Scratchbuilding Flightsuits?

PropReplicator2 · Feb 6, 2017

Hey guys and gals,

I was wondering how many of y'all out there have sewn a flight suit and what it takes to do it.. I can't afford to be buying one of Arkady's or Loanstars flight suits right now despite their beautiful appearances. I am 6' tall and am looking to do a SINGLE flight suit. I saw Aarons (Stormcrow85's) build over on Youtube but it wasn't a detailed tutorial of such but his turned out nice and I hope mine will too. I have been sewing for some time now and feel very comfortable doing this after sewing my own flak vest quite successfully, but am joust wondering, does anybody have a good tutorial on doing this? If not, could someone help me please?

Thanks,
Mike Alex

Gregory · Feb 6, 2017

I made mine, used a 1-piece pajama pattern. I used a fairly lightweight cotton twill, and so must remake it to be more durable and less wrinkly, despite being 501st approved. Be sure to wash and dry your material before cutting it out, so that it's pre-shrunk. I forgot to do this, and so my suit is a bit tighter than intended.

After it was pretty much done as above, I dyed it with pearl gray and also dyed some extra material for belt pouches, ankle straps. My one main piece of advice is to make it a bit larger than you think you need, you can always take it in but it's rather difficult to make it larger if it's too small. I also recommend a double ended zipper if you can find one.

Arkady · Feb 7, 2017

I use a very modified version of Kwik Sew #K3389. The pocket patterns are stickied at the top of this page. Good luck!

ShortFuse · Feb 7, 2017

Arkady said:
I use a very modified version of Kwik Sew #K3389. The pocket patterns are stickied at the top of this page. Good luck!

Thats what I used as well. It's a good starting pattern.

PropReplicator2 · Feb 7, 2017

Arkady said:
I use a very modified version of Kwik Sew #K3389. The pocket patterns are stickied at the top of this page. Good luck!

Awsome! Your suits are amazing. Will definitely try this.

Cwmarcom · Feb 7, 2017

not too bad my friend

SPY007 · Feb 7, 2017

I'm not sure if they are still made, but Dickies used to make overalls that could be modified. You needed a pair to do it. I did mine that way, I think the color was cobalt blue. I used the WOF template, but the shin pockets were too small. Had to figure out how big to make them based on the shin tools. Had almost no fabric left over at the end. The back photo is several years old and I have made many upgrades.