Outfitting the Ranks 5

31 Aug 10
Hello everyone!
Apologies for last month’s absence. There was a convention, it was swell and now I have serious Ren Faire fever. (I need to not be planning to make four horrendously complicated projects in five months. Yet here we are.) Anyway, following my list from the third costuming blog, here’s a little discussion of dress uniforms.
Firstly, since it’s quicker to cover, the women’s dress uniform (as modelled by Areel Shaw in Season 1’s Court Martial) follows the same pattern as standard women’s uniforms. It is made of a different fabric, is somewhat longer (no panty flashing in court), and Areel has a different patch (I believe Kathy Pillsbury carries it)- it seems to be a sort of administrative patch worn by those who don’t serve on starships (I could be totally wrong on that so don’t quote me). There is also narrow gold trim around the top of her collar (similar to how the closure on McCoy’s tunic is trimmed) as befits her rank.
Here you can also see how the new fabric’s colour compares to the standard S1 velour.

The men’s dress uniforms are a different monster altogether. Firstly, there is no commercial pattern for these. You would need to modify the standard men’s tunic pattern: now there is a back centre seam, a front closure, a plain standing collar, a seam running down the outer side of the sleeve from the collar base to the cuff, and the tops of the sleeves (where they are attached to the body of the tunic) are more of a straight angle than curved. They are no longer hiding a zipper (I’m assuming there is an invisible zipper down the front of the dress tunics  instead but I’m not sure). I was going to do lineart for this but it turned out atrociously, I’m afraid. McCoy’s tunic is a good reference for seam placement because he has little decoration.
(I feel obligated to point out McCoy’s nips, if you didn’t already notice them.)
The fabric, as lightly discussed here startrekuniforms.yuku.com/topi… is apparently a wool/silk blend: in other words, a good medium-weight fabric with some shine from the silk but some substance from the wool. The tunics aren’t flimsy (just terribly ill-fitted), and they are a bit stiff (especially in the sleeves). James Cawley made a very nice version out of a slightly stretchy silk blend that fit him properly and perhaps wasn’t quite as stiff. Other than that the colours are almost the same as the usual uniforms, except brighter with a sheen to them.

(Kirk’s uniform used to fit him nicely.)
Lastly are the decorations. To take place of wrist rank braid is gold trim going around the collar and down the front closure, increasing in width based on rank. Kirk gets additional gold piping on the front of his sleeve gusset. Commodores get gold piping down the outer sleeve seam as well. The awards (aside from ribbons) are small embroidered triangles.

The triangles, configured for Kirk/Spock/McCoy/Scotty (not the ribbon; I don’t know where to find that, but it can be made) are available for sale from here: myworld.ebay.com/captainamerca… but this seller is notoriously hit-or-miss; he has a better history of shipping patches rather than custom costumes, and I only list him because I don’t know offhand where else to get these things. I would personally make the patches myself before ordering from him, but you can look him up and decide for yourself. If anyone knows who else is offering the patches I’d definitely like to know. However they are not complicated and not as extensively detailed as illustrated here. I also don’t know where to get the gold braid (although you can avoid that altogether by being a lower rank).
(Sorry the thumbnail’s weird.)

(Screencaps are from Trek Core, hosted on my LJ scrapbook; illustration was provided by enterprising-bones; Christies pic is… well, it’s not mine, I don’t remember where I saved it from.)
Anyway that should about wrap it up for this time. As always, feel free to add/correct anything or suggest different features. Thank you for reading.