Fabric help

[creepygoth666]

Hey all! New to the forum and costuming, I've got a OT trooper set from ANOVOS still on BO with the new company that hopefully I'll be getting by the end of the year. Once that's in my hands, I'd love tips on fitting the armor - I know it's not really intended for hourglass figures, but it's been a dream of mine since I was a little kid and saw the wearable armor in a window display of Wizards of the Coast, so.. (and I'm dating myself here with that, haha)

Anyways, with the news of Thrawn jumping to live action and my love of the novels (recently finished the new canon six from Zahn, currently going through the Legends/Heir to the Empire series), I've been wanting to do a very niche costume build for Eli Vanto as Horatio Figg, and wanting to sew the costume myself. I'm using panels from the Thrawn comics as reference for how the tunic needs to look. The 501st forums mentioned that the imperial officer and admiralty uniforms are using made with a suiting fabric, most authentically a Gaberdine weave, but I'm having trouble finding a wool blend or non-polyester Gaberdine. Does anyone know of any shops in metro Detroit that carry this? Haberman's, maybe? I can't find it online. Or a suitable alternative to Gaberdine? I also wished to know if anyone knew if it was plain white or off-white for a Grand Admiral jacket?

For the blaster shot/carbon scoring on the chest, I was also planning on using wood charcoal and wood ash (powderized), rolling a rubber ball in it, and dropping it onto the jacket to create that impact - has anyone done this before? I've got plenty of the charcoal and ash considering my heat in winter is wood and thought it'd be a good way of adding the smoke smell as well, like the fabric had burned. Would any of you burn a hole through the fabric as well?

Thanks all for the help with my build, and any suggestions for a new costumer!

[Skykat]

Are you looking to make Vanto's undercover costume to be 501st approvable? I know there has been talk about a Vanto CRL, but no one's taken the initiative to actually complete it. Getting a new costume approved is a bit more work than costumes already established. Your best bet is to head over to the Imperial Officer Corp website https://www.imperialofficer.com/ and go from there. I started with a ANH Staff officer as my first costume and they have a lot of really good resources there, especially if you are not able to use gaberdine.

[creepygoth666]

Yes, Horatio Figg was his undercover alias. It's absurd and I honestly loved the idea.

I'd love to get it 501st approved eventually but as you said, there's no Eli Vanto CRL yet and I doubt my abilities to take that initiative as a beginner to all this.. though that'd be amazing if I could! I'd need to find a store that makes the blasters he had on him as "sample merchandise" as well. If all goes well with this mock up i'd definitely want to try the Chiss EDF uniform Eli as well.

Thank you for the site recommendation, I'll definitely check them out!

[Glory530]

Hello! I'm sooo excited to see another Zahn fan here!

Definitely check out the IOC website that Kat shared the link for. There has been some discussion about the Expansionary Defense Fleet uniform, I believe speifically Ar'alani, and I think the hang-up was the lack of complete top to bottom 360 degree visual references, which are required for a CRL (costume reference library, basically the official document that spells out the costume's requirements) to be made. This could also be the case for the Eli Vanto/Horatio Figg disguise. I'm pretty sure that scene appeared in the Comic adaptation of Thrawn, but it's been a while since I've read it.

I'd definitely post up about your idea in the IOC forum, if nobody has brought it up yet, and include all the visual references you can find. The detachment is very pro-new CRL, and they will help make it happen if they feel the references are adequate. If not, and the same goes for the EDF uniform, there's nothing that's says you can't build these costumes and wear them for fun!

[creepygoth666]

Great, thank you!

Oh, that's definitely why I'm making this costume to begin with - for fun! One of the other costumes I wanted to make (and that is definitely not 501st approved but looked fun regardless) was the corporate trooper from the Phineas and Ferb special - cause it already makes my boss's uncomfortable whenever I have my trooper "employee of the month" mug in meetings.. he doesn't think it's funny hahaha

I'm definitely going to check that forum out. I think I found the Mccalls pattern recommendation on there for the IO jacket, so hopefully they can help me out with the fabric!