San Fran, CA Bay Area Costumers?

I can't WAIT for this book... and I would SO be into a roadtrip

 

Yeah, Death Valley is definitely off the beaten path...although...it's doable, if people are determined! I sort of like the idea, both for the SW connection and just because...I'd like to see Death Valley.

And, of course, FIDM.

 

FIDM is cool. Don't know if you saw the LOTR exhibit, but it was quite fun. Except they won't let us take pictures. But you can sketch to your heart's content.

 

Sadly, I missed the FIDM exhibits, but I saw sketches by others, and read many many many reports.

Some day...perhaps for SW...I will get there...

Did you go?

 

Not only did they have LOTR costumes there, butcostumes from Last Samurai, Pirates of the Caribbean, X-Men, Matrix and others.

 

A roadtrip to the exhibit sounds like a lot of fun!

 

Did you see the drool spatters I just left on the screen after the FIDM exhibit descriptions?

Er, sorry about that...

 

Well, I finally got my sewing machine back and had some time to sit down and work on my (maroon) battle padme costume. Though since it's a mock up, it's actually purple at this stage hahha.

The sleeves and length of the vest are too long yet, obviously LOL, but the collar is FINALLY close enough to suit me & I got it to fit pretty snugly (which aint easy for someone of my sewing abilility... there is a lot of "unsewing" that happens hahaha)

Anyhow, thought I'd share the pics in progress. So far so good... though I did have to modify it a bit since I am a tad bot more ummmm curvy than Nat in EPI hahaha. But overall I think it should come out pretty accurate (well, I hope hahaha)

Battle Padme Progress

 

It's looking great!!! That's going to be lovely when you wear it!

 

Looks great, keep us updated!

 

For some reason, I'd pictured the white Battle Padme outfit from AotC. Now that I see which one you're really making, your comments about the collar make a lot more sense!

The mockup looks really great! What kind of material are you using for the real thing?

 

yeahhh... well, the action figure called "Battle Padme" is that outfit, I keep forgetting there are other "Padme kicks butt" outfits so I should clarify hahah.

Thanks for the encouragment Lots left to do, but I am making some progress, which is what counts, right??

Fabric wise I am actually deviating from the "correct" velvet. 2 reasons... one is that I've yet to find a velvet any color close enough... and the biggest (and real) reason is that I am just learing to sew and am not quite up to taking on velvet at this point hahah. I found some dark red fabric that is similar to faux suede in texture, but very light. It has several things going for it... the light reflective qualities are nearly identical to matte velvet (most velvet is far to shimmery for costumes that have a period look I think), it hangs very nicely, and I did a test batch of die, a light brown die bath... and got the color pretty dang close to perfect

And the topper is, I can sew with it, and iron it, and not ruin the fabric in doing so!

Not sure what I'm going to do for the pants yet... but I figure that's the least of my worries right now hahaa.

 

Adyn, have you tried this site?

http://www.padawansguide.com/

 

Yes I have, thanks great site for sure!!

Well... today I totally redid my sleeves. I noticed that they didnt really hang/move as well as they should, so I popped in the DVD and watched all the scenes in slo mo with that costume... and it turns out that I had the sleeve construction and how it joins the bodice wrong.

I took notes and redid it and it came out great!!! The 2 problems are #1 you can't tell from a static photo facing front, and #2 the action figure is wrong. (it has to be built the way it is to move... the sleeves actually join up much lower (you'll notice you never get a peek of space between the body and the sleeve, and it's because of it's costruction... also the other clue was following the lining ribbon... there's no point that ever shows 2 parallel ribbons, and yet there is a graceful curve front and back.

Ok, hahaha I'll stop now... I'm just all excited!! Can't wait to get going on the real fabric!!!

 

I'm inspired by you. Maybe I'll actually (gasp) learn to sew one of these days! I find it funny that making chainmail or leather armor holds no terror for me, and I had no idea how to do it either, and yet sewing! Eeep! Sewing! That scares me!

 

Adyn - it sounds like you found a nice fabric for your outfit. It's certainly good to have a material that you can work with easily.

I just looked at a calendar, and realized just how close CIII is. I mean, I knew that it was close, but somehow looking at the calendar and actually seeing the number of weeks... the very few number of weeks... yikes!

Adyn, were you still interested in a getogether to work on costumes before CIII? Personally, I think it would be great. Lots of fun, and hopefully productive. There's just something about getting together with other costumers, even if you're working on completely separate things, that seems to be so encouraging and productive. At least, in my experience, before.

 

Oh definatley!! Anytime is good really... I'm starting to try and work a bit on mine each day. Some big days coming up will be cutting my "real" fabric and dying it! Also I want to do prop day where I make the belt buckle, oh and I need to do the hair somehow hahaha.

Oh man, tick tick. LOL.

So, yeah! Just let me know a good day for you, my schedule is pretty flexible

And on a rotten side note, PadawansGuide.com is down!!! And of course, I can't find my EPI visual dictionary anywhere So I am getting a bit desperate to track down that close-up shot of the belt buckle. I'm a dork & didn't save it to my computer of course LOL.

Hopefully it will either come back soon or my book will resurface. If not, I may have to beg off one of you to scan it for me haha.

 

I'll get back to you soon about a day... I know I can't until next week sometime; I don't have any large blocks of time till after the weekend. Just little blocks, when I can hopefully get little bits done.

Sorry, I don't have a copy of the dictionary, or I'd scan it for you. Hope the padawansguide is back up soon... finding a new server and getting everything switched must be a lot of work!

 

Adyn - I just sent you an email about getting together for sewing.

 

I actually have a machine, though I've hardly used it. I get others to do my sewing way to often. That being said...I need to get back into sewing too...

Oh, and hi to Caroline too...from Johny B, your other Sam/Frodo. I think you'd look better in an Imperial Uniform...I'm talking to Eva about a new one from EP:III.

Oh, and hi to Robert too.

 

********Oh, and hi to Caroline too...from Johny B, your other Sam/Frodo. I think you'd look better in an Imperial Uniform...I'm talking to Eva about a new one from EP:III. ***********

Ah HA!!!! So THIS is the name you use on the boards here!!!

I'd love to go Imperial at some point. One of my great unfulfilled fantasties of childhood was to get an Imperial officer's cap. They used to advertise them in things like Fangoria and Starlog and I remember saving my allowance and sending off for one.

Never showed up.

*Heartbroken, even after all these years.*

- Kai/Frodo/Carolyn

 

Ah, Starlog. Brings back memories.

 

Um, like wow.

 

I was just looking through my OT Starlogs. Yes, memories!

 

Starlog...um, you remember that card for Chanel...well, I kinda did the same thing to a few of the rooms I stayed in as a yout'.

One of my Starlogs that was destroyed in a fire I lived through...sigh...had Nichelle Nicholes, Majel Barrett as Luaxana, and Dr Chapel...Walter Keonig.

And what was her name...Maryam D'Abo, I think. She was a blonde and was supposed to be an alien. It was a cop show. Anyway, she was really nice, and we both had trouble with loud noises...I was 16, I couldn't help being cute. I just looked her up...she was a Bond girl, too...lol.

I loved Starlog.