Padme Mustafar Update

I have my Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith (ROTS) Padme "Mustafar" costume completed now and it has Rebel Legion approval (as formal/canon). Here are some "in progress" pictures and some completed costume pictures:

The finished sleevelets.
These were much easier for me to do since I had already done the sleevelets for my aqua georgette gown and spent a LONG time getting the size just right for my arms when I made them. This time, I was able to use my aqua georgette sleevelets as a template!

Left sleevelet embroidery detail.
This is Padme's signature "Naboo Symbol" seen (in some form or other) on most of her gowns throughout the prequel trilogy. I drew the symbol onto the back of the faux suede and hand-embroidered it using DMC thread.

The "buckle" and broach made from white Primo clay
(after baking, prior to painting).
I used exhibit photos gathered from the Internet (most likely from Padawan's Guide or Kay_Dee's excellent FIDM exhibit gallery) as my template. I printed the image to a size that seemed to be the proper scale (body:buckle ratio)(body:broach ratio), cut them out, placed the cutouts on top of the prepared clay and used a pin to punch through the paper and transfer the design onto the clay (incidentally, this is also how Michelangelo and his assistants transferred the designs onto the Sistine Chapel ceiling...). After I had the basic shape cut out, I began to sculpt it to resemble the actual pieces. I added flowers and stems that I sculpted separately. I also sculpted the triangular details separately and added them to the buckle/broach, along with the flowers & stems, before baking.

Here are the buckle and broach after I painted and "weathered" them.

The harness front, with buckle in place.

The harness back after sewing Velcro on to keep it closed and allow for easy removal.

The entire finished costume (minus sleevelets).

Front

3/4 Front

Left side

Back

Right side

I'm not entirely happy with the wig. It looks too fake in the front at the part line. I'm contemplating adding a braid extension to my own hair now that I found a place that sells extensions that match my hair color.

To see my previous update click here.

Hoth Hat Tutorial

Here is a tutorial on how I made the Hoth hat, as the pattern is. If you wish to make your own hat, you will need to acquire the pattern from Phyllis Schulte or myself. After you have the pattern, you will need:

Approximately 1 yard of off-white material. I suggest something like Kona cotton from JoAnn's, it has a good texture without being too bulky. You will also need a package of double fold bias tape in "Oyster" and one in "Taupe", batting to line the neck piece (more if you plan to bat the entire hat), about ½ a yard of fusible interfacing, a scrap of tan fabric, some 1" poly strapping in tan, a piece of plastic such as polystyrene, and a piece of heavy weight stabilizer.

Once you have all the hat pieces cut out, you can begin the construction process. Every piece should be interfaced with the exception of the neck piece and lower front brim. The upper front brim also needs a piece of heavy weight stabilizer. The lower front brim will need a piece of plastic inside it.


This is the batting that I used. It is a good quality batting that isn't too bulky. It gives the quilting a nice "poof" without being too fat.



You will need to mark the quilting lines on one piece of your neck piece. I used dressmaker's pencil that washes out with warm water and mild soap.


Once you have the lines marked, zigzag or surge the edges of both neck pieces with the batting in the center.


Pin the "sandwich" generously with quilter's pins and then sew the lines you marked. I prefer to stitch all the lines in one direction, removing the pins as I go. Then, I turn the piece and stitch the remaining lines in the opposite direction.


This is what your neck piece should resemble once you have all the quilting stitches in.



Next, you need to take the brim pieces and pin the taupe bias tape to the edges, sew the bias tape along the fold, turn, pin, and stitch the bias tape closed.


For the top front of the brim, you will need to stitch a piece of bias along the top FOLDED edge, leaving the bottom edge free. You will be sewing the lower front brim to the top front brim under the bias tape, so it is important you leave enough for a seam allowance free under the stitching.

Pin, sew, fold, pin, and sew the oyster bias tape to the quilted neck piece. (*Note: the pattern has the bottom chin edges finish off squarely, but I rounded them to resemble the screen used hats more closely.)

Close-up of the second stitching on the bias tape. It is a sort of "stitch-in-the-ditch" type of stitching where the top stitching is sewn along the edge of the bias tape, yet catches the bias tape on the other side, closing it.


Next, you need to sew the sides of the hat to the top.

Here is what the sides look like sewn to the top of the hat.


You will need to sew "tabs" for the neck piece out of the scraps of tan fabric. Mine were roughly 2½ X 3½ (don't forget to add for seam allowance). You will also need to cut 5 pieces of poly webbing (slightly melt the ends to avoid fraying). Baste the tabs and webbing strips to the top edge of the hat and sew the bottom edges using matching thread.



Then, comes the tricky parts. You need to pin the top front brim, lower front brim, and back brim to the sides of the hat.



Once you get the brims pinned in place, sew them onto the hat, being sure to remove the pins as you sew.



Pin the quilted neck piece to the hat and sew.


Cover the raw edges with the oyster bias tape.




Using a scrap of fabric left over from the hat, sew a 1" tube for the chin strap. The length will depend on how long you would like it to be. Sew one end to the right side of the neck piece. Sew Velcro to the left side of the neck piece and the loose end of the chin strap.

This is what your chin strap should look like when closed.

There you have the Hoth Rebel hat!

To see pictures of the finished hat, click here: Hoth Hat

Hoth Hat, updated pics

Here are updated pictures of my first Hoth hat. The hat is unlined (for comfort in wearing indoors at cons & troops) except for the quilted portion that wraps the ears and neck. The brim has a plastic insert (H.I.P.S.-polystyrene) for stability. The hat can be hand washed in cool water and line dried. Do NOT dry in the machine due to the plastic in the brim.

Hoth Hat

Hoth hat #1. I'm not 100% happy with the pattern as it is, and may make some alterations of my own. It will be up to my client if she wants to keep this hat, or have me remake the pattern a bit (so it's smaller, this hat is HUGE!) and make a different hat.

Royal Guard Layout

I had someone ask me about how I did the robe for the Royal Guard. Here is my quick diagram of the pattern layout I created when making the Royal Guard for a client.



The Return of the Jedi version of the Royal Guard robe opens on the right shoulder. You will basically need 3 pieces to the robe: a Back, a Front, and an Overlap. The Overlap is sewn to the right shoulder of the Back and the Front is sewn at the left shoulder. The front is essentially as full as the back, but it does not get sewn to the right shoulder.

Here is what the 3 pieces should look like sewn together. In the drawing, I've shaded the Overlap with pencil lines to help distinguish it from the other pieces.

The front gets two pleats put in at the neckline, and the right side is anchored to the right shoulder with hooks. I used flat trouser hooks & eyes.

The lining to the robe is done in the same way, except that it is made shorter so that the outer part of the robe sort of "turns under" at the hem. I sewed the robe and lining together at the hem, along the front and overlap, turning it at the neck edge and top-stitching the neck edge closed.

For the inner robe, I used Simplicity 4942 View A.

To see my original post, with pictures, on the making of this robe click HERE.

Hoth Rebel Snowspeeder Pilot

I have had in my mind for a long time that I want to make my husband & I X-wing pilot costumes. I already have the material for the flight suit (I'll be making ours from scratch) as well as the flak vests (which are actually already cut out). I have the movie canon belt buckles for both of our costumes as well as the movie canon adjustment buckles for the flak vests. Soon, I'll be ordering polypropylene strapping for the ejection harnesses and belts.

It is widely rumored that Star Wars: Celebration V will be held in the spring of 2010 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of "The Empire Strikes Back" (I'm still hoping they have it in Indianapolis again, or somewhere within easy enough driving distance). Going with that assumption, and also the goal of making X-wing pilot costumes, I've decided that it would be fitting to also make Hoth Snowspeeder pilot costumes. There are only a few changes/additions to the X-wing pilot costume that make it a Hoth Snowspeeder pilot costume.

The changes/additions include:

• Gaiter-type boots instead of black German Jack boots.
• Grey gauntlet gloves instead of black gauntlet gloves.
• Flak vest is worn reversed from the way it is seen in "A New Hope"
• Addition of an orange nylon jacket with puffy collar and pleated sleeves.
• Addition of a "soft helmet" under the hard helmet.
  

Here is Luke from "A New Hope" as a X-wing pilot.

Here is Luke from "The Empire Strikes Back" wearing his Hoth Snowspeeder jacket. The bottom image also shows the Snowspeeder gloves.

I have been keeping my eye out for nylon that would work for the jackets but haven't had much luck. My local JoAnn's stores carry two kinds of orange nylon but neither will work. They carry sport nylon in orange, but sport nyon has too rough of a weave and is too stiff to be a jacket. They also carry ripstop nylon in orange which has the right texture and sheen, but has the distinctive visible squares that most ripstop nylon has.

The other day while browsing at my local Field's fabric (I don't get there as often) I noticed an orange quilted nylon in their clearance section. The nylon itself looked like it would work perfectly, however it was quilted onto a poly batting. The more I looked at it, the more I wanted to purchase it and pick out the quliting stitches. The crazy costume obsessed woman in me reared her head and won the battle. I purchased all that they had left and decided that over the course of time (I have about a year to complete these) I will pick out the quilting and use the nylon for our Hoth Snowspeeder jackets. On top of it, I'll have several yards of batting in the end that I can use for other projects! :) The nylon/batting combo only cost just under $4 a yard too.

Here's the quilted orange nylon I purchased.

Crinkled a bit to show some of the "sheen".

Close-up showing the quilting.
(Thankfully, the quilting isn't close together and difficult to pick out. If it was quilted in tiny squares, I'm not sure I'd want to pick it out!)

Comparing the cotton flight suit fabric [left] to the nylon jacket fabric [right]. Flash on.

Comparing the cotton flight suit fabric [left] to the nylon jacket fabric [right]. Flash off.

I am a long way to actually starting on these jackets, but I wanted to post my fabric finding.

Padme Mustafar Update

I've made some more progress on my Padme Mustafar costume.

The original costume has leather straps that criss-cross the bust area. I didn't want to take the money for real leather, so I used some pleather I had left over from a previous project. The pleather I had wasn't long enough to span all the way across my chest and to my back, so I had to piece it. I chose to piece it directly in the middle where the "buckle" will go, so that the buckle will help hide the seam.

To conceal the edges of the pleather, I folded it to the backside and hot glued the edges down. This way, I didn't have to worry about stitches showing since the pleather is too stiff and narrow to sew in a tube and turn right side out. The hot glue is still flexible enough to bend with the straps around my body.

Here are some progress pictures:

Hot gluing the straps.

Closer view of hot gluing.

The straps on the outfit, after gluing. (I haven't sewn the straps together in the back yet, they are just pinned in place.)

After gluing.

I have sewn the pants, but they turned out too baggy, so I need to re-work them. I am waiting until I am a little further along in my pregnancy before finalizing the size, so I don't make them too tight. Next, I will be working on the broach and buckle. I will be making them out of Sculpey clay.

To see my previous update click Here.