sometimes. Still, I can't help but wonder if it's too small... **sigh** I'll find out tonight for sure!

I also finally got my Tandy stuff!! **runs for shoe polish** Still waiting on Dharma for the Habotai silk, but it should be here today as well. YAY!!

kreleia ^.^

 

Well, I was right. It's too small. Oh well. Now that I've done it once, the second time will go MUCH faster. I'll finish up the first one, too, and get it on e-bay. I think I'll sell it as a complete costume, but without boots. Which means, yes, belt, rank bar, epaulettes and all. Gimme a few weeks, though, to get it finished.

If you know anyone that might be interested, then make sure they know that it's sized for a teen-age boy. Probably about 12-13 years old. I'll post final measurements on the e-bay sale when it's finished.

kreleia ^.^

 

uppers

 

Hey, would this work for a Count Dooku tunic?

 

Yes. It would.

 

Oh good, I was going to make one for a friend to see EP2 on opening day, but I was barely able to finish my own. Perhaps ther'll be another Fan Day.

 

About these chalk holders.. If you look at Grand Moff Tarkin's uniform in the Star Wars databank, you see that there are 4 code cylinders, two under each shoulder. On a lot of drawings (Admiral Daala included) and other costumes that I've seen, there are only 2 on their left shoulder. Do lower ranking officers wear only 2 of the code cylinders?

Thanks.

Chris

 

You are correct.

Different ranks have different numbers of code cylinders.

 

If you punch in code cylindars on your search engine-there are a few sites that explain in more detail the ranks using the bars and cylindars, and on what sides to wear them.

 

What do I omt if I am making an Imperial Grand Admiral's Uniform? I have heard much contreversy over the eppaulets (sp?) and the code cylendars. and thentheres the hat (or lack thereof) I have heard stories of awhite hat being used but have never seen one. Basically, i'm looking for a list of what a Grand Admiral's Uniform requires......

 

There is a thread about a Grand Admiral costume back aways........

 

After Jason's turned out so great for CII-I have thought about making him another one...the Grand Moff green is pretty easy to match here in our area...but I have a questiona bout the grey...I have never seen one on display-and I just love how costume colors in SW movies seem to change bit from the real thing...does anyone have a picture that shows the true color of the grey uniform? Some pics look light grey, and in parts of the movies and in some pics it looks a lot darker-like the charcoal car interior color in my Grand Am...AACCKK!

 

I just scanned my hat pattern as jpegs.

PM me if anyone is interested.

 

Would it be alright to use a regular lining material as the lining in this, instead of the same fabric as the outer layer?

Bought the rest of a bolt of black gabardine today at JoAnn's because it was on sale, but there was only about 7.25 yards of 60" material. In my estimate that should be enough for the size jacket I'm working on, but I get paranoid about having enough fabric for new projects.

 

I used a regular lining material for my Imperial officer's tunic's sleeves beccause I was running low on the material I had left to use on mine.
It turned out perfectly well.
You could use a regular lining material for the back of the tunic as well, but I would stick with the same material as you are using on the outside for all of the front of the tunic pieces.

 

By the way, I scanned a 9-page tutorial I wrote out and drew diagrams for constructing the officer's tunic. Please contact me if you are interested in receiving these scans via email. The files are too large to put on my free site, but I will be happy to send them to anyone who requests them.

 

Thank you! I feel so much better now about that. And thank you again for sending your sketches for this. They've been a ton of help so far.

 

ok here is a neat idea I saw on a imperial costume I wore as borrowed in a parade this year.

Go get yerself a package of gum, the type with little blisters that you pop open the backs to get each piece out.

now take each gum out, becareful not to tear the tinfoil off the plastic parts.

decide what rank you want and how many little blisters to keep. trim away what you dont need but keep the same edge around it all.

Now paint the idivual blisters red and blue with poster paint or any paint that wont ruin the plastic

fill each one with something that will turn hard, you can use glue, rasin, whatever.

Cover the back with thin plastic.

and you can use velcro to put it on your costume.

This look pretty good when standing a distance away, and photos I have of me in the costume show its pretty good for a throw together costume used in paint ball tourneys

if i can find the pics ill post em -Dan