Jill Valentine costume coming along....

My Jill Valentine costume is coming along nicely. I just got in the mail today my S.T.A.R.S. beret and patch. For now I'm going to use my gray BDU pants that I use for my RFT costume. I'll get some navy blue ones as soon as I can afford some. I already have a pair of combat boots that I'll wear with my costume. So all that's left is the shoulder guard. Oh, and I need to get a prop pistol or shotgun, and a holster for the pistol.

I'm not sure what kind of material I want to use for the shoulder guard. Some people have used ripstop nylon, some have used vinyl, and some have used pleather (which to me is like vinyl anyway...). I found some royal blue ripstop nylon at the fabric store, and that looks more like the kevlon stuff they use for body armor. But in her pic in the video game it looks more like leather (or some material like that). I wanna go with the ripstop fabric mainly because it's cheaper, but the fabric store around here only carries a royal blue color, and not navy blue like hers. I dunno.... Plus I don't think my sewing machine could handle vinyl.

I'm really excited about putting this costume together. It will be my first "real" sewing challenge other than sewing a hem by hand or hand sewing some buttons or snaps on a costume. I'm actually going to be using my sewing machine!