Padme Amidala Naboo Queen Gowns...HELP!

I need any imformation on fabrics, methods...or any tidbits for the following:

1. Amidala's Black Escape gown
2. Amidala's Black Foreign Residence gown
3. Amidala's Kimono
4. Handmaiden Flame gown
5. Jamillia's only queen gown (with the seashell headress)

Any ideas, info., help or just anything would be great!!!

S_S edit: unlocking

 

The handmaidens thread has information about the flame gown, and the new dye thread about how to dye your material.

Black foreign residence gown... do you mean the corset dinner dress? If so, that would be this thread:Padme's corset gown. Or do you mean the one she wore in Ep I?

There's already a thread you started about Queen Jamillia's gown.

For the pre-senate kimono, there's this thread.

Don't think I can help for any of the others.

 

1. Amidala's Black Escape gown

I don't remember seeing a thread on it after I came here. You could create a new thread on it.

Surlygirlie had done a beautiful version of it so she should be able to offer some tips on its construction.

IMHO, you can check out the 3 3/4" POTJ Action Figure of this gown for some good insights on how the gown actually looks like and its construction. Look under her skirt too for some nice tibits.

The 12" Potrait Doll also offer some help, but the 3 3/4" doll is more accurate IMHO.


2.Amidala's Black Foreign Residence gown

Looking at the list, I assumed it's the Black Gown Queen Amidala wore at Palpatine's Resident after speaking to the Senate in TPM.

Well, personally I haven't seen this gown being done by any fan online; this is probably due to the fact that the design of the whole gown and the distribition of beadings is still questionable? But I'll love to see it on a Fan soon!

 

You may find The Padawan's Guide to Prequel Costuming an invaluable resource.

 

Awwwww, thanks, Darth_Eagle!

Surferdude017, I've made the pre-senate kimono and the black travel gown, and will be glad to help in any way I can...
I think the pre-senate info in the thread StormtrooperPrincess posted is probably a fairly good jumping off point, so I won't elaborate on it at the moment -- but feel free to voice any questions you can think of!

As for the black travel gown... where to start?
It's a beast to do right.
It took me about 14 yards of black velvet, pleated onto an underlining for the majority of the gown.
I'm a lunatic, so I made the spiderweb lace by hand to get it as close to the original as possible.
The headdress has 2 dozen ostrich plumes, ranging from 18"-24"
I made mine as a one-piece gown.
Nostradamus made a version for her daughter that is (I believe) two pieces, a top and a bottom.

I know these are kind of random factoids, and probably aren't the greatest help ever. Since people tend to approach such projects from different angles (some start by drafting the pattern, some want to gather all fabrics and supplies first, some want to start with one piece or another of the costume, etc.) I'm unsure of the best place to start describing the construction of mine to you.
Let me know where would be best to begin describing the actual process, and I can give you a more detailed description of how I assembled mine.


-sg

 

Thanks A LOT surlygurlie! Well, actually I would kind of like to know what fabrics are used in them first so i know what I'm going to be paying. I know the Escape gown is Black Velvet and there is that lace, but what is the brown underpart made of (as well as the symbols)?and what about the cilver in the back? Also, of course, the same for the kimono. Is the outer penguin sleeved part Tafetta? That's the best I can think of. ANd how did the get the blue leyer to do that?

Daniel

 

Where is the closest and cheapest store with patterns near Brea CA?

 

I posted this somewhere on 4/28/2001:

I finally got started on this one after gathering materials for over a year!


I finished the head-piece in January.

What did I do?

I started with a shaped bridal head-piece form. I bought it in the bridal department at Vogue Fabrics (in Evanston, IL). It looks like an oval white yamahke (sp) made of starched canvas with a wire going around the edges to keep it's form. It was about $5. I sprayed it down with a clear acrylic sealer to give it some more support. Then I sewed on two black elastic 'belts' to keep it secured in place on the head. I decided to make 'belts' since the Queen complained loudly that the other head piece got tight on her head after she wore it for a while. One elastic belt goes around the center and is a chin-strap. The other is a loop at the back to go around the pony-tail. This stays on my head perfectly and the Queen was testing it out with no problems.
Then I strung the beads for the front. I found a "V"-shaped art-nouveau charm at PEARL art supply that I inverted and cut off the loop so it would be more like the center piece of the jewelry. I epoxied a tear-drop shaped ruby rhinestone to the center. Then I strung the other assorted gold and red beads for about 6 or 7 inched on tigertail and secured that to the head-piece form.
Then I cut out the rough fan-shape of the feather support out of black plastic mesh. The black plastic mesh comes in sheets for about $0.25 at the local craft store. I cut out the fabric, black lycra swimming suit-type material in a large hood shape. I sewed the face opening then the center seam to the back. I put in a draw-string hem around the neck and inserted black elastic cord. I think this will be the easiest and fastest way to put it on and take it off and adjust it on the squirmy Queen. I then cut a slit in the top center of the hood where the feather support will go, and hemmed it. I then put the hood on the head-piece and wired the feather support on to the head-piece. I used a fairly heavy weight black floral wire and left the ends stick through the plastic mesh for about an inch and a half. This allowed me to shape the plastic mesh a little more. I then hand sewed the hood material around the mesh and into the head-piece form and tacked down the hood to the front and sides of the form.
Then I got out my low-temp mini glue-gun and started gluing feathers to the back of the mesh. I used several bags of smaller, cheaper maribo feathers for this. After the back looked like Big Bird, I started on the front, putting down a layer of more of the smaller feathers to hide the mesh. Then I glued on 7-12" Black ostrich feathers on the front of the feather-covered front, arranged in a fan-shape.
I picked-up these feathers at Joanne Fabrics for about $2.00 a piece. Then I glued about 16 medium-sized red rhinestones to the top of the hood in various places.
The ear-pieces are made of an oversized Easter egg that opens vertically. I primed them first with spray primer and then painted them red with acrylic craft paint. I drilled holes at the top and bottom that I will sew on to the hood and head-piece form after they are thoroughly dried. I sealed the red with acrylic clear gloss and then painted the gold filigree on with gold acrylic paint using a screw-on cap that allowed me to make the filigree more textured. This paint is very thick. I sprayed about 5 or 6 coats of clear gloss on the eggs. After the eggs dried they were sewed on to the head-piece. One more feather in the center of the feather support and an other little black feather embellishment I found to finish off the center, and it is totally finished!

I finished the inner 'blouse' & 'skirt' in January as well. I decided the most practical way to do this costume, and still have it "adjustable" to some extent, was to do it like this. The little Queen will be able to grow several inches and still be able to wear this when EP II is released.
The material I used is strange, to say the least!

 

Fabrics...

On the travel gown... scads of velvet, as we all know.
The fabric that I used under the spiderweb lace is a gold tissue lame (which I'd normally hate, but this stuff was nicer than most) with prismatic threads running through it. It reflects light really nicely, but it's scratchy, so I had to line it.
For the flounce that runs down the back of the gown, I used a black knit that has gold threading through it.
The symbols on the original were created using a very controlled bleaching process, but I was too trepidatious to do that, so mine were applied with fabric paints that were heavily diluted with textile medium (this is an additive that prevents the paints from getting stiff on the fabric), applied in a gradient from pure gold to an orangey gold hybrid. I used a stencil, because I don't trust my freehand abilities.

For my original kimono, I used a heavyweight matte satin. It worked ok, but I didn't like the color -- too lavender, not enough gray. For the redo I've been working on, I layered gray crepe chiffon over a fuscia and blue cross-weave poplin (I know it sounds ludicrous, but I swear, it works!) to get the multi-tonal effect -- I'm very very happy with it.
I believe queenseamstress used an irridescent gray taffeta for hers, and it's lovely.
The big tip for the sleeves is interfacing, interfacing, interfacing. They need to be quite stiff to hold their shape.
The crinkly effect on the middle layer was created by stretching bright purple lycra under pale gray chiffon on an embroidery hoop, and then free-motion stipple stitching (for a video how-to of this technique, go here). When the fabric is released from the hoop and the lycra snaps back to normal, all those little bubbles of chiffon create the texture.

I think in the end, I spent around $300 on each of these costumes, and then another, $70 or so on the kimono redo for the pre-senate gown.
(Very roughyl estimated.)


-sg

 

Wow! That is amazingly helpful. THANKS. I have more questions though.( Don't expect them to stop! ) For the Escape gown, the spider-web lace...what did you use to sew it on. The DVD said a type of cellophane, but what kind. And also, how would i get that effect the dress has, the funny triangles going out all over the place.(at least thats what i see.) Thanks for any help.

 

I believe the name of the water-soluble stabilizer for the spiderweb lace is called Solu-Web. Most largish fabric/craft stores (like JoAnn's) should carry it. It seems to usually be stocked near the sewing machine display area (close to where they do the demos of machine embroidery).

The triangles that stick up/out on the dress are actually the peaks of the pleated sections of fabric.

This is kind of how the fabric goes together:

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The zigzags represent the velvet as it is pleated to the backing fabric (represented by the underline). My pleats weren't quite stiff enough, so they tend to want to all lie flat and nice... I have to rough them up a bit to get them to stick out.


Does that make sense?


-sg

 

yes, it does. did you hear that somewhere or was it just an educated guess. either way, if it works and has the correct look, ill take it!

Me

P.S. On the innermost layer of the Kimono, how did the team get it to have those wavy, curvy crinkly pleats? If you look closely at nemoidian costume, the same thing is used there a lot too.

 

O.K. I have been look at the DVD and the Costume extras part on the second disc to find as much info as I can about the Foreign Residence gown. As far as i can see, it is black faux far with the sleeves either clipped in a large scallop about eight times down or pleated over a backing 8 times down. The inner sleeves to my best guess are an extremely fark teal satin with a slight less shine. The designes, as far as i can see consist of gold mettalic thread faux pearls, black and clear/white and gold sphere beads of different sizes and there is a trim around the sleeves that consists of black and gold irridecent long rocaille beads. There is a strange line on the back that is made of the same satin(?) as the inner sleeve. It's purpose, as my best guess,is to hold the large pleats the are made to give it that amazing train.

And comfirmation is very much wanted

 

That was the conclusion I came to after a whole lot of research. I tested other methods on smallish pieces (about 12"x18")and they never looked right to me.

On curvy pleats -- If you stretch the garment lengthwise while you edgestitch it, you will get the effect, to varying degrees depending on your fabric.


-sg

 

Hey, could you explain edgestrech?

 

Edgestitching is just stitching very close to a finished or folded edge or seam. Usually, somewhere between 1/8" and 1/4" in from the edge.


-sg

 

Wow! Neat! Can anyone confirm or discard any info on the foreign residence gown?

I think now I am going to explain my need for this thread. Well, I am in a VERY rich friends fan film (featuring Naboo, of course)
I am going to be the king of Naboo. I need these for my closet in a scene where i am in my bedroom. It is strange, I know, but it's how he wants it. I am going to be wearing some of a designers creations as well as the foreign residence robe and Jamillias Episode 2 clothes. Also, to add a little more color to the wardrobe he wants the Parade and senate gowns in there too. He is spending $7,000+ on my costumes alone. I have 5 official costume changes. But, I just felt i needed to explain my want for starting this thread.

So, all you peple who did excellent renditions of the parade gown and senate gown
let me have all your info. Fabrics, techniques...EVERYTHING!

Surferdude

 

The parade gown is actually very easy to make, just time-consuming.

here's my version

Fabrics I used - I was limited as to budget, so I hit the bargain bins. For the petals I got lots of what was semi-sheer, shot/shantung type polyester drapery material, in off-white (some were slightly vanilla, some had a pinkish tone to them - the flash in my photo renders it all white, unfortunately). For the undergown, the "tie", and the cape base I used cream satin lining (so as to be not too heavy. As it was, the thing gave me sore shoulders anyway for 2 days afterwards because of the weight!)

The parasol piece I made using the same fabric as the petals. The insignia on the tie and the designs on the parasol I made by gluing silver embroidery thread onto the fabric. The slightly cream coloured interior of the insignia designs is made by the same fabric as some of the petals, glued onto the tie.

For the white face makeup I could only find a white powder, and it still wouldn't go on quite thick enough. I'm better informed for next time - I'll definitely find an ivory base and then powder over top of it.

Surferdude017, please post pictures when you get all the costumes done!

 

SurlyGurlie, do you have any pictures of your handmade costumes?

Surferdude

 

Check the second link in her signature.

 

I posted this somewhere a long time ago too:

July 21, 2000

I followed many of the tips given on this site (especially those from Kay) for making my version of Queen Amidala?s Parade gown. Thanks you very much Kay!
As always, I first washed all the fabric in the wash machine and dried it in the dryer so I wouldn?t be devastated after doing all the work that the fabric would shrink, fray or go ?funny? on me after it got wet and washed.
After viewing the video many times, I concluded that the dress indeed has long sleeves, so first I made a simple long-sleeved dress out of a creamy-white colored satin fabric that I found as a remnant. I made it tie in the back with satin ribbon so it will be a little more adjustable as my daughter grows. I reinforced the neckline quite a bit, since the cape and ?tie? are attached at those points.
I made and cut a pattern out for the ?tie? thing that hangs in front. I sewed in as heavy of an interfacing as I could find to keep it rigid, but yet washable. I Xeroxed and enlarged the pattern detail on the front of the ?tie? from a little design that is in the Queen Amidala paper doll book. Then I enlisted the aid of my husband who can work miracles with an airbrush to do the painting on the front. He cut out a stencil of the design. He sprayed the part that was to be painted with acrylic matte medium to prevent bleeding. Then he sprayed on fabric paint in pearl white, metallic gold and red mixed with the white to achieve the desired effect. Then his super-steady hand drew the outline of the design with a silver pen. This was so tricky. I did not trust myself to do this since the pen caused the fabric to bleed. I ironed the finished design to ?set? it and then sewed three clear snaps to the back of the ?tie? and the mates to the front of the dress.
For the cape, I cut a simple cape shape out of a non-stretchy white blend fabric. I cut a matching lining out of white satin; also both of these were remnants. I did my fabric shopping in May and there seemed to be an abundance of bridal remnants to choose from for as little as $1.00 a yard!
I then followed Kay?s suggestion of using a rotary cutter and mat to cut out all of those petals. That made quick work out of it. This is also a great investment! Thanks for the tip again Kay!
I used about 15 yards of 6 different colors of organza. Some of these were in the remnant department (white whites, silvers and off-whites). The other colors: light pink, light yellow and light copper I bought off the bolt. I paid the most for these fabrics about $3.99 a yard. I chose the shimmeriest fabric I could find, but if I were to do it again I would have used the more iridescent version. That was quite a bit more expensive, but it turned out so well that it would have been worth it!
I made three templates for the petals out of the three different sized plates in the kitchen. I made the templates ?U? shaped and varied the sizes of the ?flat? part of the ?U? when I was cutting the petals out so they would not be completely uniform in size. Then I was faced with the dilemma of fraying fabric.
Kay used spray-starch on her costume. I experimented with this, but found I needed something more waterproof. Back to the acrylic matte-medium. This worked on the samples I did, but how to put it on 300+ petals? O.K I decided dipping the petals in a solution of watered-down matte-medium would go the fastest, but I did not have enough space, clothespins or time to wait for these to dry. On a sunny and dry afternoon, I filled a bucket with the matte-medium solution and started dipping the petals and spread them out all over the back yard to dry. It was kind of windy that day, so I enlisted the help of young Queen Amidala to chase the wind-blown petals. The matte-medium not only gave the fabric more stability, but also I was able to shape them more so they wouldn?t just hang there flat and uninteresting.
Then I did as Kay did and sewed the dried petals onto strips of stretchable lace in rows. Then sewed them

 

And here are Kay's tips from her version of the parade gown taken from a site that I don't think exists any more:

I used McCalls 8952 pattern for the basic dress and cape (girl's sizes 14-16). I made a template for a small / medium / large flower petal out of pattern tracing material, used chiffon fabric and tricot fabric in pinks and beiges. Before I cut the fabric, I sprayed it with heavy-duty starch, let it dry, sprayed again, let it dry, repeated this step about 4-5 times to stiffen the otherwise very soft fabric. I would then fold the fabric enough so I could use a template or two, side-by-side (if there was enough room on the fabric) and cut the fabric with a rotary cutter on a rotary cutting mat. It's easier this way because it gives a much smoother edge to the flower petals instead of a choppy edge from using scissors, and this way, with the fabric folded several times, you can cut about 6 or more layers of fabric at a time, making more flower petals in less time. And of course, I didn't keep track of how much yardage I used for the flower petals, but I'll guess around 15-20. I used a narrow lace seam binding (found in packets at your local fabric store) and I machine sewed each flower petal side by side in a row on the seam binding. I then sewed the strips of petals onto the cape in rows, starting at the bottom of the cape, then another row about 4-6" above the first row, and starting the next row the same, and the rows get narrower the closer you get to the neckline. The larger petals are used on the bottom of the cape, the medium petals in the middle of the cape, the smaller petals on the shoulder area of the cape. I did sew on a few petals by hand to mix it up a bit so the rows didn't look so neat and consistent. On the back seam of the cape, I left about 4" of seem free from the top of the neck line to allow for the shoulder frame / backpiece. After I finished the cape, I worked on the backpiece. This was made out of 16-gauge wire, shaped with needle nose pliers. There were 20 'spokes' made from this wire, a large circle for the frame, and a smaller circle for the inside of the frame to hold the spokes. I created "Curly Q's" on one tip of each spoke to show on the outer part of the backpiece circular frame, and created a circular hook to attach to the smaller ring for the inner ring. Once the spokes were attached to the small ring, I slide them onto the larger ring of metal (the backpiece) and I spread the spokes equally spaced, wrapped sticky flexible floral tape to secure them in place, wired together the raw ends of the circular frame with flexible thin wire and floral tape. I then cut 2 pieces of chiffon (though any sheer fabric will do if well starched) I placed one piece of chiffon on the table, gently placed the circular backpiece on the piece of chiffon, sprayed with 3M spray adhesive, and gently placed the other piece of chiffon over that, sandwiching the wire frame in between the 2 pieces of chiffon. The spray adhesive is tricky, so you might want to take the top layer of chiffon and fold it in quarters or in half first, the smooth it gently over the frame to stick to the bottom piece of chiffon and the frame itself. After the spray adhesive was dry, I hand-sewed the raw edges of fabric, overlapping the edges, then hand sewing. This was a bit time-consuming, but made for a nicely done edge, smooth. I then held a bottle of silver glitter paint (with a fine tip) and made those Curly-Q designs along each spoke on the fabric (just like on Queen Amidalas's backpiece), and let dry overnight. Now..to hold up the back piece..this was a challenge!!! I had to design a harness frame to go over the shoulders, so I made this out of 16-gauge wire too, but I made it a wide frame and 'doubled up' the wire, that is, instead of using a single row of wire, I made a double row of wire so it was a wide frame that fit over the shoulders well, went in back of the base of the neck, down to the middle of the back. I padded this with scraps of tricot I had left over, and fitted this to my daughter's sho

 

SurlieGurlie, whered you go!?!?

 

I'm here, I'm here!

I figured since StormtrooperPrincess answered your question about pictures, and no new questions had come up, that there really wasn't much to add at the moment...


Also, I'm on the road, so my posting is a little sporadic.

Got a question that needs attention?


-sg

 

the items for the escape dress are the following
rit dye black
gold embroery thread ,and black
black satin or silk i prefer stain
refrence