Hello Lovelies.

There is only one other character that I have dedicated more appearances to than my iconic Trek dress, and that is Jill Valentine, but she is the subject for an another post. I have been getting a few queries about how I made my miniskirt and why I’ve made so many.

When I became involved with the USS Tydirium and Starfleet International back in 2010, I had only been doing cosplaying for two years and at that point had only done Resident Evil cosplays. Even though the rest of the crew opted for the Post DS9 Black uniform, I decided on the more classic Original Series dress

The Seamstress in me demanded that if I was going to have the iconic Starfleet uniform, that I was going to have to make it, and while the rest of the crew got their uniforms from an online vendor, I went searching for the pattern for mine. After extensive searching, I managed to track down an original issue TOS uniform pattern, made in the 60’s. It used a lot of concepts that are no longer used today in sewing so I had to relearn a lot of lost arts.

Version 1

For my first version, I didn’t put any thought into accuracy, as I was still studying, and wasn’t able to attend a lot of events, and the event I was going to was a simple Toy Fair, I simply wanted to make the costume.

I simply bought a cotton shirt fabric in a blue that I thought would match the blue from the show. And when you compare it to my version three uniform you can see just how way off I was. I also made this costume in my dorm room at university and I had to essentially learn how to translate the pattern, it took me about a week to make it. You can see the white invisible zipper that I applied incorrectly to the uniform as well. At first, I was concerned with how short it was going to be, and even had bloomers to go with it, and spent a lot of the time sitting down at the event. I also only wore basic shapewear with my normal everyday bra.

 

I didn’t have a name for this persona, I simply decided that I was going to be a Trill in the TOS uniform, and that was it. I styled my hair in a pinup design that I felt would match the uniform, (and I wasn’t prepared to put my hair into the beehive style favoured by Yeoman Rand) and applied my eyebrow pencil spots down the sides of my face and neck.

One thing you will notice in this version of the uniform is I’m not wearing stockings, this was primarily an oversight on my half, because of how short the costume was, I couldn’t wear normal pantyhose or anything as the seam sat under the hem of the dress. I actually contemplated continuing the Trill markings down my legs, but it took me over an hour just to apply the markings to my face, and I’d need a better option for it, made that decision for me.

Sadly, though, it was the only time I wore the uniform. Due to my workload and my Chapters avoidance of major cons during, this time, I didn’t have any opportunity to wear it again.

Fast forward four years

Oz Comic Con offers a fan club space to the USS Tydirium, and I plan on dedicating a day to promoting the group and pull out my Original Series Uniform. And this happened. My bust had eaten the costume, where once it comfortably sat on my thigh, now it hovered uncomfortably above my crotch. Not that I could zip it up anyway at this point. I also discover thanks to the photos that because of the fabric type, that it doesn’t even look the same colour in photos.

This is when I decide that I’m going to store-buy my uniform, my fiance Doc is ordering a replacement uniform and I decide to do the same, and my previous blog post pointed out what happened there. Also at this time, the Tydirum started to encourage us to come up with persona’s for our impressions as a gimmick to tie the costuming side together. I had been participating in online RPG’s and Jacinta Tryne was my go-to Trill Character that I always used. In fact, I didn’t decide on the name, Doc, who was the subchapter president for our region submitted it when our CO started making ID Cards for us to wear.

 

And Jacinta Tryne was born.

Version 2

 

After I discovered that my original costume had been destroyed by my bust, and I had a week before a major con (as mentioned in my last blog post) I sort out to remake it. However, in the four years since that first costume, my skills as a seamstress had improved and I had established a level of accuracy that I was proud of, so version 2 was going to be as accurate as I could make it. I researched the type of fabric used on the show, a four-way stretch double knit cotton, and went out to find it in the right shade of blue to remake the Science department uniform.

And I couldn’t find it.

 

What I could find, however, was a light blue similar to the colour worn by Nurse Chapel in season two. So I modify the pattern I have to account that the collar for Nurse Chapel is completely different from the standard Science Dress and make it. By this time, I am more confident as a seamstress and put this costume together in a day. I even make it longer by 5 cm’s to accommodate the wearing of stockings. Like version one, I only wore basic shapewear, but a different bra, as my bust had increased I had a brand new bra for this costume.

I had originally planned on styling my hair the same way I did the first time, but I ran out of time and opted instead for Jacinta’s now trademark bun. When I first put the spots on, it took over an hour, by this point I’ve switched to a liquid eyeliner and it took me half an hour. Again I decided against the Trill spots down my legs, as I was wearing stockings and felt that they wouldn’t show through properly. When you look at the photos from that event that do show off my legs, you’ll notice that it wouldn’t have really mattered anyway.

 

Version 3

 

A year after the premiere of my Nurse Chapel version of Jacinta, Doc launches the Animus Subchapter of the Tydirium and the Ty is once again invited to have a fan club table at Oz Comic Con and my Girl Friday Emma wants to tag along. So I have to make her a TOS Dress and decide that I’m going to remake mine. the reason? Because I have managed to find the accurate colour fabric used in the show, in not only her Operations Red, but my Science Blue. Had I not found the right fabric, I probably wouldn’t have remade it. I once again misguidedly gave myself a week to make both uniforms, and manage to knock them both out in four hours a piece. Which considering Emma lives in an entirely different state, her uniform turned out amazingly. Though I realised the hard way that even with the 5cm I added to the length, I couldn’t hem her uniform, not that anyone would have noticed.

 

I got a brand new waist cincher and a soft cup bra (which I strongly recommend for anyone using this costume, the original pattern did not make allowances for brassieres with modern cups) for this costume to go along with my normal shapewear. I also opted for a darker shade tight to go with the dress (and mistakenly pay $75 for them to split as soon as I put them on). I’m able to put on both mine and Emma’s spots on in an hour and we spend the entire day booth babeing it up on the show floor.

It is unlikely that Jacinta will see another TOS dress, but as the Animus utilises a variant to the post-DS9 uniform, she might get a uniform upgrade.

 

<3 PrincessJazz