Space: 1999 at Motor City Comic Con

A good friend and I went to Motor City Comic Con last month dressed in uniforms from the second season of Space: 1999. Space: 1999 was a two year long science fiction television show that was on just before Star Wars was released.

This is the first time I've worked with knit fabric or attempted to make a tunic and pants. Quite the adventure.

I tried to use a uniform pattern by John Flynn published in SFTV on 6, July 1985. Unfortunately, it proved difficult to scale. It wasn't quite correct. The uniform sleeve design is unusual. The right sleeve and body is cut from a single piece of cloth. The left sleeve attaches half way up the shoulder toward the neck instead of at the top edge of the arm, somewhat like a raglan sleeve.

After the first botched tunic, I modified a pajama pattern. 

The sleeve zipper runs from the color across the shoulder and down the left sleeve. To be visible on TV, they used heavy brass upholstery zippers sewn to expose the zipper. The zippers are significantly heavier than the sleeve and pant leg material, causing them to buckle and sag. Although not screen accurate, additional stitching to hold the folded over fabric on the zipper helped.

Another zipper runs down the left side of the pant leg.

The id badge image was created with Gimp and printed on ink jet photo paper which was glued to an old plastic badge. Between the badge and the paper I placed a pin back with the post sticking through a hole in the badge. I found a LSRO patch image, after printing it on ink jet printable fabric, it is sewn on with a simple satin stitch. You can find the patches here at viperaviator's deviantart site.

The second season belt is made from beige vinyl. It's pretty easy to sew two layers. More than two, not so much. A strip of velcro makes the belt adjustable. 

Since the uniforms do not have pockets, I modified a canvas bag I made out of an old karate gi and belt adding a Moonbase Alpha patch. 

I didn't expect to find much Space: 1999 stuff at Comic Con. Or even to be recognized by more than a couple of other "older" patrons or vendors. I was pleasantly surprised to run into twenty people who not only recognized the uniforms, they thought we did a pretty good job on them. A twenty-something couple in BSG reboot uniforms actually ran up to us shouting "Space: 1999"!

I also scored a few memorabilia. Comic books #1 and #4, and a complete set of trading cards.

Things From My Desk: Montgomery "Scotty" Scott

Scotty encounters an over fed Tribble

Yes, it might look like a Ken doll. But it's got a phaser and knows how to use it. Er... that is if it were actually Scotty, and Star Trek were for realz, and...

I went to Motor City Comic Con last weekend. Other than the ridiculous wait to get in (1 1/2 hours with advanced tickets) and the dearth of real food or replicators, it was a lot of fun.

I've never been to a Con before. My daughter and friends wanted to go. I tossed together an Engineering shirt to go with my kilt... so I could be a Scottish engineer of course. For a quick sewing job it turned out ok.

Once her friends showed up, she was off, and I was on my own. Picked up my first Barbie doll Star Trek Action Figure and some other cool stuff. Lydia was able to get her Legend of Zelda sword - she went as Dark Link, also known as Link's Shadow.

I was asked for a photograph more often than I expected. I think the Think Geek Tribble may have had something to do with it. Or perhaps it was the kilt. We'll never know, but Tribbles do seem to attract attention.

Trills like Tribbles

The best encounter of the day was with Uhura. She's actually pretty shy. Her father asked if she could take a look at the Tribble and get a photograph.

Awesome Uhura being Awesome!

There was a lot more Star Wars than Star Trek, but it's all good!

The 501st Legion takes on an enemy of the Empire