Firefly , Mal Reynolds questions.

[Risu]

It might be a while. I only have his class one day a week. He wore them the first three weeks and I finally checked reference pictures after the third week, and he hasn't worn them since. It's a weird enough query when he's wearing the shoes, if I ask him about the ones he used to wear I'll look even weirder. :lol

I'm on the hunt for suspenders now and I put in a question at WWMerc about what size to order (restocking and shipping fees were a real pain if I remember correctly). I consider myself lucky that my Israeli suspenders were the right color already and I don't have to dye them at all.

I read through the other Mal thread earlier and saw somebody mention that polyester will dye with Rit if you wash it in acetone first, is that a fact? If so, I think the ebay ribbon will work out. The only other one I found is 1.5 inches wide and has 8 brown stripes with white borders on either side. It's most likely polyester, it looks identical to the ebay stuff except for the width. Between the two, the ebay ribbon is a better match and if the dye process successfully darkens the white, I don't think it's enough of an inaccuracy to make a real difference.

Out of all the bits of the costume I'm most excited to get started on my holster. I got the German officer's belt a long time ago (only size available was a 32" waist belt that's about 12" too small for my hips with the proper tail, but it has THE buckle. Not a repro, not a close enough, the exact buckle.

 

[Fetts.Sobriquet]

I'll try the acetone and let you know. I have a lot of chemicals on the way, trying to find the best way to dye polyester. So, it's just one more thing to try.

Flipping sweet on the buckle! I cheated and ordered the QMx holster. I'm just not good at tracking down parts.

 

[Risu]

I do leather work for a living, so buying the QMx holster, regardless of how nice it is, would be like flushing cash down the toilet. All in all, not counting the supplies I already have (tools, dye), the whole thing will cost me roughly $60.

That would be great, I look forward to the results of your test.

 

[jason1976]

As I mentioned before, I did a budget version of this costume years ago (then I started this thread. :lol) and now I'm that I'm loosing the weight, and it will fight again, I would like to fine tune mine.

My suspenders are all done. (have been for years.) The color looks great to me, but if it's off a little I can live with that.

I bout one of the German belts back then. It was too small on me, so I had to add some holes, and make them oval shaped like the originals. It looks good, but I really should make a new belt, and just use the buckle from my original.

I made a holster pattern, and did a mockup, in vinyl that turned out great. I love it, and never got around to upgrading to a leather one. I may do the upgrade this year, or I may stick with my vinyl on for now.

I have my coat witch I love. It was made out of suede cloth curtains that I got on clearance at Wal*mart. :lol It's a little on flimsy, and the color is just a hair bigger then the original (but I actually like it better the way I did it. ) All in all, I love my version, and it feel really good ,to know that I made it. (well I did the designing, and pattern work, and my mom did the sowing. ) It's light weight so it's nice for indoor Conventions/costuming. (it does flutter a bit when I'm walking, but it looks great when I'm standing still) All I want to do with it, is add the buckles. (witch I'm a little reluctant to do, since the buckles are so expensive, and because I hate to risk messing up, what I have now.)

I've just been using some cheep brown boots, but that's Ok by me, I never put a lot of time/money into the foot wear of a costume. (plus his boots are so darn ugly. :lol)

I have a shirt I love for this costume. I mean, most any button up shirt would do, but I love the color and texture of this shirt. IMO it looks like it walked right out of Mal's wardrobe.

The gloves would be nice, but all the ones I've seen like his, are way to pricey.

And as for the gun, I have the Sidkit version but it's too heavy for my vinyl holster, so I've been using my Phil casting of the screen used gun, but I would like to pick up a cheep Wilco or something, just so I don't have to wear my expensive ones out at a convention.

So my main focus is the pants. right now I just have a pair of trowsers with a brown strip of corduroy up the each leg, and I gut a little V in the back, and added some jean style buttons for the suspenders. I want to get the more accurate pants, and do a more accurate stripe. But I don't want to order the pants until I'm down to my ideal wait, and that is a long ways off. (ARG!)

 

[Risu]

I totally get that.

My shirt is a great size and the details are all right, but the color could be a little lighter and the fabric a little thicker.

And I know what you mean about the boots being ugly. I tend to base my fashion opinions on costumes I like (11th Doctor made me like bow ties, etc) but even I can admit that those are some really ugly boots. I do like them for how eccentric they are, but what the heck were they thinking? :lol

 

[Fetts.Sobriquet]

I'm trying some different things tonight, trying to get the color close. I ran across some ribbon that is closer in stripe number but it's 5/8". Is Mal's 1in?

This one was dyed, surprising well, with plain ol liqid Rit. I just boiled it in a pot of water for about 45 minutes with half the bottle of tan rit. The water had almost boil off so I took the ribbon out and was surprised the color held. I ran it through a wash cycle and the color stayed.

 

[Risu]

So wait, is the one you dyed the ebay one, or one of the 5/8" ones? The fourth one down in the first picture looks like the best one, but I don't think tan is the color to use, it's too yellow. I think a smaller amount of brown in the mix would give you a much closer look. Also, I'm really glad to hear the Rit took just fine (especially if that was the ebay ribbon). Did you use acetone or anything on it first, or just drop it in? When you washed it did it fade even a little bit, or not at all?

Oh, and if I really had to guess I would say Mal's stripe is most likely 1.25". 1.5 looks way too big, but I have a feeling 1" is too small.

 

[Fetts.Sobriquet]

Yes, the thicker one is the ebay ribbon. It was just a test, I cut a strip and dropped it right in the water, no prep. Half a pot of water and half a bottle of rid. I let it boil for about 40 minutes then took it out. After I dyed it I ironed it to dry it and see the color, then I washed it (along with a towel) in a Cold/Cold short cycle with detergent. The picture is right out of the washer. When it dried the color looked even closer to what I wanted. The iron might have helped set the color. I'm going to do more testing tomorrow and see what results I get. I was really surprised to see Rid work on this, I think this is a polyester blend and not 100%. Just a theory. The auction just said polyester, if I recall.

So the 5/8in is too thin? The other ribbon, the ebay one, is 1 in'. If all goes well with dying tomorrow I'm going to sew them (the eBay ones) on my WWMerc frontier trousers and use these stripes until something better comes along.

 

[Risu]

I've got some 100% polyester fabric that took dye in a boiling pot, it just didn't take as much as cotton would. The only doubt I had with the ribbon is that it's that shiny type of polyester and I thought it might be coated in something. Could you possibly take a picture of the ribbon laid in place over your trousers so I can get an idea of how it'll look from a distance? 1" really sounds too narrow, but I can't say for sure until I see it in place. Either way, I ordered a roll of it on ebay.

 

[Fetts.Sobriquet]

I've had polyester just not take rid at all before, even with boiling water. I was surprised this dyed as easy as it did. I'll get you a picture of the ribbon with the trousers tomorrow as long as UPS hold up their end of the deal and delivers them on time. It's never happened before, but I have high hopes.

 

[jason1976]

I've had polyester just not take rid at all before, even with boiling water. I was surprised this dyed as easy as it did. I'll get you a picture of the ribbon with the trousers tomorrow as long as UPS hold up their end of the deal and delivers them on time. It's never happened before, but I have high hopes.

Um, when you say "rid" dye, do you mean "rit"? I have used "rit" dye many times before. (the stuff you can get at meijers, and wal*mart) on many materials, including Polyester, rubber, and plastic, but I've never heard of "rid" dye.

 

[Fetts.Sobriquet]

Um, when you say "rid" dye, do you mean "rit"?

HA HA HA! Yea, Rit. -I'm an idiot

This stuff:

 

[Risu]

Well, comparing the ribbon to the bottle, it certainly looks like it'll be wide enough on the pants. I'd definitely recommend going with dark brown instead of tan, though.

 

[Fetts.Sobriquet]

All the dying shown here was done in a 2.8 lt pot filled with 1.4 lt of water boiling for 30 min.

From left to right one full bottle of tan,one half bottle of tan, one full pack of dark brown.

The dark brown was so dark, only under direct lighting are you able to even tell it has stripes. I've washed them several times trying to get them to fade, but so far the color is holding strong.

The full bottle of tan in 1.4 lt of water seemed to give me the color I liked. It isn't exactly what I wanted but it will do for now. I still have enough ribbon for 4 more pant stripes, so I can make adjustments later if it bothers me.

The half bottle of tan was just too light.

I had bright lights on here so in person these are darker.

I'm going to sew them on tomorrow, but here they are against the trousers.
Again, from left to right one full bottle of tan,one half bottle of tan, one full pack of dark brown.

 

[Risu]

Yea, seeing the stripes on the pants it's clear that any wider wouldn't fit between the seam and the welt pocket very well.

The full pack of brown is definitely too dark, but could you try a half pack? It's not the brightness of the color that concerns me, it's that the tan is way too yellow, where the actual stripes are a distinctly colder color. As soon as my stripes come in I'm going to try out a small bit with 3 or 4 caps of liquid dark brown and see how it works out.

 

[zerog270]

I have been able to dye polyester but I first had to use the whitening kit and boil that then boil MANY packets of dye for it to take. Then wash it cold to make sure the dye stuck. It did work but it took many hours to happen.

-Mike

What looks like the bias, is just where the ribbon was stitched onto the pants.

Patattack - that was likely my post about how I did the stripe on my pants, as that's the exact method I used.

This was the original ribbon I bought:

I ran it through a few different dye and diluted bleach baths to get the colour just right:

Here's the final look of the pants:

You have to make sure you find a cotton or other natural fibre version, polyester won't take the dye. Someone I know tried it with the polyester, and boiled it in the dye for over an hour, and it barely took on any of the colour.

 

[Fetts.Sobriquet]

Yea, seeing the stripes on the pants it's clear that any wider wouldn't fit between the seam and the welt pocket very well.

The full pack of brown is definitely too dark, but could you try a half pack? It's not the brightness of the color that concerns me, it's that the tan is way too yellow, where the actual stripes are a distinctly colder color. As soon as my stripes come in I'm going to try out a small bit with 3 or 4 caps of liquid dark brown and see how it works out.

I'm going to do the half pack of brown now.

 

[Fetts.Sobriquet]

I think the half pack of dark brown was the way to go. I'm very pleased with the results. Boiled for 25 minutes.

 

[Jango Wes]

WOW! That turned out great!

 

[E-Wan]

Great, thanks guys. Now I have to re-do my Mal pants with this awesome new technique!