Star Trek TNG Outfit

Knit Top & Skirt (Butterick 6285)

  THE SKIRT

This is going to surprise anyone who knows how I'm a lifelong sci-fi nerd, but I just went to my first convention this past October. My friend who also sews costuming invited me to be on a costuming panel. (If you're unfamiliar with the con world, this is sort of like a seminar, where we discussed methods of reproducing costuming... a very large topic to cover in just an hour, for certain!)

Anyway, I wore my Alice costume the first day (for our presentation). But I wanted something more casual for the second day.

Okay. I'll be honest. I wanted an excuse to get some of the new line of Star Trek fabric featuring characters from The Next Generation (the Star Trek I watched when I was little).

I also wanted to try out this Pattern by Gertie that I'd recently picked up on sale. The skirt looked like it would be fun. It's very full but rather than gathered at the waist or in circle-skirt fashion, it has deep, multi-layered pleats.

Butterick 6285

It turned out way too large... but I think this was due to the fact that I had to fussy cut and piece the sections (hiding the seams in the pleats) because the fabric was too narrow (I think the pattern calls for at least 45" wide... standard quilters cotton is only 42" -sometimes less with the selvage waste). Also, it's a directional print. However, I only rounded up to the nearest yard from the requirement, and had the perfect amount of fabric.

 

THE TOP

I had both a black and teal-blue knit in my stash, so decided to just make a simple knit top reminiscent of the Star Trek TNG uniforms. It's a basic raglan sleeve cut with about 1 inch wide collar/neckline yoke.

I pieced the main part of the shirt to have the asymmetrical triangle design distinctive of the uniforms. This is the detail that really sells the look.

Problems with this piece were mainly that the knits were two different types of fabric with a different stretch variable. So it doesn’t lay completely smooth flat at some joins.

I could have also made it a little bit shorter and fitted for a better looking top, but I wanted a comfy one.

...

 I did receive several compliments. It is definitely a flirty fun style.