Friday 1 April 2016

Picking a flightsuit size

By now all the parts for my X-wing costume have arrived. I have started on the flak vest, but there are confusing instructions in the Rebel Legion costume standards and I have asked for clarification before continuing. The basic problems is that the standards ask for a certain amount of ribs, but also that the flak vest shouldn't be longer than a certain length. I will have to choose between either an incorrect number of ribs or an incorrect length.

Anyway my phone has also died and is on repair, so  I don't have a camera to post any photos. Instead I'm going to right a bit about choosing size when you are a female and the sizing is made for men. This comes in regards to the X-wing flightsuit.

I am quite short (162 cm) and overweight, with quite an hourglass figure. I definietly have big hips and huge thighs. These measurements are my most crucial when ordering something online. In European size I'm quite a spot on for 44 or L. When wearing men's clothing I always have to have them too big in the waist to get them to fit over the hips and thighs. I have a long torso, but unproportonaly short legs.

For the X-wing flightsuit I decided that I definitely wanted to prioritize comfort, since I'm hoping this will be my "go-to" costume for long convention days. Comfort also means that I want to be able to wear a layer of clothes under flighsuit as well, for example t-shirt and shorts or something like that.

Going over the sizing info from Wampa Wear and ignoring all the lengths measurements I fit quite well in the L bracket. I don't have to look at the lengths to know that it would be too long for me. The L size correspons to European C52-54, which happens to be the size I have for my work pants. Still looking at the hip and thigh measurments I got a bit unsure, I also know that I would not be able to fit anything under my C52 trousers. Since it would be hard for me to return the flightsuit once it arrived I decided to go for XL.

When the flightsuit arrived my predictions turned out right. It's very roomy, I could probably have fit an L without a problem, but the extra space is comfortable and a loose fitting flightsuit looks better than a tight fitting one over the stomach and upper thighs. It's way too long so I will have to shorten the legs quite a lot, but the torso and arms can be kept in check with the belt and cuffs. For the price I think it was as good as I can get it.

If you are a curvy female and want a better fit there are some options out there.
The most expensive options is to have it made or you can create your own pattern and use that.

If you want to make your own X-wing flightsuit I would recommend reading this progress thread from two of the girls in the Nordic Base and also to pay close attention to this sketch of the X-wing flightsuit that shows all the necessary details.


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