sophy's knits, notes, etc.

by now you know that hilary and i agreed we would make costumes to wear to the new Star Trek movie. i gave you a sneak peak into my first dress sewing project; now it's time for the details:

starfleet commander sophy t. o'donnell!

Pattern Simplicity 2922; modified to look like the skant-style Starfleet uniforms that Deanna Troi wore in the first Season of TNG.
Size 12... i do not understand this sizing chart at all. by the measurements, i did not think this would fit. but in the end, it was huge on me and provided plenty of material to work with.
Modifications i modified mine to match the starfleet commander's uniforms, with dark red for the contrasting color. added colored piping between the collar and yoke. divided the front panel into three. added a sort of v-necked collar shaping. removed the gathering in the back — why is there gathering in the back? — instead, i cinched the extra fabric between each of the notches (that indicated where to gather the fabric) and sewed princess seams along those two lines.

hilary selected this dress pattern, Simplicity 2922; and really, most of the mods we made were her ideas: the piping and the contrasting color panel in the front. initially, i was pretty reluctant to make any major mods... i mean, i had no idea how to sew on the piping... and i thought breaking the front panel into three sections would be more difficult than it actually was. in the end, i'm glad i followed her plans and i think we both did an amazing job with our dresses (though we'll each point out the many flaws if you ask us). if you haven't already, check out hilary's science officer variation!

i actually did try to put more of a v-neck shape to my collar; but as you can see it turned out very slight... very "sort-of" v-neck. also, i probably could have gotten away with not using some pieces, but i was determined to use every single panel that i cut out. and, i did. in fact, i tried to follow the pattern to a T — at least, as far as i understood what it was telling me to do! this worked out for everything except the zipper, which looks completely fine... for a costume. i just didn't read the instructions before i sewed it. oops.

on movie day, i wore my dress to work... the popular comments from my coworkers were, "i can't believe you wore that to work" and "it's not short enough". i also got a few comments from some businessmen in the local deli i went to for lunch, "did you see that girl in the star trek costume? why is she wearing that? oh yeah the new movie."

i was very productive at work that day, but it was entirely too long before we were standing in line for the IMAX theatre:

Uploaded on May 9, 2009 by the yarniad.

the movie was awesome! anyone who is avoiding it because they're not Star Trek fans is missing a damn good and thoroughly enjoyable action flick. i can't wait to see it again.