BSG Beginnings

I have been working on getting started on making my Battlestar Galactica, or should I say Battlestar Valkyrie, costume. I am making an admiral's costume. So, as one of the purposes of this blog I am going to document my progress on my costume so I can keep track of it for myself and also I hope to post my entries on a BSG costuming site to help others make their own BSG costumes. It seems that there is a shortage of tutorials for them, especially for women. I haven't started sewing yet but I've made a list of what I will be using to make the costume. This list is subject to change as time goes on and I find out that I’m missing something haha

What You'll Need to Make a Female Admiral’s Uniform

Patterns:

-McCall’s M4745 (Men’s Civil War Costume – use coat B)

-McCall’s M5860 (The Perfect Jean Jacket – used as a reference to make princess seams)

-Vogue V8479 (Women’s dress pants)

Fabric and such:
-Navy Blue Suiting (I bought 6 yards of 'medieval blue melange' spring suiting (100% Polyester))

-Navy Blue Lining (I bought 4 yards to line the jacket)

-Fusible Interfacing (I bought ¼ yard)

-Silver Vinyl (I bought ¼ yard of shiny silver vinyl to make the piping – vinyl is used to make the piping of senior officers’ uniforms, not junior officers’ uniforms. Flat silver (gray) vinyl would also work nicely as long as it has some sheen)

-Gold Vinyl (I bought ¼ yard – see notes above for silver vinyl)

-Navy Ultrasuede (I bought ¼ yard, used for shoulder patches)

-Gold thread

-Silver thread

-Navy thread

Other Materials:

-1 Navy 4-in Zipper for the pants (not a “sports” zipper)

-Snap Buttons (it’s easiest if you buy a package with the application tool

included)

-Hook and Eye

-Rat Tail Cording (about 5 yards, used for piping)

Tools:

-Sewing Machine

-Various Sewing Machine Needles

-Hand Needles

-Iron and Ironing Board

-Pins

-Tomato Pin Cushion

-Tailoring Chalk

-Marking Pencil

-Sewing Gauge

-Measuring Tape

-Seam Ripper

-Sewing Shears (or plain scissors)

-‘Bodkin’ with Hook (see picture, used for turning tubes, don’t sweat it if you don’t have one – a safety pin will do the trick as well)

Accessories:

-Battlestar Patch (I bought mine from scifigeeks.com)

-8 Uniform Buttons (I got mine on eBay)

-2 Admirals’ Pins (eBay)

-Senior Flight Wings (eBay)

-Dog Tags (you can buy personalized dog tags at quantummechanix.com, but I am lucky enough to have an engraver for a brother so mine will be made by him)

-Law Pro Boots (I plan to buy mine at qmuniforms.com)

-1 ½ inch Navy Webbing Belt with Black Slide Release Buckle (I got mine at strapworks.com) (or you could make your own out of navy webbing and a slide release buckle)

- (2) ½ inch Black Plastic Slide Release Buckles (for cuffs)