2002 costume projects

Today is the day for New Year's resolutions. First I will reflect on what I did in 2001.

My past costume projects from the year 2001.

I had been working on Quincy's Queen Amidala/Padme battle costume and her Princess Leia costume one year ago over the New Year's week end. But after that, this past year I made the following costumes and parts of costumes:

1.) Three little Jedi Padawan costumes for Jedi Mike's kids.

2.) Taylor's little hand maiden costume.

3.) ChicagoVader's robe alteration and inner robe alteration.

4.) Queen Amidala black travel gown--for Quincy.

5-11.) 7 more Jedi robes for the fanfilm......(I made 5 in one day)

12.) Darth Sidious costume for Vince and the fanfilm.

13.) A vader-style two-piece quilted suit for Darth Moraud. This was not easy at all!

14.) Altering Tate's Renaissance cape for the Moraud costume and making gauntlets

15.) Ben Kenobi ANH Jedi robe and long tunic.

16.) A New grey Jedi tunic and inner costume for Jedi Mike.

17.) A new Jedi tunic and inner costume for Vince.

18.) Yoda costume (not complete yet) --now for the feet and cane.

19.) Snowtrooper coat for TS826;

20.) Altering ChicagoVader's Vader suit. (That was a big project)

21.) Vader ANH glove/extensions for Chicago Vader as well. Very tedious!

22.) Tusken Raider robe for SP826.

23.) A doll-sized Leia (ANH) costume for the naked Princess Leia I won on eBay.

24.) A Renaissance dress for "Blue"

25.) Dark Woman costume for Bridgette

26.) A unique Jedi costume for Katie

27.) A Renaissance dress and cape for me.

28.) Quincy's Renaissance dress and SW EP II kimono (that now needs to be altered for SW EP II accuracy)

29.) Jedi Robb's complete Jedi costume (this was the most elaborate one I have made so far)

30.) Vince's Grand Moff Tarkin costume.

31 & 32.) Two more Jedi tunics for the fanfilm.

33.) A new lightweight Jedi tunic for me.

34.) A raw silk Jedi tunic for me. (that was a project!)

35. & 36. & 37.) 3 Hogwarts witch/wizard robes for us for Halloween, plus 5 witch/wizard hats.

38. & 39.) 2 Grim Reaper costumes for TK412.

40.) A fantastic Jedi costume for JediJeff!!!!!!

41.) An Imperial Officer's uniform for TK808

42.) An Imperial officer's uniform for me

43.) My armor.......I have the helmet done.......the rest will be worked on in 2002.....

44. & 45. 46.) 3 leather Jedi belts

47.) A Jedi-inspired outfit for me to wear to more formal non-costume events, but it could easily be converted into a costume by just adding a Jedi robe, belt, boots and saber.

48.) A Jedi costume for Quincy

I am sure I am missing some other things I made in 2001.

....I think I made a few more Jedi robes.......I can't remember any more.

......and a total of 8 Imperial officer's hats in 2001.....more to come in 2002!

Now what will I do in 2002??????

 

My, what a busy little bee you've been.

I.. uh, made a few lightsabres.... yeah.

I plan on hopefully completing my Jedi armor and have all my robe alterations made by May 10th.

 

My most immediate costume projects for 2002 are:

For me & my family;

1.) Finishing my trooper armor.

2.) Amidala/Padme white battle costume for Quincy

3.) Amidala/Padme maroon & gold costume with both headpieces for Quincy.

4.) Finishing the Yoda costume.

5.) An other SW EP II Amidala/Padme gown (the rainbow dress??)


........................................

Possibilities in which other folks have expressed interest:

6.) Boba Fett (all soft parts)

7.) Jango Fett (all soft parts)

8.) Anakin EP II Jedi costume

9.) Ringwraith costume

So far these are all maybes.

.............................

And then in all of my "spare" time, I will try to make as many more Imperial hats as I am able.

 

Celebration II is just 4 short months away! I better get off the computer and back to the sewing machine!

 

I am gonna help a member of my local FanForce chapter, NashvilleForce make himself a Jedi costume for Star Wars Celebration II and my own personal project will be to make a Chewbacca costume, hopefully in time for DragonCon 2002.

 

Chewbacca! COOL! I can't wait to see it!

 

I am going to play it conservitive this year.
-Dark Jedi
-Scout Trooper
-Endor Rebel Trooper
-Death Star Hooters girls uniforms
-a Mon Calamari officer/pilot
-Rebel pilot
I would list the Slave Leia bikini like I do every year but I am going not say anything to keep from Jinxing the whole thing again.
Buzz

 

.......so I finally motivated myself yesterday to actually do some work......

I finished off 808's uniform pants.
I still have to get something from the fabric store to finish his jacket.
I am dying to switch all of the thread colors in all of my sewing machines from black to white (so I can work on an Amidala/Padme costume), but I am still going to need the black thread for a bit of sewing on the jacket.
So being too lazy to change my thread, I decided to cut out some more hats. I have been thinking of ways that I can do them more quickly, and I will write out a tutorial on exactly how to make these very soon.
Anyway, the only thing I thought of as far as being able to speed the process up, was to cut out multiple hats at the same time. I got out my rotary cutter and rotary cutter mat and cut out 4 hats. 2 at a time in two different sizes.
That sped that up a little. I got a little bit better control as I cut out every piece. The rotary cutter is like a super-sharp pizza cutter. I was cutting through 4 layers of fabric at a time. So I cut out 4 hats. I cut out the interfacings for two hats, because that was all of the interfacing I had. I need to pick up more. I also need to pick up an other size of washer to make more greeblies. I interfaced the two hat's pieces that I could. Then I sewed together one entire hat last night.
Like I said, I will write out a tutorial on this very soon. It does take at least 4 hours to make a hat.
It takes a lot longer if I also include the fabric pre-prep and the drafting of the pattern. I figured though, that for the part that I did last night; it takes almost an equal ammount of time cutting, ironing, sewing and pinning. There is no way to do that quickly and have the hats turn out as sharp-looking.
I am trying to figure out how much I would charge people for a hat like this. I have seen the hats from some of those other costume-making places and they are like $30-$35. But they don't have quite the sharpness and quality of construction as the ones I have made have. Then there are the hats from the guy in the Pacific. Hmmmm......
I suppose you could ask yourself, "Do I want people to cower in fear as they approach me in my Imperial hat, or will they hand me their car keys?" (cuz you look like a valet)
I get paid somewhere around $ 15 an hour at my job. Making these hats is a lot harder than what I spend the majority of my time at work doing. If I were going to charge for my time and materials (under $10 per hat) I would come up with a price of $70. Which then would be about twice as much as the hats made by the other costume company.

 

"Chewbacca! COOL! I can't wait to see it!"

Neither can I! Check out this EZBoard forum dedicated to Wookie costuming:

Learning the Ways of the Wookie.

 

**reads through Nostradamus' list of projects - both past and present - and promptly faints**

 

kreleia--now, do you wonder why our present car is too small for our costumes?

I guess it might be a good thing that I have a 45+ hour-per-week job. Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to move around in the house anymore either.


If we don't get a new car/van before C II, we will have to rent a van.

 

Nope! You've convinced me. **bows to the almighty Nostradamus**

I'd love to see all of these costumes in person. Unfortunately, C II doesn't look like it's going to happen for me. Ah well. Maybe next time (or at DragonCon - or if you ever visit a con out west).

kreleia ^.^

P.S. For those who might be remotely interested, here's my 2002 project list:

0. finally finish that infuriating parasol piece on the White Parade Gown
1. Completely re-do my Ep. 1 Pre-Senate Amidala Gown
2. My own Jedi Robes and lightsaber
3. Possibly some Jedi Robes for my husband (if he ever says he'd wear them)

...and, yes, that will take most of the year for me.

 

I made Vince a Sith cloak in 1999, so he could hang out with Queen Quincy, in her first Queen Amidala costume (the Senate gown) and me, in my first Jedi costume for Halloween. I wasn't sure if he would wear it, he is so shy and reserved and would love nothing more than to draw absolutely no attention to himself.
The next year, when I made Quincy the Parade Queen Amidala costume he said he wanted to be a Jedi.
I made myself a new lighter weight Jedi costume and I made Vince one as well. We showed up for the opening day of Magic of Myth (In Chicago) ......and the rest is history.
I made Quincy the black travel gown last year and I made the Emporer's costume for Vince.
He got so into it, that he carved his own cane and finished it ......and....... solicited a horor make-up artist at AlphaCon to do his face like the Emporer with prosthetics and paints..... It was so cool-looking!
He even frightened Anthony Daniels in the elevator at the hotel at AlphaCon. We confused the heck out of poor Mr. Daniels. Quincy was dressed as Queen Amidala and kept whining to her "daddy" the Emporer, and her "mommy" the Jedi Knight about how she really wanted to go swimming in the hotel pool. We were in a glass elevator and we could see the pool. Quincy's little friend Taylor was in the elevator too, dressed as a handmaiden and her daddy was in the elevator dressed as a bikerscout. Mr. Daniels just wanted to get to his room I think. I kept flashing back to the little interview on the EP I video that Mr. Daniels did when he said "...Darth Vader! My father... Oh My!" and then about the therapy sessions C3PO would have to endure after finding out that bit of his buried family history.
Quincy was chatting away with Mr. Daniels after that.....I have a couple pictures on my new site (link in my sig)
Right before DragonCon, I made Vince the Grand Moff Tarkin costume that was a surprise hit! He wore that costume the most!
The first and last days of the con, he wore his Jedi costume. There must have been an other convention running concurrent with DragonCon in downtown Atlanta that weekend......BumCon2001. (rolleyes)
Anyway, whenever Vince ventured out of the hotel area dressed as a Jedi, the bums flocked around him like pidgeons to stale bread crumbs. On the other days of the convention, Vince wore his Tarkin costume. The bums steered waaaaay clear of him! Vince also said that someone gave him a straight-armed salute. Not like I am into anything like that, but that was GL's original intention of the design of the Imperial costumes from the movies. It is so scarry that it looked that real. (eek)
Photographers from the SW Insider also took photos of Vince for the Insider when we were at DCon. They said the costume really fit the look of him well. I keep looking for his picture in every new issue. SW Insider also took pictures of Quincy & I which have not as of yet shown up in an issue. Soon hopefully.
I had Vince make his Imperial rank insignia pin for his uniform, so he would feel like he made some of it too.
He wore the Tarkin again for Halloween. I think it is his favorite costume. There is definitely a picture of that costume at the link in my signature.

Needless to say, if you make your hubby a costume, he might wear it. After he wears it while, he might like it. Then he might ask you to make him more costumes.

Now I have the leverage of being able to say we need a bigger car because all of our costumes won't fit.

 

This past year I made a few lightsabers. Some turned out cool, Others not so cool. I have a jedi costume, well a makeshift one, minus the boots and robe. I am looking into starting the robe. Wish me luck. I still do not know what to do about the boots though. I have to keep the $$$$ down on this one. (need money for all the EP2 toys)

 

You gotta have boots!

Speaking of boots, I just received my new boots for my Imperial Officer's uniform in the mail yesterday. They look great!
They are black, but I have seen them worn with Jedi costumes as well and look fabulous. They are synthetic riding boots that I got on line. There are several styles starting from as low as $30-$35.
I have heard of people painting these boots brown. It is possible.



Remember--


No matter how excellent your saber hilt looks you gotta have boots.
Nothing ruins the look of a great costume more than not having proper footwear.



You heard it here.
(I should write that in quattrain form)

 

Here are a couple pictures we took last night of my new officer's uniform:

http://www.geocities.com/tkvanb/imperialcostumepageone.html

Note the boots on both costumes. These are the synthetic riding boots.

 

Just a few questions:

1) What material did you use?

2) How did you make the rank insignia?

3) What was to total cost of the fabric/materials?

4) do you carry a blaster with those? if so, do you make a holster for them?

5) does anyone remember the link to the PVC blaster tutorial?



BTW, http://www.sportsmansguide.com/ has boots on sale, cheap!

LX1M - 51856 - Men's Used German Leather Goosestepper Boots, Black $12.97

WX0 - 49646 Men's New Leather Officer's Boots, Black $19.97

 

Nostradamus, I like how you work! That actually sounds like a very plausible way to get Rob into costume. Start out small, and get more elaborate as his interest begins to grow. Hmmm.... I know he *likes* Star Wars - definitely not onto the fandom level that I am, but he *has* admitted his liking. I think he's just iffy about the whole dress-up thing. He sounds a lot like Vince did at first, actually - he would really rather not draw the attention to himself. That, and I think he feels like he would actually have to start calling himself a nerd or geek if he dressed up (to which I say, "What's wrong with that!?" ).

Anyway, I see I'll have to start out carefully. I suppose I won't dump him head-first into Stormtrooper armor. He might run (or try to). **laugh**

kreleia ^.^

 

Obey Wann:

1) What material did you use?

I used a synthetic blend, a gaberdiene (sp). The color, weight and texture (and price) were mostly what I paid attention to. The material looks exactly the same on the front and the back, so you can cut out pieces without worrying whether you have it on the "right" side. I washed all of the material in cold water first then tossed the fabric in the dryer. It is really important to me to use fabrics that are easy to care for. Although, I may have the jackets dry-cleaned. I wouldn't use wool, because I want to be able to wear the costumes for extended periods of time. Vince wore his olive uniform for two days in a row at DragonCon. He did spill a bit of mustard on the tunic. The spot came right off.

2) How did you make the rank insignia?

Plexiglass scraps-I cut them out by hand, sanded and filed them and it took a long time. I painted the squares with acryllic paint, clear matte laquered them and then attached them to a piece of aluminum flashing that I attached to yet an other piece of plexiglass. I painted the sides of the base with a silver testors paint marker. Right now I have velcro on the back to attach it to the tunic. Vince has a pinback on his.

3) What was to total cost of the fabric/materials?
Hmmmmm.
The olive fabric was $5/per yard. I used about 8yards/60" width. I bought all of the fabric there was in that color though, incase I made a mistake, I would never be able to match it again. I got almost 10 yards, but I had a discount coupon, so I ended up paying about $40 for that. The jacket is completely lined with the same material.
The black was less than $5/per yard. I think it was on sale for $2-$3/per yard. I bought the entire roll of fabric (12-14 yards). I made two black officer's uniforms. I will have pictures of the second one soon. I ran out of the first black fabric when I got to making my pants, so I had to find a close match. That was $5 per yard. I goofed-up the first pair of my pants and had to get two more yards.
There are 9 heavy snaps and shoulder pads on the tunic. The pants all have pockets and combination draw-string/elastic waists. That was ~$10 bucks for all those notions.
The hats and the jacket collars and fronts are faced with fuseable interfacing...that was several dollars per yard as well. I used a black satin lining material for the sleeves of my jacket, since I was running low on the material. That was $1 per yard/2 yards/45"width.
The belts & buckles are from Tandy leather. $2 for the buckle, ~$18 for the belt.
They were on sale last month and mine came to less than $20 including shipping. Flexible paint and clear finish were $5 per can. The code cylinder/chalk holders are plastic ones that I chromed with model paints. $3 per holder and a few bucks for the paint. THe greeblies are concentric washers that I put together---maybe $0.25 worth of washers per greeblie.
We throw plexiglass scraps away at work. So that was just junk that I recycled. Same with the flashing. That came from a garage repair project a couple years back.
Then there is thread and stuff like that.....All-in-all and including the boots, our costumes cost ~$125-$150 each. I have about 22 hours on average of fabric prep and sewing time in each.
This is not an easy costume to make.
Vince's costume cost a little more, because we got a speeding ticket in Marietta, GA when we were on our way to get his boots. The cops pulled us over for doing 42 miles an hour in a school zone speed trap (that we didn't notice the signs for) Vince was doing the driving then.

4) do you carry a blaster with those? if so, do you make a holster for them?

No blasters for the officers. We command the stormies to pull the triggers for us. Although, since I am a lower rank, I could carry a weapon.
I would make a "traditional" SW blaster holster in black someday.
For now, I just need to be able to command respect while hastling people to see their I.D's at CII.

5) does anyone remember the link to the PVC

 

PVC Blasters are here or here

 

Nostradamus --

Thank you VERY much for the info. I very much appreciate it. BIG TIME.


I'm printing that out, so that I can show my wife what she's in for.

 

or here

(sorry SC)

 

thanks, FP!!!

 

kreleia--
Your husband may stand out if he is NOT in costume at CII!

Vince covets my armor!
We are going to have work something out.
I will need his body as my living mannequin when I am putting some of the pieces together.
All troopers are supposed to look alike.....you may not know exactly who is under the helmet at all times. (wink, wink) Vince and I have the same shoe size AND we used to have the same waist size too.....no amount of diet and exersize will ever get me back there though. Fortunately, the dive-skin is very flexible or I could get an other. I will be rather resourceful with the velcro and other fastenings. I think it might work.
Quincy also covets the armor. It will be a few more years until she is tall enough to wear it.
Celebration II is going to be such a blast!
I talked Vince into working 10 hours of door duty with me. I figured, every con we have been to, we end up standing around for a couple hours a day while people take pictures of Quincy (& us too). This way we will have a purpose while doing so. Vince bought it, plus he really, really enjoys all of the 501st guys. He can always find someone to hang around with---FP & all the other smokin' troopers

 

Ok I get the hint.. Gotta have boots.



hey wait.. Yoda was a jedi and he didn't have any boots. Maybe I can just go barefoot.


Seriously.. The best I have come up with so far is some Rubber Boots but they look well like rubber. Not to bad of a look but still not great. I have Army Combat boots. They are Black Though. Maybe I will have to go with a Black Jedi Costume?? Not sure. I could easily do that. I have the stuff.