Construction Details:

Soo... Setting out the task to make a pilot suit is not easy. Step 1: Find fabric. I had randomly bought swatches of some non-stretch upholstery vinyl with this costume in mind. The colors were right so I went with it, though not the best choice ever, as in, I *couldn't move*. lol.

Step 2: The base suit. First made a muslin mock-up to get a pattern that fit my body the way I wanted. Next, I drew on the shapes of the navy/white/lt. blue designs and made the pattern for the vinyl suit. Then sewed together the vinyl!

Step 3: Handsewn Details. Next was the tedious task of handsewing nearly all of the extra things onto the costume, including the white shoulder pads, the front and back vest things and their straps, the knee pads, and the wrist rings and dark blue detail. Yup. That took hours and made for very sore fingers... *__*

The vests are a 2-way stretch sage vinyl I bought from fabric.com, but it was going to be discontinued, so I snatched it up. The vests/straps are the vinyl placed over 1" upholstery foam.

Step 4: The Lining, Or Lack Thereof. So, yeah, I made a lining for this thing, and handsewed it along the zipper. It was nice, it was silky. It made the costume unfit to wear O.o Something about it pulled the collar tight and overall tightened the costume (Which it already seemed a size smaller in vinyl than the mock-up I made). So, after many tears and hours spent on cutting/sewing the lining, I ripped it out and went without one. Really not the most desirable thing, as the vinyl is felt backed, meaning a whole lot of sticky, hot uncomfort for me o.O

Step 5: The Finished Product? There are still things lacking (mostly the elbow pads) and still plenty of things I'm not quite happy with. For example, I *really* didn't want to use black gloves (couldn't find the right color blue/no time to make gloves) or black shoes (no time for boot covers), but you gotta take what you can get sometimes >.>

Step 6: The helmet. I almost forgot to mention the helmet! So, it's a rushed alteration of a motorcycle helmet. Used Model Magic, craft foam, and Wonderflex to make additions, and after realizing the spray paint I bought was really *not* the right color, I had to hand paint it, the day before the con, no less. Could be better, but w/e.

Personal Thoughts:

The costume from hell. Lots of VINYL and HAND-SEWING.

So, there is nothing I love more than pilot suits. Seriously. I love the designs! Originally I was going to make Shinn's pilot suit from GS Destiny, but for whatever reason changed my mind to this one for the time being ^___^ As for the 00 pilot suits, I really like how the sage-colored vests/padding/armor adds to the design. I think that why I fell in love with these pilot suits in particular. (I like the S1 suits WAY better than S2)

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