My new Kwik Sew 3389 suit

[stormtrooperguy]

I picked up Kwik Sew 3389 from my local Fabric Place. I made a muslin version over the last couple of nights.

so far, this is unmodified from the original pattern, with the exception of the short sleeves over the long ones. for that, i just used both sleeves from the pattern, and put the short ones on top.

you can sort of see in the pics that we were marking out pocket locations with a sharpie.

next up i'll be putting the pockets on there. i'm not bothering with a collar on the suit, since the neckseal would cover it anyway.

 

[Sheriff Roscoe]

That looks really good and well made what material are you going to make the real one from ?

 

[stormtrooperguy]

i'm not sure about fabric yet. i'm thinking some sort of twill.

 

[batninja]

I'd suggest white cotton twill, dyed to whatever movie color you want.

It looks like the pattern turned out great! I may start mine over the Christmas holidays.

 

[crazy4BobaFett]

Looks great!! I agree with batninja, that is the route I am going with mine.
White twill and dying it, I use twill for alot of stuff It is sturdy but not as heavy as denim.
I just haven't had the time to devote to mine any further. So you found a pattern uugghh:angry and here I am drafting one, man... now I am really not happy
Guess I better go get one and see how far off I am with my draft.
I am putting a zipper in at the waist band though.
Can't wait to see it done...

 

[stormtrooperguy]

i started in on the twill one. i ended up taking in the seams about 2 on each side. i needed to tighten up the armpits and get rid of some excess fabric. it's a little too long in the waist too, so i may shorten that up.

i'll try to get pics later tonight, but so far, so good.

 

[Mike M.]

so uh, what color rit dye would i need to for rotj?

 

[stormtrooperguy]

saint nasty - i haven't really gotten as far as dye yet. rit pearl grey seems to be the only thing close. i'll let everyone know how that goes

i'm taking 2 steps forward and 2 back. i spent about 3 hours on it tonight, and i'm effectively back where i started. BUT, it fits MUCH better.

i noticed that it was a bit long in the waist, leaving the crotch sort of low. i pinned it up, and it needed to be shortened about 2 inches. coincidentally, that's about how big the waistband was.

so, the waist band came off, and the top and bottom halves are now stitched together.

this wouldn't have been bad, 'cept for the double top stitched, overlocked seems all over the place

ah well, onward i go. i'm not stopping tonight till those pesky thigh pockets are on!!!

 

[stormtrooperguy]

ok, so i guess i am NOT getting the pockets on there tonight.

i ended up fiddling with the fit for a few more hours. i'm now perfectly happy with the way the suit looks on me. just need pockets, velcro at the ankles and wrists, and all of those nice little things to make it complete.

 

[webchief]

I had my suit made out of white, cotton duckcloth or twill... not sure which. As for the dye I used the RIT Pearl Gray AND a mix of RIT tan. The ROTJ suit has a slight tannish color in the gray IMO. If anything I think I need to re-dye my suit as it seems to have faded a bit over the years.

 

[stormtrooperguy]

I had my suit made out of white, cotton duckcloth or twill... not sure which. As for the dye I used the RIT Pearl Gray AND a mix of RIT tan. The ROTJ suit has a slight tannish color in the gray IMO. If anything I think I need to re-dye my suit as it seems to have faded a bit over the years.

i'm pretty sure i have some tan at home too. i'm planning to mix up the dye bath and try some scrap fabric in it first. i wish i had a way to stovetop dye it, but i don't have a pot big enough for the suit and the liquid. so, it will be in the washer. not quite as hot, but such is life.

too bad the water in my furnace is so nasty... i could just pump that in.

 

[Mike M.]

ewwww!

 

[stormtrooperguy]

and by "pearl grey" they apparently mean "light blue"



so, tomorrow i'll be getting some color remover and trying again.

i'm thinking maybe a quick bath in some underpowered black.

it would look great for a pre-pro right now.

 

[webchief]

Wow, maybe the gray RIT I had was a different name? The one I used looked great.... no blue at all. Weird.

 

[stormtrooperguy]

Wow, maybe the gray RIT I had was a different name? The one I used looked great.... no blue at all. Weird.

this looked NOTHING like the box. it was literally *blue*. maybe i got a bad box of dye or something.

no worries though, it came right out with a gallon of bleach.

it's rinsing now, and will soon get dye bath #2 for the night.

i kept a sample of the bad color for future posting.

 

[stormtrooperguy]

well, the black didn't work either.

i guess i'm going to the fabric store tomorrow to ask for advice.


wheee!!!!

 

[stormtrooperguy]

i think i got it...

i bleached the black dye out, since that looked purple. i think my problem is that i'm trying to get a shade much lighter than what's on the box. if you don't have enough dye in the water, the colors don't just come out lighter. they come out crazy!

anyway. black bleached out. for those that are counting, like the guy working at the 24 hour CVS down the street, that's three GALLONS of bleach i've gone through tonight.

the funny thing is that somewhere along the line my white twill now looks like unbleached cotton.

hrm, losing focus again. yeah. 3 gallons of bleach later, i have what looks like an unbleached cotton flight suit. options at 1AM are limited. what do i have on hand?

lots of airbrush fabric paints. hmmmm....

filled the sink with hot water. squirted some black in and mixed it around. dipped some of the white twill in.

hey, that doesn't look bad!

stuck the whole suit in. pulled it out. so far so good.

put it in the washer on spin to get the liquid out. still looks decent.

it's in the dryer now. once it's out, i figure that with some grey, black and brown weathering, it will actually look pretty good.

and, since i'm pretty obsessive when i get into something like this, i DO plan to sit up until it's dry and paint it tonight!

this suit WILL be done before i go to bed. whether it's good and wearable or in the trash remains to be seen.

 

[Mike M.]

keep us updated

 

[webchief]

Yup, that confirms it Brian. You're insane.

 

[psberetta]

Yup, that confirms it Brian. You're insane.

Agreed, the only thing missing from WC's statement is ''Muhahahahahah'' :wacko

I love the way that fits you tk7602. AWESOME job.
Not to loose, not to tight.