Han Solo Costume

I know there is a thread for Han Solo pants in this forum, but there didn't seem to be any discussion about the rest of Han Solo's costume.

I will soon be starting Han Solo's ANH costume and I'm hoping someone out there may have seen this costume at some point or has had experience making one so I can pick your brain

[image=http://kay-dee.net/costumes/han/han_b.jpg]

I've been to Padawan's Guide, Obi-Wan's Jedi academy, Dewback Wing ASAP and Raider Quest doing research. It's all been helpful, but I still have some questions.

ANH SHIRT QUESTION: Is the fabric a Jersey Knit, similar to what polo shirts are made of? It seems to cling to his arms pretty well, and it is a somewhat form fitting shirt.

BELT QUESTION (NOT HOLSTER): I now know the belt is 3 holes, 2 prongs, and brown for ANH. But is th buckle silver or gold? Some Star Wars busts and statues have it silver, some gold. I have not yet found any photos that clearly show the color, as the buckle is pretty small and reflective.

As you may have guessed I'm trying to get this accurate and actually sew some items myself

- Kay Dee

S_S edit: just unlocking

 

Well I think when you?re done kay_dee, most of us can teach something from you instead of the other way around

About the shirt: Yes that definitely would be a jersey knit. Can?t imagine they didn?t took a stretch fabric and let it cling so tight to his arms.

About the belt: Gold? Didn?t even saw that on some statues! (starts googling). I think the belt is more silver than gold. Maybe it turns out gold in some pictures because Han has a little dirt on it sometimes?

Good luck on making the costume. I know for sure it will turn out great as always .

 

well I jsut got done making a Han Solo costume for my fanfilm( you can check out the teaser for it if you go over to the fanfilm forum and find the thread Star wars The Job(wt) teaser trailer), then you could see what it looks like. I am also selling some han solo bloodstriped and resin blaster on my own ebay auction, ill give the link below, anyways I found a reall sweet Han Solo type shirt form a military store online(ill try to find the link) but i think they only have smalls left, but they do strech, ok for the vest I used a black bdu and jsut brought uup the extra length and sewed it to my person waist size, for the boots you can go to sportsmensguide.com they have good german jack boots, or I am also selling some Han Solo type costum boots on ebay, you could check those out to see if you look boots like that. Also I have lots of email address and links to various people that make great Han Solo Costums and parts I would be willing to pm them to you if you would like, I hope any of this helps and I will find that link to the shirt


rand2323
http://cgi.ebay.com/Star-Wars-Han-Solo-bloodstripes-pants-prop-costume_W0QQitemZ7539985397QQcategoryZ197QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

LOL Tenyon Yes, when I'm done with this I'd like to give Maggie some info for Padawan's guide at the very least. One common misconception - Obi-Wan's Jedi academy says that Han's belt is two hole with a two prong buckle. Problem is, in the photos they have referenced his shirt bags out and is covering the top third row of holes! I was able to zoom in on a few ANH shots in photoshop, lighten them up, and saw that it's really 3 holes just like the belt on display for ESB at CIII.

Yeah, I had seen at least one ANH fan costume at CIII that had thiers made of Jersey Knit, I just wasn't 100% sure if that's what the real deal was. I will continue my hunt for cream/ivory jersey knit fabric.

I know the holster buckle is silver, but it's hard to tell if the two prong belt buckle is tarnished silver or what. I'm not gonna stress about it - it's pretty minor.

- Kay Dee

 

Oh kay_dee I'm sure that you will do a wonderful job. I can't wait to see your progress.

 

I'm also doing a ESB Solo costume for Halloween and I am making the belt myself. Maybe you can tell me: which set of holes does the 2 prongs of the buckle go through? the top and bottom? or some other combo?

Yeah, I'd go with silver. I think, if anything, if any busts or sculpts have it as brass-y, it's because the prop belt is tarnished. I think more people would be receptive to the silver buckle.

 

The prongs go through the top and bottom hole. My photos from CIII shows this as well as the photo in Magic of Myth. Problem is, the vest is covering up the top row of holes in the MoM photo and I think that's why people have thought that this was a 2 hole belt.

I figured for the price of buying a belt blank and a 3 prong hole puncher, hardward, and dye that I might as well get a belt I found at an online military supply store. The buckle has 3 prongs, I'll just remove the center one.

Thanks for the opinion on the buckle color!


- Kay Dee

 

top and bottom; that's what i figured. I've been having trouble finding a suitable belt so I think I may have to make my own. But I have like 2 months to keep looking. Making the belt would take me maybe 2 hours counting the trip to the leather store. So I think that can wait until the end.

 

Give this a try: http://www.afmo.com/product_page.asp?pid=4023

The photo is pretty compressed, but it might even have the edge detailing that Han's belt has (some of the other leather military belts did).

- Kay Dee

 

Sometimes I'm such an idot.....I'm sorry Kay Dee, I still have some problems with English .

I see what you mean, the other belt!....yeah, it looks bronze, instead of gold and has 3 holes .

 

boo ya, kay-dee!! thats great. now I don't have to spend all that money on a belt blank, buckle, dye and finish and edge coat. thanks.

 

Hum - here's another thing I've been pondering about this costume as I've started shopping for fabric. Is the vest lined? If so, is it something like a satin? I'm leaning towards lining with the same fabric used on the outside of the vest.

Good news - I bought the remaining 2 yards of cream cotton Jersey knit at a local fabric store. It's a bit thicker than I wanted, but if I don't find anything in San Francisco it will be workable I also found a somewhat vintage long sleeved polo shirt pattern. The modern patterns are all pretty baggy with shoulder seams not set in close enough to the body. The more fitted retro look should work - I'll just have to play with the shape of the collar a bit.

- Kay Dee

 

I'd think that since it was a modified BDU shirt it wasn't lined with anything as nice a satin. Usually the army doesn't spring for that kind of stuff for the grunts. But if it makes it more comfortable, then go for it.

On a sort of related note:

I got my Dawn Anderson ESB coat today. It's really, really nice. It looks perfect, even though I chose the non back pocket version, and fits great. The best part is it's satin lined with inside pockets. Like a real jacket. The thing looks and wears so great I wouldn't have any qualms about wearing it around as regular jacket.

But seriously if anyone is doing a ESB Solo costume I think you should check out Dawn's Falcon jacket. If you have seamstress skills and want to make it yourself to have the decision over fabric or what not, Dawn sells her pattern for it as well.

 

I'm actually using the Dawn Anderson pattern as a base for my vest (What a life saver!). I'll just have to redraft the shape and placement of the pockets for the most part, which should be easier than modifications I've had to make for some of my Padme and Leia costumes (Some of that stuff I had to drape and draft entirely on my own.)

It's nice to know you are happy with the finished jacket they made. The ones I saw at CIII looked nice and I kept her pattern in the back of my head just in case I was able to convince my husband to actually match me this Halloween

I think I'm going to go with a self lining method.

- Kay Dee

 

Dawn's a great pattern maker. I went to grad school with her, and her work was always perfect. I'm about to buy that pattern, even though I could draft it myself. Frankly I prefer to buy patterns unless I absolutely can't find anything like what I want.

 

Great find on the belt, Kay_dee! I'll definitely post any info you dig up gratefully!

I'm planning on a ESB Han costume after DragonCon - I know there are differences, but any info is useful!

 

Cool Maggie! My husband was flip flopping between the ESB Han and ANH. He likes the red stripes, but kind of likes the jacket better. But I told him I was ANH Leia so that settled that The pattern Dawn Anderson sells should work perfectly for you. Feel free to PM me if you are wondering where I'm getting some other things from.

- Kay Dee

 

Dawn Anderson sent me a free pattern to try out, which was really cool of them - so I'm going to use that. I'll need help on the shirt and the pants pattern. I have the yellow blood stripes already. And I have boots. Not sure what I'm going to do about the holster.

 

That was nice of Dawn Anderson to send a free pattern to you. I suppose in exchange for putting a link on your site? I ordered a holster from someone, and I'm going to order a gun replica. I just know I don't have time to make templates and try to fenagle a buckle for the holster... then dye and sew all the pouches and junk on by hand. I could easily spend 3-4 weeks on that alone with no guarantee that the buckle would even look right or hold together properly. If I had more than 2 months and wasn't going to be taking all the little trips to LA I would have given it a go.

Did you order those patch-like stripes? Are they stiff? I think I'd just use the wide satin stitch on my Viking to emroider the bars onto the pant fabric (the way they seem to be on Han's costume). It is more time consuming though, and I suppose if your machine can't stitch that wide like an embroidery machine can it wouldn't look right. It's a toss up.

- Kay Dee

 

No, they didn't ask me to link to them or anything. I don't exchange links on my site for free stuff or "sell" links on my site. I would have linked to them even if they hadn't sent me a pattern because I thought the pattern was a good resource. I just thought it was nice of them to send me a pattern to check out. And since it looked good, I linked to them. I'm looking forward to trying the pattern out. They wrote to me about the pattern around when I was first thinking of doing the Han costume, so it was good timing.

Edit: the stripes are like any patch you sew on. They are a little stiff I suppose. I know someone who did a satin stitch and it took her forever and ended up being difficult so I decided to go with the patches instead.

 

I ordered the patches too. and they've taken a really long time to ship. which is funny because the place I got them from is supposedly "north of hollywood." i live in burbank, north of hollywood. sometimes i wonder if i bought them from a neighbor or something. i should start banging on doors asking where my pacthes are.

 

I got mine from http://www.costumecostumecostume.com/patches.htm

 

Maggie - Oh, I really didn't mean to suggest you sold links on your site in exchange for free stuff. I thought perhaps you had used their pattern as reference on your site so they sent it as a favor, or in hopes that if you liked it you might link to them (which is totally normal promotion on their part.)

The people at Dawn Anderson Designs have been very nice in working with me as well on suggestions for altering the pattern into a vest. I've been very impressed!

Ugh, I can only imagine how long it could take to embroider all those bars on and get them even. My husband would kill me if I stayed up every night doing that for a Halloween deadline, so I just ordered some pants with the stripes to have it be a done deal. I'll have fun with the vest and shirt. He'll have fun with the resin kits (he does model railroading anyway so that stuff is easy for him and he enjoys it).

- Kay Dee

 

Hum, maybe you should contact them and inquire about the status? It is possible that they are made to order and not something that they have sitting around ready to ship.

- Kay Dee

 

Speaking of the Dawn Anderson jacket, anyone have any idea what fabric to use that comes close to the ESB jacket?