Kaylee Coveralls

I knew that the majority of this costume is the coveralls. Actually, it is THE essential piece.

I looked on eBay for olive drab flightsuits, jumpsuits, coveralls etc. Some were super cheap ($5 to $25) but shipping was expensive, I was afraid they'd be too small, or there wasn't enough information about the size at all. And a few of the more detailed size ones were too expensive ($50-$90)!

As I was trolling Amazon and eBay I noticed I had an option to make a more 'sexy' Kaylee or 'traditional'.

I opted for traditional, seeing how these shorter versions were not only more expensive and less durable, but the inner geek in me wanted to stay true to the original costume.

Since I knew I was short on time and wanted to be sure of a good fit, I decided against ordering something online and went to my local Army Surplus Store.

The flightsuits were expensive ($50-110) but since this the majority of both cost and costume was the suit I decided to go ahead and bite the bullet.

Flightsuit: $55

EEEEK! That's over half my budget! And leaves no room for error. First thing to go will have to be those sleeves!

I looked closely at the sleeves and by detaching at the first seam, I saw that I could keep a 'finished edge' look without having to worry about re stitching or finding someone with a sewing machine to give me a finished edge or leaving a raw edge:

I cut off the raw edge "underneath" the second seam.

I did all of this with a seam ripper. I also took off where the military patches went too. Also with a seam ripper. It took a long time, but with this deconstruction, my seam ripper was my best friend and tool!