Padme Amidala Padme's Picnic Dress v2.0

Alright, I just went frame by frame over the P-19 video when it shows the corset up-close. (my eyes feel blurry now! LOL!)
You know the part where Trisha unpins a piece of paper and what looks like a plastic bag from the skirt? Well, I could read what it said on the piece of paper and it says "P-19 Broach". Confirmation of the broach!
Anyway, I think I got a handle on the swirly pattern, yay!, and I think I've spotted at least two of the cut-outs down the center of the embroidered panel. This thing just keeps getting more and more intricate...ack!

afaeryschild, have you also spotted the cut-outs down the center panel? Please say you have and I'm not just going wonky!

As for Ann of Green Gables...*looks around sheepishly*...I 'think' I've seen it once or twice. *runs away*

 

You go Obi-Dawn! After studying the photos of the dress over and over I was pretty certain a brooch was used to clasp the cape together. Leave it to you to read the note in the video for confirmation

I ordered a bar pin on ebay a few days ago but it may be a half inch longer than the 'real' one. I blew the vanity fair cover up to scale and I think the pin is only about an inch long. I did see a few bar pins that small at the antique store the other day, so they are out there.

I can't wait to see how everone's corset cut-outs turn out. I think you can stop the fraying by turning the raw edge under and fusing the fabric together with interfacing or no-sew hem tape. I'm probably going to skip on the cut-outs though since I don't even have crinkled silk for my corset. I am learning to let go of a few details on this dress.

Back to my embroidery! I REALLY wish I had used the small white flower trim they sell at Jo-Ann's. In retrospect if I had to do this dress over again, I think that's the way to go. *sigh* It's too late to turn back now though.

-Kay Dee

 

Obi-Dawn, I looked at the making of pics and could see the squares right down the centre of the front panel. I think I only saw two. Its easy to spot now that you pointed them out.

I'm starting to panic, I'm wearing this dress to a rennaisance festival and have less than three weeks to finish it and I'm not even half way done embroidering the corset and I haven't started embroidering the cape yet or done my headband. The embroidery takes so long, I work on it for hours and barely get anywhere, at least the roses are pretty quick. liannb

 

Wow, I'm gone for a few days and we have two more pages. I love this board!
My mom bought both the Simplicity magazine and the "Star Wars" pattern (Sim 5843). I thought you might be interested in some scans so here you go:
the magazine
magazine closeup
pattern inside pics
pattern back

The pattern has not changed any of my plans. It's good for a quick and dirty version but I think the patterns suggusted before it came out will give better results with less work. Still, it's cool to see SW in the pattern books.
Oh, the B/C undergown is pretty dead-on for the nightgown Padme wears in Coruscant!

 

OK, right after I made my last post yesterday we had an electrical storm and lost power for NINE HOURS!!! I was going insane! I was all ready to get started on sewing my corset and that seriously killed my plans. Stupid AEP.

Anyways I am so happy with my corset fabric! The color is slightly uneven in a few areas, but they will be covered up by embroidery and it's barely noticeably. Overall, the color is perfect! I held it up to my Vanity Fair and the color is dead on!

Now if only I can find the right color for my skirt/dress material...

 

liannb, I totally know what you mean about embroidering for hours and feeling like you've barely done anything! I've gotten quicker at it and if I can finish off one 'flame' section a day, then I'm joyously happy.
I started (because I just couldn't wait) to hand embroider the gold swirly design around the parts of my embroidery that's already done, and it makes it look so cool! It really adds that special little 'oomph' to it and I am so very glad to be adding it!

Mrs_M.....9 hours?!?! Glad to hear you are happy with your dye job though. Now, get cracking!

 

Obi-Dawn post some pics soon if
you can! I am still working on my
pattern and I would love to see what
you have got! I'm sure it's great

I see three cutouts in the front after
looking for a while. They are on my
new embroidery pattern. I thought
I was going nuts for a while too!
Some pics you see one, some pics
you see two, some you see all and
some none at all! Sneaky little things!

Congrads Mrs.M! I'm glad you got
your fabric done! I am about to start
dying my fabric too so I'm happy to
hear someone has gotten great results.

Thanks Jenny! I wanted to see what
the pattern was all about and now I see
that I am thrilled with the ones I have
chosen instead :hew::

 

Thanks for the support guys! It's so necessary when you're working on a project! LOL -- it's like, complete a step, go post about it, move on to next step...

So anyways, I sewed the pieces of the corset together. It seems like it's gonna turn out nicely. I'm just worried about it being too thin. Hopefully the embroidery will help with that, though!

I'm off to the fabric store for embroidery floss soon. What colors are you guys all using?

 

Alright, I am cheating, I bought the star wars simplicity pattern, and thats what I am using to make the dress. It's sad isnt it? But I am not putting those ribbon flowers on how it shows, they are so inacurate! I am going to embroider my own or something. And the sleeves at the top seem way to baggy, so I suppose I will have to make them smaller at the top so they are not hanging off me in the picture. I am so jealous of you all, you can all sew so well, and here I am, a beginner stuggling along with probably the easiest pattern out there. Pathetic. *laughs at her self* Oh well, it works, I just have to get it done by halloween. *sighs* So much to do... Well, I have this awesome thread if I need help with anything!

-Amarie

 

Amarie, I have some advise for your sleeves. Don't cut them smaller, just hand gather the fabric on the shoulders a bit.

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

This way your sleeves will still have some poof to them at the top with out drooping off your shoulders.

I'm so happy, I cut out and trimmed my cape today! I took a few photos, but it will be a while until I develop this role of film.

Well, it's back to embroidering my skirt and top. This is really taking a LONG time. At this rate I probably won't be ready to embroider my corset until October! Then again, I may start the corset in a few weeks and switch back and forth between items for variety.

-Kay Dee

 

Obi-Dawn, are you doing the gold swirly design in a quilting stitch? Liann

 

I'm thinking I'm going to try and redo my corset before Dragon Con, because the poly boning is evil and I just think I could do a better job with the detail. Last time I used oil paint to add the designs but I might consider embroidery this time around..

Any suggestions for someone whose never embroidered? I cross stitch sometimes if that's a start..

On a side note, I started embossing 5 yards of velvet (thank good for Joann's 50% off coupons and 10% discounts!) today for my Amidala nightgown and robe. Is anyone else doing her night gown?

-Van

 

Obi-Dawn,

How did you apply your roses to your headband? I am going to embroider my own appliques, but I'm not sure how to attach the roses to my straps and my headband. Is there some kind of applique glue/adhesive?

I've also started to cut out my muslin corset - I looked at a few screen caps from the p-19 video. Do you agree that there is no seam down the center of the corset?

For those of you working on adding the gold design to your corset, this screen capture might help

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

(I wasn't sure if this image was already floating around as I captured this one myself)

-Kay Dee

 

Kay Dee, I eliminated the middle seam from my corset, it interferes with the embroidery.

I had just been inspecting the screen caps before I saw your post. you can see the details really well on yours. liannb

do the time posted times go by a certain time zone or whatever the time is where you are because the time that came up on mine is off but I think when I've posted before it was right.

 

I was wondering about the gold embroidery too. Do you guys think it's possible to do the gold embroidery with a sewing machine before doing all the hand embroidery? I am worried about my uneven stitches.

EDIT: I also eliminated the center seam from my corset.

 

kay_dee, that is almost the same exact screencap I was staring at forever the other night! Thanks for posting it. You can see the cut-out on it very clearly.
I'm fairly certian that there is no seam down the center.

About the gold embroidery: Mrs_M, I think it might be easier to add it on after the other embroidery. My take on it is that it outlines and then seems to swirl around the yellow areas. It's like it surrounds the yellow shapes and then 'takes off' from them. Know what I mean? Anyway, I have no idea how to quilt liann, so it's a fair bet that I'm not doing a quilting stitch! LOL! You guys know that I totally just make this stuff up as I go along! When I started my first corset, I didn't even know that there were different types of embroidery stitches!

Catatonic_Van, are you talking about the dark blue robe she wears on Naboo? Check out this thread: Padme's Naboo Nightgown.

 

By the way, did you guys see that the DVD will include (among many many other things) the "P-19" making-of movie? We'll be able to see it in fuller and clearer detail on larger screens now! Ahh, I can't wait for Nov. 12th!

To see other features of the DVD (including deleted scenes -- possible dark senate dress and blue mid-driff dress appearances??) here.

 

Don't worry Obi-Dawn I think we all make it up as we go along! I'm ashamed to say the things I did in the beginning!

For those of you tackling embroidery for the first time, or for those of you who want to learn more there's a great book on the market called A-Z of Embroidery Stitches. It is an awesome reference guide, and has very detailed colored pictures!! It runs about $20 but you will use it forever!!!

Ok, in the next weeks I will be working on yet ANOTHER picnic dress so I'm in this with ya'll again. Every version looks closer and closer, that pretty soon I think Trisha Biggar will consult with Obi-Dawn on how she should do Episode 3 costumes! LOL!!
No seriously, O-D you just raise the bar for all of us perfectionists!

I have been lurking and reading about all this gold square stuff, and haven't had a reason to give it a lot of thought. But now, I need to reproduce this dress again, and so I want to give it my all and make it as close as possible. I don't know if I'm going blind or what-but I don't see the squares as "cut out" maybe just that one screen cap doesn't do them justice. Are ya'll saying that these squares are cut all the way through the corset so that you can see skin through them? Or am I completely off?
Ferd

 

Hi FERDS

Check out this pic form kay_dee:
http://www.angelfire.com/art/kathys/corset_gold.jpg

It looks like the cut-out is on the out crinkly fabic and it reveals another layer of fabric underneath. What do you think?

 

Oooo.... Galleries of theatrical posters, print campaign from around the world, and never-before-seen production photos Maybe there'll be new shots of everything! Like the wedding gown...

 

Ok-I don't want to be a naysayer-but I'm having a hard time grasping the "cut out" theory. In the last pic you posted (with the arrows) I do see somewhat of a square (with stretched out corners) but it really looks to me just like shadows in the fabric from the crushed folds--other areas of the corset appear that darker shade in the same picture. In this pic also- this "square" seems to be quite a bit away from the centered portion of the corset where the embroidery seems to be concentrated. I don't know why it would be there

In kay_dee's other picture (just a few posts above) the pic shows quite clear the center of the corset bodice. You can see a sort of square like shape in the center that the gold embroidery seems to be kind of pointing to it. But the square doesn't seem to be cut out--just because I would think you would need to stabilize the area to be able to cut it out(like a buttonhole) It appears to be an embroidered design-looks like satin stitches done in a slighty darker shade of gold-and it doesn't look to have stitching around the square-

Of course-this is just looking through my eyes, and going by a very small picture.
I don't know--I just want to be sure before I cut through a layer of fabric in the center of a highly adorned corset. What do you think Obi-Dawn ? You seem to weigh everything pretty heavily before tackling it
Ferd
*Edit*- just in re: to the brooch talk -I went to a thrift store yesterday and I found this really cool gold flat pin-that looks kind of like the original-except it has a perfect little satin rosebud in the center in that great rose pink color. $2.95 not bad!! YEAH!

 

here, Ferd, check out this picture. It's the full version of the pic Kay-dee posted on her site. If you scroll all the way down you see more of the square. They are easier to see without the arrows there. To me there looks to be about 4-5 showing in this particular shot (a few are under the cape).

To me it looks like they are seriously some sort of ribbon or something threaded through the corset layers. I mean the squares are in line with each other vertically and are all exactly the same size...does that even make sense? LOL -- I know what I'm trying to say, anyways...

StormtrooperPrincess, wow I didn't even notice that in my first read-through of that article! Yay! New promo shots!!!

 

"What do you think Obi-Dawn ? You seem to weigh everything pretty heavily before tackling it."
LOL! No I don't! I jump headfirst and hope it turns out okay!

Whatever they are, they are uniform in shape and size and don't look like embroidery to me. I wish we could just e-mail a letter full of questions to Trisha! Hmmmm..maybe we can, but I don't know how much luck we'd have getting a response. Hmmmmmmmmm.....

 

Obi-Dawn LOL! I thought I was the only one who did that. I'm seeming less and less like a freak everyday--I tell Chad (my hubby)everyday "See, I'm not crazy. There's a bunch of people out there JUST like me." I feel so safe here. My happy place

Now, in more girl speak ,I quote Steel Magnolias "I'm so confused I don't know whether to scratch my watch or wind my butt!"
This gold square thing has me stumped. The pic Mrs.Mayim posted, does make it look less like the shading thing-but doesn't look like a cut out either. The "little-designer" in me can't grasp why it would be there. Function? Embellishment? I don't get it.
Trisha, Please here our pleas!! What are they? And why are they there?
Ferd

 

They are there to make it more difficult for us.