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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Padme Amidala Padme's Gold Picnic Dress v3.0

Discussion in 'Costuming and Props' started by kay_dee, Feb 10, 2004.

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  1. Obi Anne

    Obi Anne Celebration Mistress of Ceremonies star 8 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 1998
    Wow that is such a beautiful dress, and so close to the original.

    I have one pic of the progress of my skirt.

    [image=http://www.monostar.net/enji/bilder/blandade/johannakjol.jpg]

    As you see it isn't hemmed yet, and I haven't attached any of the flowers. Since I will have to be finished in less than a week, in reality I just have two half days to finish it, I wont attach all the flowers, colour the bigger flowers green or do the vining. I'm still not sure how I will solve the vining, but I will probably just attach the bigger flowers quite loose so I can take them off and dye them in a later stage.
     
  2. wraith13

    wraith13 Jedi Master star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 20, 2002
    The place where I work at get sample shoes sometimes and I picked up a pair of white slippers from Asics for $10. I thought were for ballet except they have non-slip soles (would be hard to do turns in them). They also have two straps on the top. Nobody was able to figure out what they were until I saw them in a magazine...they were gymnastics slippers!
    I have since seen similar slippers from other brands, like Adidas. These type of shoes would be a great alternative to ballet slippers since they seem to be more durable and are more cushioned(great for walking all day at cons).
    Here's a link to the pair I got:
    just click on gear, then women's, and it's on the second page.
    www.asicstiger.com/onitsukatiger/

    -Wraith
     
  3. Obi-Dawn Kenobi

    Obi-Dawn Kenobi Manager Emeritus star 4 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    Obi-Anne, your fabric is the perfect color! Looking good! :D

    Wraith, those shoes certainly do look comfy. :)
     
  4. Sister_Sola

    Sister_Sola Manager Emeritus star 4 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 19, 2002
    Your skirt fabric looks great Obi-Anne!
     
  5. Petite_Padme

    Petite_Padme Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    May 25, 2003
    Thank you sooooooooo much, Obi-Dawn, for posting my pictures! The site looks wonderful!

    Thank you all for your feedback on my dress. It took me five months (including 2 1/2 months of college) to finish. As you can see, I didn't have quite enough time to attach the shoulder straps before the masquerade ball, but it looked okay without them. Maybe next month when school's out I can finish attaching them! LOL

    Obi-Anne, your skirt looks great! It looks like you opted to use a pattern without gathers--like the real skirt!
     
  6. Obi Anne

    Obi Anne Celebration Mistress of Ceremonies star 8 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 1998
    Yeah, I've used a full-circle pattern. I found it much easier and it really gave me all the width that I wanted, even more than I wanted I should say. It isn't fun having 27 meters of hem, three layers with a cirumference of 9 meters each.
     
  7. kreleia

    kreleia Jedi Knight star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 14, 2000
    GORGEOUS work Petite Padme!! Wear it with pride!! :)
     
  8. Obi-Dawn Kenobi

    Obi-Dawn Kenobi Manager Emeritus star 4 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    You're very welcome, Petite_Padme! I'm just so glad we all got the chance to see your end result because it's just gorgeous. :)
     
  9. MiraxTHorn

    MiraxTHorn Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 22, 2000
    Hi Everyone,

    Since we've been so focused on shoes lately, I thought I'd chime in with my new wedding/Padme shoes. I bought these shoes from www.tictactoes.com in Champagne color.

    They are especially made for dance so they are super comfortable! I'll wear them with my wedding dress and then use them for my Picnic Dress after that. A slight departure from what we normally think the right shoes would be, but they will blend well with the color of my skirt and be easy to wear around conventions.

    Regards,
    M.

    BTW, the company also has several styles that would be close to the ballet slipper look everyone loves so much. They're in their catalog, though, not the website.
     
  10. kay_dee

    kay_dee Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 15, 2002
    MiraxTHorn, I can vouch for the Tic Tac Toe shoes. I got the flat mary janes called "Shag" for my picnic dress and they are very comfortable.

    http://www.mrboots.com/general_store/itemttt-522.html

    The kind of leather used on the sole is flexible and soft, similar to a ballet shoe but thicker (like Jazz shoes if anyone has taken dance).

    Anyway, I know they are a bit more than payless shoes but I've been very happy with mine :) I know you'll love wearing yours for your wedding!

    -Kay Dee
     
  11. Jedi_Samantha

    Jedi_Samantha Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 15, 2002
    Ahh so from the land of cutting through duck cotton.. Comes...

    Corset troubles.

    Now, the directions SEEM very clear. I think I did a good job on my mock up. Of course that was only 1 layer. I'm going to be doing 4-5 i believe.

    Starting with closest to my body..

    Lining, Duck cotton, interfacing, (thin unknown fabric), Final.

    Now maybe Dawn or Nos or SG or someone can give me a crash course in corset making.

    I obviously have to sew all the layers together at once... (i think) Now, Is the boning going into just 1 layer? Or all 5? I can't figure out for the life of me how to get a nice little "tuck" i guess is the word to put the boning into.

    A nice tutorial of such in english terms (I dont know many sewing terms) would be quite helpful please!!! Thanks girls :)
     
  12. Obi Anne

    Obi Anne Celebration Mistress of Ceremonies star 8 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 1998
    I can finally say that I'm finished with most of my dress, I wont use a sewing machine for it anymore. Everything that's left now is to attach all the flowers, I've attached around 20 big ones and 60 smaller ones, but that will have to do over Jedi-Con, then I will have all the time in the world to finish it.
     
  13. FERDALUMP

    FERDALUMP Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    May 12, 2002
    Guess what I found, Guess what I found! (doing happy dance)
    I found a material covered in the exact "X" shaped famous Picnic sequins at a local fabric store. I wasn't even thinking picnic-ness when I glanced up and saw it--Ahhh! I almost ripped Chad's arm off running to look at it. Bad news....It's on an $80 a yard silk--Ouch!! Good news: the fabric is covered with these (and another kind of sequin) so I think I could get several hundred sequins out of 1/8 yard. So--now I have to decide if I want to put my little hands to work hand puching sequins, or hacking up expenisve silk :confused:

    I snatched a single sequin off of the raw edge so I could share it with ya'll [face_devil] but it was so tiny it fell out of my shirt pocket. :_| I'll go back this week and get some to show ya'll.

    ~Ferd :)
     
  14. kay_dee

    kay_dee Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 15, 2002
    Samantha are you using a commercial corset pattern? I've always followed the directions that came with mine to put my corsets together.

    If you have drafted your own pattern and are working without any kind of directions at all you might want to visit http://costume.dm.net/content.html and check out some of the tutorials on Elizabethan underpinnings. This site also has some instructions on corset making:
    http://www.softcom.net/users/unicorn/construc.htm

    There are actually several different ways to construct a corset - so you kind of have to choose the method you think will work for the item you are making. Do you want it to lace up the back? Do you want it to look more like a bodice with hook and eye tape closing the back?

    I don't have time to write out a complete tutorial - especially since I'd just be re-typing instructions that I paid for from my patterns, but here are my pointers.

    1) The way you put in your boning depends on what kind of boning you are using. Is it the nylon boning that comes in it's own casing? If so, you just pull out the boning - sew the casing into the inner layer of your corset or lining (usually at the seams), then slip the boning back into the casing. (If you read the first page of this thread I know there are tons of boning tips there). However, if your boning does not come with a casing I believe you will need to add twill tape to your lining, and then slip the boning into that. Since you only plan to have one layer of duck, I don't think you can sew in channels the way that many Elizabethan corsets are made.

    2) You could handle your duck and lining layer this way:

    Cut all the pattern pieces and then place your lining layers on top of the duck layers (matching the pieces). Baste them together at the edges (this is the 'flatlining' discussed on the first page of the thread) and handle them as as 1 piece. Then, go ahead and sew panels together making your seams. After that, you can either sew the nylon boning casing or the twill tape to duck side of the lining you have just constructed (most of the boning will go at the seams).

    3) For your outer layer and interfacing layer do the same 'flatlining' technique used for the lining. Then sew the panels together. Now you have what almost looks like 2 corsets - one that is your outer layer, one that is your inner layer. After you embroider your outer layer, you can place the outer layer and inner layer together (right sides together) and sew the top edge together and bottom edge together. Turn it inside out. Then you add your hook and eye tape (or whatever fastening system you want to use) and modesty panel to the back and you are done.

    -kay dee



     
  15. spacelady

    spacelady Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 16, 2003
    Is there a pattern for putting the flowers on the corset, or do you guys just put them on at any spot? Thanks. :)
    ~Spacelady
     
  16. kay_dee

    kay_dee Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 15, 2002
    Spacelady - if you are applying something like ribbon roses or rose appliques you can put them on in any pattern you like :) If you are wanting to embroider your corset there is a link to Obi-dawns corset embroidery pattern (and a few others) on the first page of this thread.

    -Kay Dee
     
  17. Jedi_Samantha

    Jedi_Samantha Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 15, 2002
    Kay Dee thank you SOOO MUCH!!!!!!
     
  18. Jedi_Dajuan

    Jedi_Dajuan Administrator Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Dec 30, 2002
    Hello ladies. I just wanted to stick my head in a dn tell you that I am working on my Padme Picnic tutorial for my HTML class. Two birds with one stone here :D

    You can find it at freewebs.com/dajuancostume. I am going to spring for a real account on there shortly, so you won't have to type all that mess.

    Please let me know what you think of the site in general. I'll be adding content every couple days, so it is very much a work in progress. If there are huge problems please let me know. I'd like it as perfect as possible for class. General suggestions are also welcome.

    :)
     
  19. FERDALUMP

    FERDALUMP Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    May 12, 2002
    Jedi_dajaun I couldn't get your link to work--I think you accidently put a . instead of a / I was able to access it when I made that change. (or maybe it's just my computer)

    Here's a link that should work: Click Me

    I think the site is set up very nice. You've done a great job so far, and I can't wait to see more of your costumes and your take on the Picnic dress construction process.

    Good luck with it and thanks for sharing!! :)

    ~Ferd :)
     
  20. kay_dee

    kay_dee Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 15, 2002
    Jedi Dajuan, your site is looking great so far! Lots of people have trouble getting frames to work so you've mastered quite a bit in your class so far :)

    I have one bit of advise regarding putting e-mail addresses on web sites. (This is something that none of my web design teachers ever covered). I recently had some huge problems with a web site that I run. It turns out that there are people who write virus programs that search for e-mail addresses posted on web sites. Then they try to get their viruses circulated by sending them to YOU! (Some general advertising spam collects e-mail addresses that way too). It got so bad I was getting 10 or more virus messages a day (My computer was never infected - thank goodness).

    One way to disguise your e-mail address and prevent programs from harvesting your e-mail address is to code every letter and number in html. My HTML text book had the code - for example a "a" is & # 9 7 (without the spaces).

    You can read up on it here: http://www.cdt.org/speech/spam/030319spamreport.shtml

    That's not to say that every time you have your e-mail address posted you will get spam. I don't know why some addresses are found by these programs and some aren't.

    -kay dee

     
  21. Jayne

    Jayne Jedi Youngling star 2

    Registered:
    Oct 16, 2002
    Well, here's how I do corsets, maybe it will help you.

    I start with the duck or coutil layer, making it my base. I zig-zag the edges of every piece, then I sew the pieces together. Then I press the seams and press them open, and then use the zig-zag stitch to hold them open. Basically I zig-zag over the edge zig-zags to hold them down. If you think before you cut out the base layer, you can cut an extra inch on each side seam allowance and actually sew down the seam sides with a straight stitch, forming a boning chanel. If not, just buy twill tape, grosgrain ribbon, or make bias tape from the base material that's about 1/2" larger than the width of the boning (i.e.- 3/4" for 1/2" boning, 1/2" for 1/4" boning) and sew it to each boning line. Usually on a pattern the boning lines follow the seams, so I just sew over each seam line. On a corset I want to be more cylindrical, like the fireside gown, I'll sew two or three bones side-by-side so they don't flex as much. It'll give you a more rigid look. When the corset has chanels I add the boning and sew it in. Make sure the boning pieces are at least 1/2" from the top and bottom (or whatever's your seam allowance) and then sew them to stay centered.

    I then sew together the lining and fashion fabric, checking with each seam to make sure it matches the seam lines on the base. Sometimes the boning will make it smaller, especially if you use the edges as chanels as opposed to a separate tape. After I have the three pieces, I layer them:

    lining - right side up
    fashion fabric - right side down
    base fabric with boning - boning side up

    Then sew along the top. After that, turn so that the lining is on the inside and press the top down. Turn the sides to the inside and sew down, I just overstitch carefully. Usually I turn the fashion fabric and the boning fabric to the back as one piece and the lining to the front, I think the fashion fabric looks better that way. Also, if you thought to leave enough room, you can insert an extra piece of boning on each side after sewing this piece, sewing the edges under forms another chanel in the base fabric, and putting a bone in there will keep the edges from puckering when you lace.

    To finish the bottom, I have two methods, depending on how I want it to look. One is to turn it like I did the sides and sew a narrow hem along the bottom. This method will leave you with a stitch-line across the bottom, but it will be faster. The other way is to turn the fashion fabric and base fabric over the lining and hand-stitch them together. This way will prevent you from seeing a seam on the front, but it has to be done securely by hand. Either way works.

    Then I put in the grommets. I always try to use an awl and a pen to make the holes, not cutting. If you can stretch the fabric apart enough to make the hole without cutting the grommets will stay in a lot longer. If I'm handsewing holes instead of grommets, I put a metal washer on the back and sew my satin-stitch around the washer. It adds an extra strength to the holes that makes them last longer.

    Ugh, I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but I can't see what it is. If you have any questions, feel free to pm or email me, or post here!
     
  22. FERDALUMP

    FERDALUMP Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    May 12, 2002
    Here is some pics of the sequins I found that I think are **thee** Padme Picnic dress sequins.

    See them Here!

    ~Ferd :)
     
  23. kay_dee

    kay_dee Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 15, 2002
    Very cool find on the sequins Ferd! A year ago I saw some polyester fabric with those sequins on it... I think it was about 20 or 30 dollars a yard. I've always thought of picking some up, but that would mean I'd have to re-do my costume wouldn't it!

    -Kay Dee
     
  24. surlygirlie

    surlygirlie Manager Emeritus star 4 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Aug 1, 2000
    Whoa, Ferd! Those sure look like the real deall!
    Great find!


     
  25. liannb

    liannb Jedi Knight star 5

    Registered:
    Jun 30, 2002
    Those sequins look perfect.
     
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