Firefly - Mal Reynolds

Yes, I built the suspenders - and here's how:

I started out buying a pair of Israeli Defence Force suspenders on eBay similar to these:

IraqiRepublicanGuardFieldGearSuspen.jpg


I also bought a pair of tan button on suspenders with brown leather ends like these (also on eBay):

suspenders.jpg


I removed the elastic from the back of the button suspenders and stitched the leather pieces together

suspendersback.jpg


I then ripped out the stitching on the Israeli suspenders, on the bottom of the yolk, and removed the 2 lower straps. I pinned the button suspenders to the yolk, and put them on with the pants in order to get the length and size right. I then trimmed the elastic straps and stitched them into place, following the original stitch lines.

P2140005small.jpg


Finally, I put the button on ends onto the ends of the new suspenders, and voila they were done.

P2140004small.jpg


Hope that's helpful.
 
Short of having them made. I've come up with nothing closer than what I have for the boots ($40 Anakin style jedi boots, which I'm going to set about getting modified to match the firefly style)
The pants on wwmerc are the same Wah Maker ones I purchased :D
The holster on eBay is my last resort at the moment. I've been in contact with the seller last week with a few queries, but still waiting to hear back from them.

Hey, I know a great place to get the exact boots you are looking for. You do have to get them from Guatamala, but the guy is great, just make sure you are very precise in your measurements for your boots. I was a little off on mine and now I am having to come up with gussetts. The guys name is Carlos Diaz, and the company is The Leather Boutique. You can find some of his items on eBay. It does take like 6 to 8 weeks, but that is shorter time than most 10 to 12 weeks. and the quality is fantastic. I myself am doing a Mal costume for a Con I am going to. I am having to do the gussetts myself. By the way to give your Browncoat a more worn look, I suggest to use a Ruddy Brown Primer from Krylon Spray paints. I also recommend to cut the left sleeve and restitch it with a Natural color Fashion naturals Hemp cord, you can find this at your local Wal-mart. And for the clasps for the jacket, take the exsisting silver buttons that Cat put on your jacket, cut the back, so you can remove the button spray them with the Krylon spray listed above then spray with a Kilz Craft cote Gold Nugget color spray paint. I would recommend to try to mimmic the clasps with some craft wood chips from Michaels craft store and attach to the existing silver button. Use a tea atain to the cuffs to give it a more darker tone. Once all is dry and done, you have your Browncoat as close to the real thing as possible. The suspenders you can find a Israeli combat harness plus a West Mercantile elastic suspenders, sewn together to make the Mal suspenders. You can sew on the Brown strips onto some West mercantile pants from Wal-mart fabric ribbon. Try this, if you prefer. Just thought you might like to know. :$
 
That reminds be, if your still looking for your suspenders. I found some on ebay last month, but I missed the end of the auction, and didn't win them, so I contacted the seller, and he said he had a ton of them, and throught another set up for me, and I won those. :) (they looked a little different, in the second auction, but when they came, they were perfect. :) )

He goes by libertytreecollectors on ebay, you might want to drop him a line, and see if he has any left.

I found the rest of what I would need for the suspenders at home, but thrift stores work too.

I haven't modified mine yet, because I need the paints first, and I can't decide what brand/style to go with. :(
 
That reminds be, if your still looking for your suspenders. I found some on ebay last month, but I missed the end of the auction, and didn't win them, so I contacted the seller, and he said he had a ton of them, and throught another set up for me, and I won those. :) (they looked a little different, in the second auction, but when they came, they were perfect. :) )

He goes by libertytreecollectors on ebay, you might want to drop him a line, and see if he has any left.

I found the rest of what I would need for the suspenders at home, but thrift stores work too.

I haven't modified mine yet, because I need the paints first, and I can't decide what brand/style to go with. :(

You're referring to this thing, right?
23c2_1_b.jpg


...Or does he have the suspenders available separately?
 
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All right, friends - I'm returning to this costume zealously!

Me and a tailor friend are trying to put together a pattern for Mal's shirt from Serenity. You know, the more sci-fi-looking one with the two bands across the torso and the little rectangular buckles instead of buttons.

Does anyone have any idea where I could get replica castings of those little rectangular buckles?

serenity-malshirtdisplay2.jpg


EDIT: Did anyone buy the Museum Replicas browncoat? I thought it looked a little wonky, but that might have just been bad photography. Also, does anyone have a review of Abbyshot's browncoat? Apparently they manufactured some much more accurate versions of the buckles, and I am once again tempted...but I'd like to hear thoughts.
 
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All right, friends - I'm returning to this costume zealously!

Me and a tailor friend are trying to put together a pattern for Mal's shirt from Serenity. You know, the more sci-fi-looking one with the two bands across the torso and the little rectangular buckles instead of buttons.

Does anyone have any idea where I could get replica castings of those little rectangular buckles?

serenity-malshirtdisplay2.jpg


EDIT: Did anyone buy the Museum Replicas browncoat? I thought it looked a little wonky, but that might have just been bad photography. Also, does anyone have a review of Abbyshot's browncoat? Apparently they manufactured some much more accurate versions of the buckles, and I am once again tempted...but I'd like to hear thoughts.


First the shirt. I would track down "Angelus" he did an awesome version of Mal's movie costume back around the time of the movie's relies I believe, and I'm pretty sure that's the shirt he had. Off the top of my head I would say the buckles they used for Anakin's episode II/III belts might work. "lgtsbr" used to sell them over at saberblet.com. The online store is no more, but he may still have a few he could sell you. they may not be 100% accurate for this project but they would be kind of close, and give it that futuristic look. That is if you cant find anything closer.(I've posted a quote from one of lgtsber's forsale threads at the end of this post so you can see what they look like.)

As for the coat, the Museum replica's one looks AWFUL. And, wall there are a number of other places out there making them now, none of them are 100% accurate in my eyes. Most of them are off in one, or two small ways here and there. If I had to buy one, I would go for the one that sells for like $215. It's also not 100% by any stretch of the imagination, but it's half the price of the others (and lets face it this is just for a costume) and in my opinion it looks far better then the much more expensive ones. I my self am going to try my own hand at making one for my costume, and if I fail, I'll be going with the $215. one. (though, if you're doing the serenity version, of the costume, you'll have to alter it a bit.)





 
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First the shirt. I would track down "Angelus" he did an awesome version of Mal's movie costume back around the time of the movie's relies I believe, and I'm pretty sure that's the shirt he had. Off the top of my head I would say the buckles they used for Anakin's episode II/III belts might work. "lgtsbr" used to sell them over at saberblet.com. The online store is no more, but he may still have a few he could sell you. they may not be 100% accurate for this project but they would be kind of close, and give it that futuristic look. That is if you cant find anything closer.(I've posted a quote from one of lgtsber's forsale threads at the end of this post so you can see what they look like.)

As for the coat, the Museum replica's one looks AWFUL. And, wall there are a number of other places out there making them now, none of them are 100% accurate in my eyes. Most of them are off in one, or two small ways here and there. If I had to buy one, I would go for the one that sells for like $215. It's also not 100% by any stretch of the imagination, but it's half the price of the others (and lets face it this is just for a costume) and in my opinion it looks far better then the much more expensive ones. I my self am going to try my own hand at making one for my costume, and if I fail, I'll be going with the $215. one. (though, if you're doing the serenity version, of the costume, you'll have to alter it a bit.)

I was in contact with Angelus for a while. He said he might still have molds for the buckles lying around, but I haven't heard from him in a long time. I thought it might be worth my while to seek another source rather than bother him incessantly. That buckle might look pretty okay if I painted it goldish...thanks for the lead!

What's the $215 browncoat from? Space City Costumes? I'd rather have real suede than not...
 
Yeah space city is the $215. one. I'm a vegetarian, so the fact that it's not real animal hide, make me happy. :) (plus it's a hell of a lot cheaper. :) )

I haven't been able to get a reply from Angelus for quite some time, myself. (he's owed me a set of Angel stake ratchets for 3 years or more now.) I wonder what's up.
 
Yeah space city is the $215. one. I'm a vegetarian, so the fact that it's not real animal hide, make me happy. :) (plus it's a hell of a lot cheaper. :) )

I haven't been able to get a reply from Angelus for quite some time, myself. (he's owed me a set of Angel stake ratchets for 3 years or more now.) I wonder what's up.
 
Anyone who's made Mal's Firefly-version suspenders, could you possibly take a close-up picture of the way the strap is looped in the little black hardware bit on the front? I can tell it's threaded through the holes differently than it originally was when I first got the harness, but I'm not quite sure how it comes back around to hold the leather buttonhole bits.
 
Does this help? I threaded mine exactly as it appeared in a high-res promo photo of Mal. It's a little tricky to get it right, but holds very well.

P2120004.jpg
 
That's perfect, thanks! To be honest, that's how I was trying to thread mine, but I couldn't get the metal clamp at the end to fit through the "top" slot - the strap that was already in there took up too much room. Guess this is confirmation that I've gotta try a little harder, though, eh?
 
You just have to have a big loop between the two openings so you can push it straight through. You might need to use a pair of pliars.
 
So I finally finished my Mal suspenders!

It pained me to take apart the leather thing from the back of my stock suspenders, but I wanted to get the angle right as shown in this cap:
warstories022.jpg


So...here's mine!
IMG_0606.jpg
 
They look pretty gorram good - the back of mine couldn't have been nearly that long, as I'm not that long in the torso (really long legs though).

Good job!
 
They look pretty gorram good - the back of mine couldn't have been nearly that long, as I'm not that long in the torso (really long legs though).

Good job!

Haha, yeah, it is a bit long...I've got a goodly torso, and it seems okay draped over my shoulders, but I'll have to see how it works once I get myself a good pair of Western pants. I might have to rip the stitches and shorten the elastic a bit, if it's too long.
 
You likely will have to, as western pants are rather high waisted, and come up even higher in the back :)

Drat! :wacko

Well, while we're on the subject of pants...does anyone know where to get an accurate corduroy pant stripe? Zeppo, I sent you a PM since the picture of your costume looked pretty dang nice, but I figured I could make it a public request.
 

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