Mal costume Mals clothing

POSTED BY: swfreakjpb
UPDATED: Friday, September 23, 2005 13:47
VIEWED: 18756
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BROWNCOAT1

Thursday, September 30, 2004 4:02 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Jadehand:
I posted this after Dragon*con, but since it's come up again. I met some guys and girls from a company that makes replicas of costumes from popular shows/movies i.e. Matrix etc. WWW.Abbyshot.com for more info. I've since been in contact with them, I sent 19 Screen caps of Mal's coat and they have expressed interest in getting these done at least by next D*C, but more importantly, they hope to have them by the movie premire. could be pricey though. But it would be 100% accurate from what I've seen of their work.

I am curious to see what they do w/ their version of Mal's coat Jadehand. If it is close, I will buy one, unless the cost is just outrageous.

"May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one."

MEDRYN

Thursday, September 30, 2004 7:36 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by ljosalf:
I'll be happy to share what I have gleaned about the construction of the coat. The piecing actually produces a very efficient use of the hide, which is exactly what you want when you are using leather.

I'd love any info you have on the coat, do you have a pattern drafted or are you using a store bought one? also are you sure the boots are black, they look like a dark brown in a lot of the shots.

Medryn

NYNAEVE

Tuesday, October 5, 2004 5:46 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by swfreakjpb:
I usually stick to star wars, actually I only have one SW costume, but Firefly has inspired me. I like Han Solo so much I got his costume, Same with Mal, someday. They have a bit in common.

Actually, they do. Lucas meant for Solo to be a "space cowboy"; he repeatedly says this in interviews.
I say if you want the costume, go for it. There's only one item of clothing I've seen on the show that I would never wear, Kaylee's frilly dress. Had to wear something similar once as a bridesmaid, and that once was quite enough. Not enough of a "girly-girl" I guess...

LJOSALF

Wednesday, October 6, 2004 2:35 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Medryn:
Quote:
Originally posted by ljosalf:
I'll be happy to share what I have gleaned about the construction of the coat. The piecing actually produces a very efficient use of the hide, which is exactly what you want when you are using leather.

I'd love any info you have on the coat, do you have a pattern drafted or are you using a store bought one? also are you sure the boots are black, they look like a dark brown in a lot of the shots.

Medryn

Medryn,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. Let me get a couple of items out of the way first.

Here's a direct link to the costuming resource on BrownCoats.com: http://www.browncoats.com/main.php?parent=40c16c4304b97&line=

And here's the link to the thread here on FireFlyFans on Mal's coat (scroll down for a look at Hell's Kitten's really awesome version):
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=4223

The following reprises my post on that thread with some modifications due to further observation:

The best looks at the coat that I could find are from Serenity (White Fall scenes), Trash (opening scenes), and the Train Job (opening scenes). Having reviewed these frame by frame a couple, three, alright, eight times, I can say this about the construction:

The coat very much appears to be sueded leather. It has the weight of leather and seems to have the hand as well. Except for the cuffs, it appears to be sueded on both sides; so, it is likely a split (a single cowhide is often split into two pieces by shearing the outside hide from the inside hide. The inside hide "half" will always be sueded or rough on both sides. This provides a rough hewn, frontier look to this particular garment.)

The back is very clearly made up of a yoke above three panels with the mid-back piece being the broadest.

The sleeves join not at the side seam (in the underarm) but about 1/4 - 1/3 of the way up the back of the armhole; this seam just misses abutting the seam between the yoke and the three back panels. My guess is that that this by design as it reduces the number of thicknesses of leather that have to be sewn through at any one time in that area. You really have to avoid exceptionally thick humps when sewing leather for a number of reasons. The sleeve looks to my moderately practiced eye much like the style in men's suits only not quite as fitted at the shoulder. The sleeve cap appears to fall about 1 1/2" - 2" below the point of Mal's shoulder. Having examined commercially available leather jackets recently, the sleeves are almost certainly made up of two to three pieces--an outer sleeve piece and an under sleeve that may be either one or two pieces that join at the elbow. This piecing permits a certain amount of shaping and built-in "give" to the sleeve.

From my experience cutting most of the pieces out of my leather, I would say that the two smaller back panels are completely straight except for the armhole shaping (forget my original guess at a slight hour glass shape to them); these two panels attach to the front pieces in a standard side seam at the underarm (I thought I might be mistaken on this last point since on White Fall you can clearly see from the inside how the side slits are faced and at first there didn't appear to be any seam; however, if you look closely you can just see the shadow of a seam and there is a suggestion of a seam from the outside in some of the scenes in Trash). I'm still working on determining the depth of the cuffs and the exact shaping of the sleeves.

The collar appears to be about 1" to 1 1/2" wide and the front pieces appear to overlap by about the same amount producing a notched lapel look. And there doesn't appear to be any facing pieces at the front closure. The hem appears to be about 1 1/2" to 2" deep and appears to just be turned up and glued down (FYI, a good epoxy is an essential construction method for leather working). The side slits are faced with a narrow 1" to 1 1/2" wide strip--you can see this in the Whitefall scene as Mal ope

MEDRYN

Wednesday, October 6, 2004 10:45 PM

On second look I think you were right, the boots look black.

EBONEZER

Saturday, October 16, 2004 11:26 PM

As to Mals pants:

If your not sewing inclined or lucky enough to find sutable substitutes very inexpensivly at Wal-mart, I got another idea for you:

Riding Breeches.

Mals outfit is this awsome blend of equestrian styles - The old west is obvious with the browncoat, suspenders, and gun, but his pants and boots are reminisant of English and American Foxhunting clothing.

Thus: Riding breechs.

http://www.doversaddlery.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_X1%2D35041_A_Sigma+Ful
l%2DSeat+Breeches_E_

http://www.doversaddlery.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_X1%2D5326_A_Pikeur+Pro
+Breeches_E_

Although, this can get a bit pricey (ok, REALLY pricey).

With a few alterations (buttons for suspenders, brown stripe, removal of the kneepad), breeches could make some kick ass Mal pants.

Don't have time to search for specific styles but you can search around the Dover website ( www.doversaddlery.com) and the internet to find some that would work (a little bit of searching and you could probably find some cheeper too).

Hell, you could probably find some on Ebay. Just don't buy Full Seat Breeches (Its got a leather pad that spreads from the knees, up the inside of the thigh to the butt to keep the saddle from rubbing), the pad can be removed, but its just maken more work for yourself.

You might want to consider looken around "horsey" websites for boots as well.

-----------------------------------

Four out of five dentists reccomend calling Ebo a girl.

XENOCIDE

Wednesday, December 29, 2004 10:03 PM

I would love to see pics of the Mockup of Mal's pistol. I have access to A Colt Navy but it's just not the same (and you can't bring it to con."

"If voting mattered it'd be illegal."

ZOL

Sunday, January 2, 2005 6:58 PM

Hi Guys,

I`m trying to create a `Captains` costume for the UK Serenity Con. Being in the UK makes this a little for buying purposes but, I find eBay has been a godsend, and have picked up a nice 3/4 length suede jacket which will need the leather cuffs, coat clasps (I was thinking of camping clasps i.s. the sort of thing that they use on backpacks as I have 5 sets of these). The boots I`ve gone for are rubber riding boots (leather is just to expensive in my size) but I have got myself some leather,metal & chain spurs for something a little different. Braces are going to have to be custom made, and the riding breeches need the stripe down the sides & buttons for the braces. I`ve picked up a brown leather belt for the holster which has the double row of holes & belt buckle. The Gun I have at the moment is a 1:1 scale Navy Colt gas lighter in gold colour (yes, it produces a flame out the front when cocked & fired but I don`t like the gold colour). The holster is an old brown leather holster that should work well. Shirt I`m not too worried about, just a cotton lumberjack or similar shirt should do but I may want something cooler.

I`m looking to get a local tailor/seamstress to modify my clothing & get advise on how best it would be to procede - I`ll also take along some photos of `Mal` to get the right sort of look.

The other thing I want to get done would be a leather fold out pouch containing Captains/Ship Documents - Anybody got any idea what the `Offical Seal` would look like? and has anybody got a scan of Joss Whedon & Tim Minears signitures (to make it look official) :)

Cheers, ideas & suggestians would be great, I may produce some photos at a later date.

Darin (a.k.a. Zol.)

p.s. Mals firearm seams to have 2 projections on either side of what looks similar to a Colt Army/Navy Confederate Revolver (all in Black) - would love to see close up photos of the prop used. (Z)

XENOCIDE

Monday, January 3, 2005 2:50 PM

Check out heart of gold for extreme closeup of the pistol. Right at the begining, when mal is cleaning the guns. If this is a navy it has been HEAVILY modified. IF anyone could screen capture that shot it would be very helpful.

ELLIQUINN

Monday, January 3, 2005 11:19 PM

Have any of you looked at the patterns available for SuitAbility? http://www.suitability.com/ecom/eCommerce.DLL?eindex:74571919.96984
They have patterns for all sorts of horse riding gear. I have used their patterns for schooling wear for my daughter and they are good. I haven't tried to compare them to Mal's clothing but they might be a good starting point for some of the stuff.

" My God," he said hollowly, "you mean he's like that all the time?"
-The Warrior's Apprentice Lois McMaster Bujold

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