Crafty Tuesday: The I Need YOUR Help Edition

[puppetmaker]

I have decided that for DragonCon I am going to make, for the first time in a long time, a hall costume. I am going to be a judge on the Friday Costume Call like I have been for a number of years now. That one is put on my dance card pretty early on by the convention and I am more than happy to do it.

In the past I usually wear whatever I am wearing that day which tends to run to jeans, a t-shirt, and a bowling shirt. I do tend to bring a puppet with me. My fellow judges spilt between wearing things that they created and street clothes.

So this year I am going to go off the deep end and recreate a costume for DragonCon and, if I work it right, to be used as a jacket in the fall and winter. Even if that doesn’t pan out, I plan to make it for more than one convention.

So that’s where I am coming from.

What have I decided to do?


An X-men first class uniform

(For the VI: There are 5 people standing in an airplane hanger in front of a jet engine. They are all wearing yellow and blue uniforms but each is a little different. From left to right we have Professor Xavier (played by James McAvoy), Sean Cassidy aka Banshee (played by Caleb Landry Jones), Alex Summers aka Havok (played by Lucas Till), Erik Lensherr aka Magneto (played by Michael Fassbender), and Raven aka Mystique (played by Jennifer Lawrence). Raven skin is blue and she has red hair.)

So Dear Reader here is where I need your help.

I have pretty much figured out and bought the cloth for the coat and a chuck of the pants. The rest of the cloth I can fake my way through.

I need help with two things.

1) Patterns. I am going to do this as a two piece rather than a one piece jumpsuit but I need to find some patterns to give me the clues I need to recreate this. I am thinking Motorcycle jackets or racing jackets and pants for the basic pattern. Whatever I find, I am going to have to Frankenpattern the heck out of it.

2) The hardware on the harness and the jacket itself. I need to find the buckles and the clips somewhere for not a ton of money. I don’t think I can build these out of another material and make it look like I want. So any help you can give me in identifying what the hardware is and wear to find it would be very very helpful.


I am going to put some of my research photos behind the cut.

I plan to blog the whole process on this one if I can find the parts.

I am very grateful for any help I can get in this project.



This was much harder to do before the Internet. It really was. Remind me to tell you of the tale of recreating Vincent from the TV show and a couple of really crappy photos in Starlog.

Anyway


The Coat.
This is pretty much a full view of the coat.

(For the VI. This is a picture of Michael Fassbender wearing the blue and yellow jacket. The chest is yellow with blue. The arms are blue with elbow pads as part of the costume. Over the jacket is a black harness with two buckles across the chest. The first is at mid chest and the second is around the waist. There are two “air hose” connections on the lower portion of the left part of the front of the jacket. There are four metal connectors (those are the things I am having trouble really figuring out what they are called) two at the waist and two about mid chest even with the buckles). This jacket had a high collar that zips up.)


(VI: Cropped from the first photo Top of the coat in a little more detail)


(VI: Cropped from the first photo Bottom of the coat with more details being seen)


Mystique’s outfit waist up. Good look at the buckles and other hardware.

For the VI:She is blue with red hair slicked back and yellow eyes.)

I have other photos at my photobucket account here

Thanks everyone.

Comments

[openedbook.livejournal.com]

Those black knobs on the torso between the zipper and harness could probably be found in pool or hose supplies. Maybe even kitchen.

And the metal connectors on the harness look a bit like overall fasteners.

[terri-osborne.livejournal.com]

Agreed on the two nozzle connectors on the jacket as well as the bib overall closures. I have a bad feeling the waist buckle is an original creation by the costumers. The inserts to the buckle look like they might be old seat belt fasteners, but the hexagonal part is what I suspect is the original creation. Metal tooling will probably be required on that front.

[sircaliban.livejournal.com]

I'm looking at those jackets and thinking.. I'd like to have that jacket for riding my motorcycle!

I wish I could help, but I don't think I've seen anything like that hardware before.

[oceandezignz.livejournal.com]

I agree on the overall fasteners for the harness parts. The sides could possibly be seat belt parts that connect into what might be an annoyingly custom belt buckle. I -think-

[wherdafux-d-cat.livejournal.com]

The harness bits (and to a modified degree, the belt ends) remind me of the latches on the five-point harnesses in Grandpa's Citabras and the Great Lake (aerobatic planes). I was supposed to have been out the door half an hour ago but I can't resist hunting around a bit to see if I can find anything useful.

OO! First pic on this page! I searched a bit more on 'rotary buckle' with limited results but I'm rushing now because I really do need to scoot. But I came across the Hooker Harness site by searching for homebuilt, aviation, and harness (or buckle, I forget now) and there were some other possible vendors. Maybe that will at least give you some keywords to hit up eBay or Craigslist or something for used bits on the cheap?

Good luck, can't wait to see how it comes out!

[scotia-sammyjo.livejournal.com]

I've made this jacket a couple times, it would work with minimal mods actually. You'd just need to change the side front piece by cutting a top bit out of yellow and piping it to a lower black.... maybe make the collar higher and put in an awesome big fat zipper....

http://www.simplicity.com/p-1948-missmiss-petite-jackets.aspx

[scotia-sammyjo.livejournal.com]

oh and you could try dive shops for the connector pieces and vent valves on BC's ("buoyancy compensators" in case you aren't a diver) - they look like those roundy things on the front....

http://www.buoyancy-compensator.com/images/BCD50/big/buoyancy-compensator-device-BCD50-B1.JPG

not that you're going to buy one to cut it up, but they might sell parts....

[auroraceleste.livejournal.com]

Lots of google, but I found it!

http://cosplaysky.com/x-men-first-class-costume-belt-buckle-pin-set.html

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

You rock beyond the telling. I so owe you one