Here are the steps I would take if I were to build myself a costume.

1) come up with about ten ways to build every scale separately and attach them together, then test what kind of beating a sample of each kind can take, such as water, stabbing, bunching, washer and dryer, and even test what damage my flame thrower does to it(just for fun.)

2) analyze the data, pick the best kind, and go all out on an over ambitious project that will take weeks to complete, and then when it is finished, test it out some and get bored with it quickly.

3) look for some other over ambitious project to try.

Not that these steps will help you much, but it's what I would do. If you want a good material, just do a few small sample tests, see what looks well and is durable. Since you probably won't be walking across fires, you probably have no need to test the effects of a flame thrower on the samples.

Yikes! I just noticed this journal is from nearly a year ago...

Yeah I forget about journals...the costume hasn't even gotten off the ground yet so no worries!