Kaylee Costume - Part 1

So in June the Supernova convention is coming to Perth. And I'm going!!! SO excited. My friend and I are dressing up (as you do for these sorts of things) and I'm going as Kaylee from Firefly (She's going as Leeloo from The Fifth Element). Firefly is one of my favourite shows ever, and I still get depressed about the fact that there where only 14 episodes :( Anyway, I choose Kaylee because her outfit will be pretty easy to make up, basically just khaki coveralls, boots and a flowered long sleeved t-shirt. Also because she is one of my favourite characters ever. She's always so happy and cheerful and she's a kick ass mechanic. I do mechanical engineering at uni, so I reckon it's pretty cool :P.

Plus her hair is similar to mine so I won't need to wear a wig.
Anyway, this morning I got my coveralls that I bought off ebay in the post :D I tried looking for coveralls at a couple op-shops around the place, but I guess people don't really donate those things. They are pretty expensive new in the shops and I suppose used ones will be covered in too my oil and grease to donate. Mind you I wouldn't have minded a grease-and-oil covered one, would have been more authentic :D
So I tried it on. Not going to show you a picture because it is waayyy to tight in all the wrong places.

Bleh, while the waist and bust fits fine, this is a mens jumpsuit so does not allow for my rather large hips and butt.  Another problem is, I have quite a long torso, so it's basically pushing up on my crotch and down on my shoulders. I couldn't sit in this thing thats how bad it was.

So first things first, I cut off the sleeves. Probably the easiest alteration for this thing. Then I figured I needed to lengthen the torso some how. TO do it at the bottom would be much to tricky (all the seams are flatfelled - its a pretty good quality jumpsuit, well made I'd say, I feel sort of bad hacking it up :P ) so I decided I would have to lengthen it at the top. 

I cut across the shoulders at the back and added a rectangle of sleeve fabric, thus lengthening the back. The I tried it on. Soooo much better already, although I could use a little more room. So unpick and add another rectangle, now I ahve plenty of room at the back, too much even and still not enough at the front. Because I added all this room at the back the collar is now tugging down on my neck. That had me stumped for a while til I added an extra bit to it, at the center back. You can see it here.

Haha, it needs a bit of an iron and the seams need finishing, but it works!!! I also removed one of the chest pockets, as Kaylee's only has one.

 

Aaaand another bathroom mirror shot to show you how it fits now. Can't really see too much of a difference, but believe me there is!! I can actually sit down in the thing now. Which is nice. 

Next I need to finish the seams and the sleeves, add some patchs and some dirt!! I would also like to replace the snaps with a zip to make it more authentic, but I think I will only do that if I have time :)