Padme Amidala Padme's Gold flower outfit

liannb- Your embroidery is lovely! I can't wait to see more of your dress. Did you make the bun covers or did you buy them?

Van-You look wonderful in your dress, it looks like you had a great time at the convention!

Katherine

 

Van, welcome! Your pictures are adorable! Thanks for sharing them with us.

For everyone else who wants to know what *the* tablecloth and curtain look like that people have been talking about, check out this great pic from Catatonic-Van's site:pic

 

Katherine,

I made the bun covers. I had to rip it out about five times till I got it right. They don't have drawstrings though.
liannb

 

To anyone who would know. This dress is on my project list, and I was wondering what fabrics would be strong enough to make a fairly sturdy corset.

I know Katherine's site mention Coutil--what exactly IS that?

 

liannb-Great job on the buncovers! I'll buy mine, when I get around to it. I have all sorts of costumes but no accessories for any of them

rvqavalon-Coutil is a tightly woven cotton specifically for corsets. You can buy it from suppliers like Fathingale's (www.farthingales.on.ca) or Grannd Garb (www.granndgarb.com). You can also use drill or twill in corsets, but in my experience the coutil is highly superior. It's a lightweight yet stiff fabric. It has a double herringbone weave so it won't stretch out of shape. It gives much cleaner edges than the other fabrics I've used too.

My corset came from a corset pattern (Laughing Moon) instead of a dress with a corset type bodice. Though I wasn't making an exact reproduction I really wanted to get the corset looking very corsetty, if that makes any sense The corset was the only part I didn't have to think about actually, since I had already made a few I recognized it instantly when I saw the Vanity Fair cover. I still wish I bought that. I think I knew the moment I saw the dress that I wanted to make it, though I didn't decide to until I saw the movie

Katherine

 

HI everybody I´m from México and I´m attempting to make this dress, but since the movie arrived just 2 weeks ago I didn´t have a good look at it.
I discovered this site about a week ago and it´s great all your tips on how to make the dress have been great, well see you around

 

Hey Sakura! I'm sort of new here too. I'm trying to choose between making this (picnic) dress or the pastel costume. The Padawan's Guide is a great site to get pics from, that's where I've seen the best ones.

Enjoy the boards!

 

I've been looking closely at many many pictures, mostly at The Padawan's Guide. Now I'm full of questions.

Firstly, about the corset. The embroidery is there all right, but in the high-rez picture it looks to me like there's trim of some sort on the corset itself, giving it texture. Am I crazy?

Here is what I mean. If you look, you can see the light gold textured stuff (to me, it looks like some sort of overlay maybe?) and underneath in the little gaps, you can see the darker gold color, which I assume is the corset fabric. But the colors are close enough so that when you back off it just looks like texture. My brain hurts, can someone help me out?

And also, what *is* it holding the cape in front--looks like a pin. *argh* *braincramp*

Help? Please?

Thanks,
Kate

 

Kate,

The strange bodice material was talked
about in the end of page 8 on this
forum (any one thought of making a glossary
of some type for this really long thread?)

I originally thought it was ribbons woven
through but I now think it's cuts that open
to a different under fabric that is not crinkled.

As for the "broach".. it's my biggest challenge
with this outfit.. I have no clue.. I will probably
be doing one in silver with a rosette glued to
the middle and snaps on the back on either
side to attach the cape.
Hope this helps.

 

Hello rvqavalon and welcome to the group! Here are my opinions about the corset fabric. I believe that a crinkle textured silk fabric in a golden yellow color was used on the outer layer of the corset. This is why you see a texture to the entire corset. I also believe there are squares cut out of the overlaying crinkled silk that reveal a flat looking fabric underneath in several spots. You may also notice that a gold floss was used to outline all of the embroidery on the corset. To me, it looks like they not only outlined the main embroidery with this gold, but extended the gold thread to make a thin design beyond the embroidery.

Here are my notes on the corset:

http://www.angelfire.com/art/kathys/corset_gold.jpg

Here is a blown up image of the pin:

http://www.angelfire.com/art/kathys/pin.jpg

I am starting to think this pin looks a lot like the little dragonfly charms they sell at the needle point store. I may pop over there and look at it again today.

Well, if any of you are interested this is how my skirt embroidery is looking like so far:
http://www.angelfire.com/art/kathys/skirt_emb.jpg

I thought that a tight daisy chain stitch would work, but I'm having trouble getting it tight enough I think that colonial knots would have looked better, but it's too late to turn back now. I also don't have time to embroider the vines. Even though my resluts are less than spectacular, I figured it was worth posting a scan so the rest of you won't make the same mistake I did! I really think I should have just taken the sequin route. Oh well.

-Kay Dee

 

Aaw, I like your embroidery, kay_dee! Thanks for the great explainations, to both kay_dee and afaeryschild.

 

kay_dee, your flowers look good. Keep it up!


LOL! The gold embroidery thread that kay_dee points out in her link (http://www.angelfire.com/art/kathys/corset_gold.jpg) has been driving me crazy. I want to add it to mine, but I'm not completely sure of the design. Should I do it by hand or machine? *sigh* Oh for a high res close up of the front corset panel.... Even with the other embroidered designs I continue to second guess myself. ACK!
I think once I'm done with this second corset I'm going to take a *picnic* break and work on a different project. I'm feeling a bit burned out on it.

 

Well, PERSONALLY, I *like* your costume, Obi Dawn.

 

kay_dee Your flowers look great. What is everyone doing for the larger green flowers on the skirt. I was considering floss or ribbon embroidery or just not bothering at all.
My skirt is almost done. I've used three layers of chiffon, only the top two have vining and so far only the middle layer has the little white flowers sewn on. For the waist band I just made a sleeve and put elastic through. All thats left is to hem it and sew flowers on the top layer.
Today I blew up Obi-Dawns sketch of the embroidery for the corset to the right size and hopefully I can start on that tomorrow.
I still have to sew flowers onto the blouse.
liannb

 

Obi-Dawn, how did you actually DO the embroidery on your corset? Machine?

Kate the overwhelmed

 

Hi everyone, about your question on how did Obi-Dawn make the desgin on the corset I belive she said a few pages back that it was all hand made. I hope this helps you.

Oh, I saw a picture today and I it´s true, the dress is made of a dresss underneath the corset but I think it should be easier to make a skirt and a blouse ¿what do you guys think? I´m open for any sugestion.

 

HAND embroidery? Sheesh, and I thought I'd read this thread too much as it is.

I've never made a dress, so I wouldn't know what to tell you. Sorry! Wish I were more helpful

 

Kate - yes the corset is hand embroidered if you don't happen to own an embroidery machine. Believe me, I checked into them and they were over a thousand dollars. As for the green flowers on the skirt and blouse, I'm using a single strand of floss to hand embroider mine. Two strands made it just a bit too thick.

Sakura - The costume is actually a seperate blouse and skirt. This is shown in the making of episode ii video, P-19 on the Official Star Wars web site.

http://www.starwars.com/episode-ii/video/making/making11.html

The blouse and corset are on one hanger, and the skirt is shown on a seperate hanger. This web site has screen shots from the video:

http://www.padawansguide.com/padme/makingof_flowered/index.htm

I hope that helps.

-Kay Dee

 

Hi all

Kate, don't get overwhelmed yet! Yes, the embroidery on the both of my corsets is all done by hand. The first time around I was using three strands of floss at a time and the results were a little bulky. This time I've reduced the floss to one strand and am much happier with the results. My embroidery is much flatter and smoother as a result. It's still not perfect by any means, but it's getting better. It does take a lot of time, but I really enjoy it and just work on it while I watch tv or while my hubby is busy posting on the boards here. (I gotta have something to do! )

As far as the components of this costume, over the past four or five months that some of us in this thread have been studying it, the idea, and my personal belief, is that it is made up of three separate pieces.
1- Skirt
2- Corset with attached sleeves and neckline
3- Cape
(4- Headband with snoods)

The P-19 video was really helpful and is the resource used to realize that the sleeves and corset *appear* to all be one piece. The thin straps are attached to the corset with a swath of fabric behind it that looks like the top neckline of a blouse.
bodice
We know from what Trisha Biggar said at the recent Star Wars Celebration that this piece has a hook and eye type closure up the back. For simplicity's sake, it seems to me that it would be easier to dress Natalie in a one piece bodice than an underblouse with a corset over it. Having the sleeves attached to the corset would reduce the costume needing any fit readjustments while shooting.
Of course, this is all conjecture based on what we've seen and heard and it could be totally misguided. I prefer the idea of having a single bodice piece for the ease of wearing it and plan to make my second version as such.
I've also come to believe that the skirt has a yoke around the waist. This would reduce the bulk from the gathers by placing them below the waistline.
skirt waistband/yoke


lainnb, that's so cool that my sketch is helping you out! Have fun! As for the larger flowers on the skirt, I used some cut from a trim I found at Hancock's. Let me see if I can find a picture for you....
Ok, on the close-up fabric pic you can see them. The ones I used were a golden color and I just LOVE them. They also come in a light green. I think they were close to $8 a yard, so I used them sparingly.
flowers

Hope some of this helps.
Have a great weekend everyone.
-Dawn

 

Thanks, Obi-Dawn! That was helpful. For the varied colors in your 'flames,' did you use variegated floss or just two different colors?

I haven't even decided when I'm doing this dress yet...pathetic. I feel lots better about a project if I know everything that goes into it though, so really, I'm not procrastinating much. Also, I'm waiting for patterns to go on sale since my $$ situation doesn't allow for full-price patterns. *sigh*

 

Kate, actually, I'm using three differet colors and a gold to outline. I've listed the numbers for them a few times throughout this thread...somewhere.
I think it's great that you are researching as much as you are before making it. I didn't have many close-up detailed photos, besides the Vanity Fair cover, to go from when I made the first one. Hence, here I am doing it over!

 

Hey Obi Dawn,

How long did it take you to make the dress???

I would luv to know, thanx.

 

Obi-Dawn, Are you using verigated green floss for the vines on the corset?

liannb

 

*dies*

I just lost most of my afternoon and all of the evening reading through the rest of this thread.

And I haven't even FINISHED my rennaisance festival outfit yet! Eh...well, it's either this dress or the pastel one, and as much as I love that one, this one will be easier through the sheer amount of advice, number of pictures, and the fact that there are a plethora of patterns out there that can be used. Sheesh. I am totally clueless as to how to go about the drapey part of the pastel dress.

But that's a different story. Thread. Whatever.

Thanks all for being so-oo helpful. And PERSONALLY, I want more PICTURES! Hehe.

Oh gosh...embroidery never was my thing. I do better with cross-stitch. Well, there's a first for everything, I guess.

About the skirt--I know many people tried many different versions of trimming it out, can anyone tell me which was the easiest and/or most accurate? I mean, they all sounded like wonderful ideas, but like I said; I'm an information-collector. I enjoy storing useless trivia in my head. I guess it's a personality thing.

And goodness me, I want this to be darn near PERFECT or I just *know* I won't be happy. [Insert hereditary perfectionism here]. Thanks all for being so nice about it.

--Kate

Sorry for the huge post.

 

Kate,

For the skirt I used Simplicity patern 8715 and I did the vining by machine which I found quite easy, I had started doing the vining by hand but realised It would never get done and the machine work looked much better.

I was just looking at the simpicity website and noticed they had a new costume patern 5843 which is pretty much exactly the dress without the cape, the thumbnail does not show the version I am refering to but if you click on it you can see it. It that picture it doesn't look like there is a blouse just sleeves but the drawing shows that there is a kind of blouse or at least extra fabric above the corset.
liannb