Fast costume..

Hey all this is my first time posting here, I have always wanted a SW costume but I am 15 and 650+ is out of my hands. I saw a older post about a ROTJ luke suit selling on ebay for $66 dollers and I said, woah, I can afford that. The sad thing is I can not find another cheap costume like the one I said earlier that I can get for the Episode 3 premire, if anyone can help that would be great.

 

We're not allowed to list people who can make you a costume here. My best advise to you is to check Ebay constantly. Cheaper costumes do turn up there from time to time. Otherwise, perhaps you might make something yourself.

 

i made my jedi costume for under 20 bucks(except for the sabers)

 

try obi wan's jedi academy if you know someone that can sew- they have good tips...

 

The best thing you can do is stay away from the complicated, tricked-out costumes, keep the materials simple (think lots of cotton!) and be creative. Hit thrift stores for accessories too, like boots and belts, and modify toys for sidearms. Home Depot, Wal-Mart, etc. are your friends for quick, low-cost lightsabers.

But as I know well too, never give up on eBay either.

 

And when picking out a costume take note of the non-sewable items. Those usually end up being the most complicated to pick up--and the most expensive.

 

MastaMario1, FYI, some of us started out with "Ghetto" kind of costumes when we first venture into SW Costuming. The secret to not look ghetto is to Assemble your costume parts correctly and intelligently.

For example, for ROTJ Jedi Luke Costume, you can get away with a Mock-Turtleneck Long Sleeves T-Shirt, Black Pants and a Black Belt. To make the inaccuracy look less obvious, you can opt to do the Tatooine version by adding in a simple Black Vest or wide Tabbards(to get the pleated look, can go for Black Cheesecloth or Wrinkled Cotton) and Black Cloak (just get a Cloak Pattern from your nearest JoAnn or Walmart during their $1.99 sale or just do a Full Circle Cloak with hood). Can't afford a riding boots, then either wear a plain black shoes or make a shoe cover/leg wrap (see Legolas and the Elven Warriors Boots for ideas) Bet if you look around well for the parts from your wardrobe, for lowest prices of the cloths and is patient, you can get the whole suit done for minimal cost.

For Prequel Jedi, look around in 2nd-Hand Clothing Stores or your local Salvation Army Thrify store for a Karate Gi that open entirely in front and maybe the pants. Can let it remain white or you can just dye it into your choosen color using Multi-Purpose Dye like Dylon or RIT (and 1 can is cheap; my lunch cost more than it most days!). Thrown in a high color plain t-shirt or mock-turtleneck Long Sleeves T-Shirt, a few metres of cloth to make the Tabbards & Obi and a wide or even normal belt. Can also throw in some small pouches or make yourself using 500ml Mineral Water Bottle, some vinyl or even thick vanguard sheet and lots of glue and finisher/laquer.

And for EU and NJO kind of Jedi costume, well, there is lots of freedom to what you can wear as long as it look decent and there is a lightsabre in your hand.

Frankly, as long as you are not aiming for a character wearing complex and customized costume or want 100% accuracy, you can get away with a relatively good and simple looking costume. The secret is, as long as it looks like it belong to SW and be humble when others praise you about your costume.

 

The fastest costume I did was my Imperial technician.

Bought a black jumpsuit/coveralls. Attached two Imperial cog patches on the shoulders and that was it. An hour including travel time to the store!

Mind you I had the hat already, and the boots are my generic black riding boots which I use for a few other costumes. The patches I picked up at Dragon*Con but you can get them at just about any decent sized convention or online.

I should still get a belt for it, but as it is it was good enough to get me into the 501st.

If I had to buy it all up front I'd say I spent less than $200 total. Even on a minimal budget you can probably put the items together over time. Don't forget with things like riding boots or the hat, they are multi-purpose, so the investment in them is worth it.

 

Do a search online for StarWars Costumes, there are a lot of folks that sell them. Also consider talking to folks that participate locally in Fan Force Groups for the Force.net and see if anyone can help you out.

Walmart sells dollar a yard fabric, and it's worth looking there.

Isabella