Esoteric fact: The Imperial officer uniform shares the same basic pattern with the dress uniform worn by the German officers in the WWI movie Blue Max (1966) with George Peppard. Both uniforms were made by the same tailor.
You seek TKvanB. She has some great advice on patterns and a terrific tutorial! And, if her site's not up (because it frequently exceeds the bandwidth), try the tutorial on the MWG Armory thread. Hope that helps you!