A little something different for today’s blog post – while my primary interests lie with the franchise’s actual Starfleet uniforms, I recently had the opportunity to examine a screen-used Wesley Crusher sweater from The Next Generation’s first season, courtesy of Angelo Cifaldi.
Anyway, Wesley wore a few different sweaters that first season before being promoted to Acting Ensign and sporting his gray “rainbow” sweater.
This brown sweater’s primary appearances were in the pilot, “Encounter at Farpoint,” and then later in the episode “Justice.”
As you may be aware, William Ware Theiss seemed to love his knit fabrics, and this sweater appears to have literally been knit together, rather than made with a knit fabric.
There were a few aspects of the sweater’s structure and design that I found interesting.
First, there was a small band of black elastic around the collar, hand-sewn to the underside via catch-stitching.
The uppermost few inches of the sweater were also lined, although curiously with a cream-colored lining rather than brown.
As you may have noticed in the screencaps, the upper, outer armscye area of the sweater was pleated.
At the bottom of the sweater was a little extension, which appears to have been tucked into the trousers.
On the underside was a wide band of elastic, also catch-stitched (similarly to the neckline).
Here’s a photo of the sweater, inside-out.
The shoulder pads were quite large – which would have been surprising if I hadn’t examined a screen-used TNG skant beforehand, as well as a season 1 admiral jacket (which I’ll be posting about soon).
They appear to have been custom-made, the same way the pads were on the actual Starfleet uniforms at that point.
Well, almost the same way; instead of a dart in the pad, the fabric was pleated, and rather than black, it was made of the same cream-colored lining fabric as the upper sweater lining.
The upper armscye pleat was actually formed with hand-sewing on the underside; the fabric was simply folded over and catch-stitched into place.
The upper armscye pleat was actually formed with hand-sewing on the underside; the fabric was simply folded over and catch-stitched into place.
A fusible applied to a knit garment?
Also, I wonder why the original costumers didn’t use black, instead of white, since you can actually see through the little holes in the sweater. (Scroll back up to the photos of the pleat, and you can see the white fusible peeking out from underneath.)
One final surprise was a little prick I got while examining the armscye; there was sewing pin holding the shoulder pad to the sweater!
A relic from the original costuming department, perhaps?
Anyway, I just thought it was an interesting piece so I’d share some of my observations. Thanks again to Angelo Cifaldi for the opportunity to examine it and share my research here!
Coming soon … an examination of a screen-used TNG season 1 admiral uniform!
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