Minbari Warrior Tabard

Measurements.

Height - measured along the back from the shoulder line to the ankle. This will be the final length of the tabard.

Shoulders - measured from shoulder edge to shoulder edge along the back

Neck - wrap the tape measure around your neck keeping it slightly loose

Waist - wrap the tape measure around your waist so that it is slightly loose, but doesn't fall to the hips

Hips - measure the widest part of the hip

Shoulder-to-waist - tie a string around your waist and measure from the shoulder along the back to the string

Waist-to-hip - measured from the string to the hip line along the back

Hood - 47 cm

Face - 60 cm

Acronyms and variables.

MFLR - the minimal fabric length required. Keep in mind that fabric width is normally fixed by the vendor. This number assumes that the fabric width is around standard 144 cm.

SEAM_ALW - seam allowance, this is how much you add to the edges of each pattern to seam them together later on. Up to you. I'm somewhat anxious, so I use 3 cm at least.

WRAP_ALW - wrap allowance, this is how much you add to the edges that you want to finish later on by wrapping the edge inward and sewing it to itself once or twice. 3 cm at least.

• Double-sided glue tape 5 mm wide - at least (Height * 7) cm.
• Black block out curtains fabric for the base. Cheap hack: Use curtains fabric. It's normally cheaper per meter than the dress fabric and it's designed to hang straight down which is essentially what we want from the tabard. MFLR = 2 * (Hips/2 + 2*SEAM_ALW) cm.
• Black Galena Velvet fabric for the trim. Pain-sparing tip: find one that doesn't stretch at all. Like those from the upholstery department. MFLR = 8 * 12 cm.
• Black hooks & loops stripes - at least Shoulders cm.
• Optional: Black sew-on interfacing. MFLR = 1 m
• Optional: Black satin for the lining. Cheap hack: Satin is normally cheaper than a real lining. MFLR = 1 m
• Red piping - at least (Height * 7) cm.
• Dark green cotton fabric for the hood. MFLR = (Hood * 2) cm.
• Black Velvet for the hood. Pain-sparing tip: find one that stretches the least. Working with stretch fabric is sheer pain. MFLR = (Hood * 2) cm.

Trim is the trickiest part of the costume and the hardest to make. This red line seems to be a distinguishing adornment for Alyts and Shai Alyts, 'cause lower ranks do not have it in the Show. You know, military fashion, status, painting on the face, feathers you know where. So, very important to get that right. And don't even ask why the Wing Swords that sheltered Jha'dur gave her the tabard of a Star Rider's Alyt - must be a war trophy or something.

Let's get technical. Trim is a 5 cm wide black stripe made of something velvet-ish lined with red in the middle. It outlines the inside and outside edges of the tabard. You need to make about (7 x Height) cm of it.

• 4 Heights for the outer edges - left, right, back, and front
• 2 Heights for the inner edges - front right and left.
• 0.5 Height for parts of inner trim that go over the shoulder badges, plus allowances.

Assuming your Height is 120 cm, you'll need (7x120) ~ 8.5 meters of the trim, which is a lot. So you need a quick and easy technique to make it. Here is what I came up with after some trials and failures.

1. Cut a 12 cm wide stripe of Galena Velvet. The length of the stipe should be not less than (Height + 2*WRAP_ALW) cm.
2. Fold it along - right side to right side and iron, so that the fold become visible.
3. Unfold it and put it wrong side down. Glue the 5mm double-sided glue tape all the way along the edge.
4. Peel off the glue tape cover and glue the red piping on it, the cord facing away from the edge.
5. Fold the strip again along the ironed middle line. Wrong sides facing out.
6. Sew it together as close as possible to the cord. Use the zipper foot for that. The standard foot will not work. Pain-sparing tip: Avoid sewing through the glue tape, otherwise the needle is going to get stuck in the fabric.
7. Turn it inside out and iron it so the red line ends up in the middle.
8. Make at least 7 of those stripes.

Note: if you can't source the piping, you can try making it yourself by wrapping a red ribbon around a cord and sewing it together as close as possible to the cord. Use the zipper foot.

Let's cut the fabric!

After some trials and failures, I found this is the easiest way to cut this out.

1. Draw the back pattern on paper. Firm paper is easier to pin. A2 drawing canvases work sweetly. Refer to the scheme above. Note that the Neck, Waist, and Hips measurements are halved.
2. Fold the fabric twice - wrong side out. This is where it really counts if you've got the curtains, not a dress fabric. It's long enough to fit the length of the tabard twice and it is easy to flatten on the working surface.
3. Pin the paper pattern through both layers of the fabric and draw the contour on the fabric. Vital: Don't forget to add the seam allowance everywhere! Really, if you forget it here, you've lost your fabric.
4. Cut it out. Remove the paper pattern but keep the pins joining the two layers together.
5. Turn it upside down, and cut the front layer in the middle all the way from the bottom to the top.
6. Fold out the lapels and pin them. Iron them down - it will make it much easier to sew.
7. Fitting time! Make sure you are happy with the length and shoulder width. Pin it if it's too big.
8. Sew shoulder lines and lapels only for now.
9. Turn it right side out and sew the loop stripes along the shoulder seams. Use the loops side not hooks, otherwise, everything is going to stick to it.
10. And put the base aside.

With the hood measurements, it is best to understand how it is going to be sewn to the collar. This lovely lady on Youtube is a way better seamstress than myself and explains quite well how the hood works.

• The horizontal measurement (47 cm) is the length/depth of the hood. This is how far down it is going to hang from the shoulders along the spine. Check out Neroon the cutie. His hood hangs quite low.
• The vertical measurement (60 cm) is the Face. This is how wide the face hole should be, halved. Cutie Neroon has a huge hood, so he can lay it out gracefully on his magnificent antlers.
• I actually messed up the lower measurement (Neck). But this shape turned out to work better for this case than the correct original shape from the video. Minabri Hood seems to be sewn way further to the front than a normal hood would be. Therefore you might want to sew the curved part of the bottom of the hood to the collar and the straight parts to the lapels of the base. More about it later.

Here are the steps to cook the Hood.

1. Fold the green cotton fabric twice. Fold the Velvet fabric twice. Fold the velvet inside the cotton.
2. Draw the hood pattern on the cotton. Don't forget to WRAP_ALW on the face side and SEAM_ALW on all the other sides. Like in the picture.
3. Pin the fabric together and cut it out.
4. Unfold the patterns. Put them one on top of another to match the edges. Wrong side to the wrong side.
5. Pin the unfolded patterns together along the face line.
6. Sew the face line. You might want to finish the face edge by wrapping the velvet inside the hood and sewing it on.
7. Fold it back along the original fold but with green fabric facing outside.
8. Pin the backline from the top fold to the point where it bends inward and sew it together.
9. Turn it right side out. You should have something resembling the collar line now at the bottom of the hood. That's where it is going to be sewn to the collar.
10. Put the hood aside.

If you really want to get it right, watch closely the video by the lovely lady on Youtube.

If you want the tabard to be a little more solid, so it doesn't look like a curtain hanging down from your shoulders, you can add interfacing.

1. Unpin the sides of the tabard, and lay it down unfolded on the working surface, the wrong side facing up.
2. Put the interfacing on top of it and draw the tabard contour right on the interfacing from the waistline to the waistline. Don't forget to add WRAP_ALW along the edges.
3. Pin the interfacing pattern to the satin, and cut out the pattern.
4. Sew them together along the tabard contour line. Wrap the satin's WRAP_ALW edges inside and sew them to the interfacing so it looks finished.
5. Now pin the whole thing to the wrong side of the tabard, satin facing outside.
6. Sew it along the edges. Don't sew the waistline - It's gonna look ugly.
7. Pin the sides back and try it on. Make sure you are happy with the structure.

Great. We are almost there. First, let's sew some hooks and loops on the trim that will go to the inner edge and over the shoulder badge. Check out the photos for reference.

1. Cut out a small patch of the hooks/loops stripe (5-ish cm long) and pin it in place as shown on the scheme. If you pin hooks on the back side the hood is going to stick to it from time to time. If you pin them on the front side - the aiguillette will. So, your choice.
2. Eyeball the length of the back trim stipe and cut it slightly longer. It really doesn't have to be super precise for it will be concealed under the super long hood most of the time.
3. Sew on the hooks/loops stipes WRAP_ALW cm away from the end of the trim.
4. Wrap the WRAP_ALW in and sew it to the trim once or twice to finish.

Now let's sew it on.

1. Unpin the sides of the tabard once again and lay it out flat on the working surface, the right side facing up.
2. Pin the trim stripes to the outer edges all the way from bottom to bottom. But leave it unpinned on the shoulders - this is where the shoulder badge is going to be.
3. Pin the trim stripes with hooks/loops to the inner edges, all the way from the bottom to just above the chest height.
4. Pin the short trim stripes with hooks/loops to the back to somewhere around the shoulder blade's height.
5. Adjust the position of the inner trim to your liking. It is best to do it once you already have a shoulder badge to make it more obvious.
6. Sew all the trim stripes along both edges and at the back by the shoulder blades. Increase the stitch length setting on your sewing machine for this. This will reduce the seam tension. It is just a decoration. It doesn't have to hold too strong. Super tensed seam on the other hand will wrinkle the fabric and make it look ugly. For the same reason, avoid sewing too close to the red piping, remember, there is glue tape in there. Totally not cool, when the needle gets covered in glue and gets stuck in the fabric.
7. Wrap the trim ends in at the bottom of the tabard and sew them on to finish.

After you are done with the trim, it's time to sew the sides of the tabard together.

1. Turn the tabard inside out and match the sides together, right side to right side.
2. Pin them all the way from the bottom to the waistline. Vital: up to the waistline only. From shoulder to waistline is your sleeve hole. I know it sounds crazy but trust me it is that wide.
3. Sew both sides along the pinned lines. Don't forget to put your machine stitch length setting back to normal.

Ok, hood. Hood requires some tricky 3D math processing in your head to understand how to sew it on. But if you aren't enjoying 3D math problems here is a simple instruction.

1. Lay the tabard out on the working surface, the right side of the back facing up.
2. Get that curved bottom line of the hood and match it to the curved collar line, right side to right side. And pin them together along the collar line and the lapels. Check the photos for reference.
3. Put it on and make sure you are happy with the hood.
4. Sew it together along the collar line, the wrong side facing up.
5. Cut the excess seam allowance off.
6. Cut out a stripe of Velvet (same as Hood material) matching the collar length.
7. Wrap it along the collar line and sew it on to finish.

Your robe is ready, Alyt. Now where are your shoulder badges?