Star-Trekking

Hello everyone!
FoilFaerie kindly requested that I feature the uniform of the Romulan Commander from The Enterprise Incident this month, so here we are. You get to see more of my unprofessional lineart skills, and clickable thumbnails. This outfit has some bizarre construction going on so this is my best approximation of how it’s put together.  
The screencaps I took from TrekCore are sitting in my LJ scrapbook so as not to clutter up the post more than it already is.
pics.livejournal.com/maeko_noh… But here's a full view for quick reference.

Firstly, a pattern. It’s best to find one with the standing collar already included, unless you know how to attach one without a guide. Any pattern of the same general appearance should be easily modified; the dress itself isn’t that complicated a shape. Most of the fit results from her tight belt rather than special shaping in the pattern, so you can even draft your own if you feel up to it. There appears to be a seam just off centre in the front, and horizontal bust darts. The sleeves are cut snugly, coming down to a loop around the thumbs.
Secondly, the fabric seems to be some sort of upholstery-weight. I’ve never encountered anything like it in my local fabric stores, nor online, but I’m sure a good approximation can be obtained. If anyone has found something similar please let me know! In any case, it’s very heavy, with enough stretch to be form fitting
What’s most confusing about this dress is the pink fabric. I present a possible method for constructing this part, with terrible drawings to accompany. I apologise profusely if these instructions are confusing and read like a vague 1860s pattern because that’s all I’ve been reading lately.
I believe that the base dress is completely made in gold, except for the pink sleeve, and the pink fabric is placed over this the same way that the corresponding blue fabric is placed over the shirts of the higher-ranked male Romulans. The pink fabric here happens to be sewn down from the collar to the waist (instead of hanging completely free from the shoulder) for a closer fit. At least, that’s my interpretation of it, and I think it’s easier to lay another piece of fabric over a completed bodice rather than cut different parts of the bodice in different fabrics.

Cut the entire dress in the gold fabric, except for the pink, right-hand sleeve. Cut the pink sleeve separately and set aside. The rest of the pink fabric is a sash that hangs loose from the top of the shoulder and below the belt. Take your pattern and mark a line from the right-hand start of the collar straight down to the hem. Cut this small section (roughly a third of the front) and make a horizontal bust dart.
On the back of the pattern, mark a line from the right-hand start of the collar diagonally to the waist seam. (I actually can’t tell just how much pink fabric is in the back, except that there’s some, so you can skip this part if you want and just have the pink down the front.) Cut this section in pink and join it to the front section of the bodice.
Lay the pink partial bodice over the gold bodice and sew it down the front and side from the shoulder seam to the waist. Let the rest of the bodice hang loose as a rectangular sash below the waist, and trim it with long fringe (on the commander, the fringe goes from the hem of her dress to the top of her boots, or a little longer than the length of her hand). Attach a plain rectangular pink sash to the shoulder seam so that this part of the sash hangs freely down the back, to the back hem.  
Finish with a thick black leather or matte vinyl belt, sheer hose and thigh-high vinyl boots. The commander also happens to be wearing black panties, and I think it’s ridiculous that you can see them at one point, but hey.
So, I'm sorry if that was terribly confusing but I can certainly attempt a clarification! FoilFaerie, I hope this helps