Tips & Tricks Fabric Finds!

Nice find Kaydee!

Is there a way to artificially make the 3D bumps?

 

The dress is actually purple. The silk velvet can be purchased at silkconnection.com

http://silkconnection.com/products/fabric/silk/velvetbo/6399455.htm

As for the Obi-Wan fabric, I was also wondering if there might be a way to crinkle it. Alley Cat Scratch has a tutorial on crinkling, but supposedly only the chemical only works on protein not cellulose fibers.

Costumers Manifesto has a tutorial that is for any kind of natural fiber. Obi's pleats are really really small so I'm not sure it would work. I'd almost imagine you'd have to run the temporary pleat gathering stitches at regular intervals down the length of the fabric (not just top and bottom), then pull and twist it. The stitches could be done in a contrasting color to make them easier to rip out when it's all done.

- Kay Dee

 

thanks, Do you know how many yards the dress takes by chance?

 

Thanks for the tip - just sent them an order for swatches of a few different flannels.

Got some crinkle-cotton that looks very similar to Obi/Ani Ep3 Jedi material at JoAnn a week or two ago, was pretty inexpensive - IIRC, <$70 for 2x 8-yard bolts, one "natural" (looked like Obi's outer tunic's color, at a glance) and the other white. That was all they had at that store, or I would have gotten more , but thought I'd throw that out there for others to check for themselves in their areas. Good luck, Jedi!

Eric Tank
SL-7171 Garrison Tyranus/501st Legion

 

I really think you should do a full mock-up of the velvet coat first. I believe I may have used 7 or 8 yards for mine, but someone I chat with needed more than that for her version of the costume. I hate for anyone to run short on fabric because they only purchase 8 yards. For my seccond version I purchased 11 yards and I hope that will be enough to use part of it for dye tests.

- Kay Dee

 

On the Obi-Wan fabric, you might try boiling it in a weaker dye solution for a really long time (like 8-10 hours). It might cause some fibers to draw up and create a similar texture. . .

 

In Paris i have found a fabric very close to the real one !

 

Boil for 8-10 hours? I think all the water would evaporate and the fabric would burn.

- Kay Dee

 

Benae, if you could keep your eyes open for Queen Apailana's insane silver/gold fabric, that would be awesome! It's more silver than gold, and is a brocade "one shot" that Trisha found in London (go figure), but anything similar would be a HUGE help! Thanks!!

 

I have not done a trool of the NYC fabric stores lately, but the last one I couldn't find anything even close for Queen Apailana.

That's why I asked Trisha Biggar about the fabric. So I'm content that I will never find silver/gold herringbone since it was a sample/one off. But I still can't even find silver/gold geometric with maybe a stripe. The closest I found was gold/white/bluish grey and it was $20 per yard.

But since the NYC store stock changes all the time, B_Q please keep it in mind on scout trips. Thanks

 

Nope, you can keep it on a low boil for that long. . if you've got a dye vat/industrial soup tureen. . .It works like a champ and will soften just about anything.

 

If I see anything, I'll be sure to let you guys know . I need to eventually pick up my wedding dress fabric, so I when I go to do that I'll look for other stuff too

PS: I completely forgot to mention that I found fabric with the picnic sequins on it, but... they were a silvery black color Is it possible to paint them with spray paint or an air brush? I didn't get the price on it, but its at 214 w 39th St, store B (between 7th and 8th avenues). They are Ayazmoon Fabric, it's towards the back on the right hand side at about eye level. They were on a black sheer fabric with alternating rows (3 of a basic round sequin and 3 of the 'x' shaped picnic sequin. I'm still on the lookout for the perfect white or off white ones too. The same store also had crinkle silk chiffon in just about every color I could imagine.

 

Thanks for keeping an eye out. I personally wouldn't think painting them is the best idea though (probably would chip and scrape off).

I saw several bolts of fabric in LA with the petal sequins, but they were red, silver, hot pink, bright yellow, etc. Nothing in white or off-white (pale champagne).

- kay dee

 

Hum, I have a large pot but I think once it's filled with fabric it still wouldn't hold enough water to boil that long. It would need to be the size of a huge garbage can, and I don't have that sort of set-up.

Besides, the way this fabric is reacting I don't think that simply boiling it will give a vertical pleated crinkle pattern.

I did a test with a 1/4 yard scrap. I gathered it every .5" for about 6" as a test. Then I did the Fortuny Fake boiling method. I think I'm on the right track, the down side is that you can see a gap in the fibers where I pulled out my gathering stitches. I tried steaming them out, but it's still an eye sore.

Doint the Fortuny method with only a gather at the bottom and top doesn't work. The pleats are way too far apart and big.

Perhaps I'll try again. I hadn't preshrunk the fabric so that could have caused the gapping between fibers. I also might try using my gathering foot on the machine rather than cinching the strands (may cause less stress on the fibers of the fabric).

Here's a scan of my first attempt.

[image=http://kay-dee.net/costumes/obiwan/pleated1.jpg]

- Kay Dee

 

Okay I found this fabric:

[image=http://www.fabricclub.com/store/stores_app/images/images_181/D4395.jpg]

Does it look like like the kissy kissy gown fabric (it would need to be dyed.

 

I went on a big fabric hunt yesterday. Sadly I didn't find what I needed, but some other familiar fabric jumped out at me!

Anakin ROTS Silk

I found a source for the crinkled silk used on the Ep III costume. (I believe it's for his inner most tunic?)

The store is Satin Moon Fabrics in San Francisco. They will do mail ordering. So, for those who want to spend the $$$ for authentic fabric they have it in their swatch file under Kathy S for mail order reference.

32 Clement Street, San Francisco. Tel. 415.668.1623

Description:

95% silk 5% Lycra 29.98/yrd 43" wide

[image=http://kay-dee.net/costumes/anakin/anakin-silk.jpg]

Obi-Wan Ep III


Sorry, I didn't get a swatch of this. It was a long day - but I'm 99.9% sure I saw a wool VERY close match to what is used for Obi's cloak (I say very close because I believe his was vintage?). I'm sorry I don't remember now which store it was! It could have been Satin Moon, but it could have been at Stone Mountain and Daughter in Berkeley or Poppy Fabrics in Oakland. Not very helpful since I don't have a store name or swatch. But it's out there in the San Francisco Bay Area some place. LOL!

- Kay Dee

 

I just called Satin Moon and had an intersting conversation with one of the women who runs the shop. A client told her recently that she saw them on the Star Wars DVD.

Sure enough, Trisha did shop at Satin Moon in San Francisco. I looked at the photos in Dressing A Galaxy more closely, and sure enough one of the women I met is in the photo with Trisha!

There are tons of pictures of Trisha in Britex (we've known for a while now she shopped there) and I spotted a photo of her in Stone Mountain and Daughters in Berkeley

Satin Moon will check with the manufacturer of the brown silk today to see if they can get more. I told her there are people all over the world who do Star Wars costume replicas who are quite interested in this fabric. She wondered what kind of costume it was used for and I said 'It's for one of the Jedi in Star Wars. A sort of wrapped shirt or tunic he wears'.

I wonder if Trisha went to the Ribbonerie as well? Afterall, they have a type of ribbon used on Padme's costume that Britex didn't have.

Too bad so many of these fabrics are limited productions. By the time the movie comes out it seems a lot of stuff is discontinued and hard to find because they probably bought entire bolts from the fabric stores.

- Kay Dee

 

UPDATE ON ANAKIN SILK INNER TUNIC FABRIC

I just spoke with Satin Moon Fabrics in San Francisco, and they are ordering another bolt of the brown silk used for Anakin's costume. She said that this fabric was discontinued by the manufacturer, so there is a very limited supply left. Due to the high price, she was only able to order one bolt and after that sells she's doubtful if there will be anymore available for her to purchase.

The 13 yards will probably arrive in stock next week. My swatch should still be on file under my name (Kathy S) for reference. But for additional reference give them this info:

Name of Fabric: Stretch Crepe
Fiber Content: 95% silk 5% Lycra
Color: Sable # 194
Price: $29.98/yard

- Kay Dee

P.S. - Thai Silks sells something called pebble crepe. I'd have to see it in person to know if it's similar or not. But even theirs is $25.00 a yard for white and it would have to be dyed. The black is $28.10 a yard. Thai Silks is known for reasonable prices - so perhaps the silk at Satin Moon is not too highly marked up.

 

While digging through my pile of business cards, I found two that I rememberd to write on lol.

21 Century Fabrics
212-575-4863
Olive Green/Mustard Stretch Panne for $5/yd (great color for the green robe - but it's stretch)

Stretch-It Inc.
212-626-7800
Deep Purple Panne (non-stretch) and scrunched Crinkle lilac organza (perfect for AOTC Purple Handmaiden) Sorry I didn't get a price, but I think the velvet was $9/yd

 

Ooh, I've got another request, if I haven't been a big enough pain in the bum. . .I'm also looking for a four-way stretch zebra spandex, though I want it with a lot of white space, like this[image=http://www.electrakittydesigns.com/angelzebratights2.jpg]
[image=http://www.electrakittydesigns.com/angelzebratights.jpg]
I know this stuff is custom-printed, so I'm fully expecting to have to paint it myself, but I figured I'd see if anyone here might see some

 

I came across some nice suede that could work for the Padme RotS sleeveless dress
[image=http://images.stoffe.de/product_images/popup_images/1595_7_03.jpg]

The pic is from a German fabric internet store. www.stoffe.de
Here is the direct link to the fabric: http://www.stoffe.de/modestoffe/modestoffe-herbst-/-winter/wildlederimitat-3/beige/pid9593.html (c/p)
They also have it in a color called sand which could be nice for the Leia Ewok dress.

The price isn't that nice: It's 9,99?/meter.
And they don't list shipping prices for countries ouzside of europe but I'm sure you could send them an email.

 

Bumping this thread as well because it's a great idea.

I'm currently on the hunt for an orange wool/wool-blend.

 

Something like this? http://www.trimfabric.com/01-wl-272.html

 

HOLY CARP. For $5 a yard???

 

If you have Fabricland or Joanne crafts outlet, they have good sales biweekly, and wool blends are often inexpensive. $5-$8 a yard.

I'm using a black wool blend for a cloak, $40 for fabric and thread.