Analysis, part 7 - Waistbands

The Nemesis "captain jacket" waistband, like that of the DS9/NEM duty jumpsuit, spanned only the two side body panels (side front and side back), but, interestingly, its purpose appeared to be (almost?) entirely cosmetic, as there was no evidence of any gathered or elasticized fabric on or above the waistband.

Nemesis

Compare the gathered/elasticized fabric of the VOY and DS9/NEM duty jumpsuits to the crisp and smooth waistband of the DS9/NEM "captain jacket."

Generations

Insurrection

Insurrection

Nemesis

To be both clear and fair, there does appear to be a very slight amount of gathered fabric above the waistband, and the auctioned uniform above was labeled for a stunt double (or was it a stand-in?), but this raises the question as to why the gathered fabric is only in the body panels and not the waistband itself ...

Perhaps there was some fullness gathered and eased into the waistband, which was cut to size, but that seems like an unnecessary endeavor when one is on a tight schedule with many uniforms to make ...

A similar effect, but more noticeable, can be observed on some of the Sisko's screen-used jackets:

We've noticed the effect on some other screen-used DS9/NEM jackets as well, such as Bashir's (see right).

In that case, the gathered fabric might be due to the jacket being a converted jumpsuit - and we know such things were done, to varying degrees of success (see our "Misc. observations and errors" section). 

The upper jumpsuit body would have excess at the sides that was designed to be elasticized by the jumpsuit's waistbands, and, perhaps being deemed inappropriate on the DS9/NEM jacket, it was gathered and eased in with the "correct" size waistband sewn on ... but that raises the question of why the body panel seams weren't just taken in the appropriate amount (especially the side seams).

The waistband itself was apparently the same black wool gabardine as the jacket body, not an elastic fabric like the black spandex used on the DS9/NEM "female hero jumpsuits" or the men's TNG jacket waistbands ... 

In fact, the DS9/NEM "female hero jackets," being made of black spandex, like the corresponding DS9/NEM "female hero jumpsuits," didn't even have waistbands, as evidenced by this screen-used Ezri jacket: 

One can easily observe the difference between the DS9/NEM "captain jackets," which appeared to utilize no elastic in their waistbands, and the VOY jackets, which, like their VOY duty jumpsuit counterparts, obviously did:

Janeway VOY jacket

Harry Kim VOY jacket

The Sisko's DS9/NEM jacket

Worf DS9/NEM jacket

Note how the VOY jackets pull open towards the bottom, due to the side elastic waistbands, as opposed to the DS9/NEM jackets, which have open fronts that hang more or less vertically, implying the waistbands weren't elasticized. 

Of course, that theory may seem sound until you examine Tuvok's VOY jacket as compared to Bashir's DS9/NEM jacket:

Note how Bashir's DS9/NEM jacket actually appears to pull open at the bottom more than Tuvok's VOY jacket, which appeared to be considerably more elasticized.

We suppose it's possible the waistband was both interfaced somewhat heavily and slightly elasticized - say, with the elastic only being cut ¼" or ½" shorter than the waistband, but it seems like there would be at least some gathering of the channel itself ... who knows? 

Gathered fabric, perfectly smooth waistband ... sometimes hanging vertically, sometimes appearing to pull open from the sides ... 

For whatever it's worth, we designed the waistband on our DS9/NEM "captain jacket" pattern to be perfectly smooth and the bottom edges of the corresponding body panels to fit smoothly, without any visible ease or gathering.


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