Padme Amidala Handmaiden Costumes

Obi-Dawn, the color to me looks like a purply-maroon-brown....and very reminiscent of the TPM senate cloaks.

speaking of which, I did a rough mockup of the Senate TPM handmaiden gowns, and am looking for suggestions on how to make the hood stand out straight as it did in the movie.

The outercloak I have currently has a regular, floppy hood.

 

> speaking of which, I did a rough mockup of the Senate TPM handmaiden gowns, and am
> looking for suggestions on how to make the hood stand out straight as it did in the movie.

Hmmm, "canvas" like interfacings?

The best I heard is to use Buckram. Just like this guy did for his Ringwraith Costume.

 

Hiya, D_Eagle!

Thanks for the advice....and the pic link. How much front hood allowance do you think I'd need to do something like that?

 

Looks good, Obi Anne. I'd like to make the battle outfit one day.

I'm currently working on the flame dress. Most of the sewing is done, but I'm waiting on the dye. Unfortunately Dharma sold out of the dye I'm planning to use just before I went to order it. I guess that just gives me more time to work on the dress itself.

 

I've wanted to do the battle outfit from Episode I and now that Celebration is 4 days long I might make it for my fourth costume. Liann

 

Well, like I said at the Dyeing Thread, I saw some Orange Velour at Spotlight here going for SGD6.50/m from the normal SGD8.50. Now I really, really feel like wanting to pick up the Flame Dress again after scraping it years ago, especially that I'm starting to make costumes with sleeves all by myself now.

Just curious, how much did everyone use to make their Flame Dress? Any recommanded commercial patterns I can use? I remember recommanding Vogue 7470 for the Inner Shirt but I'll just playcheat and use my Red Long Sleeves T-Shirt with red headscarf. )

 

I used ~4 meters of fabric for my flame dress, but I cheated a bit because I didn't make the outer tabbard.

I actually used a Grim Reaper pattern (Simplicity 5916) for mine. I did have to modify the sleeves and the hood a bit, but I think it worked out pretty well. The package also contains another pattern piece for a mask that can be modified to use for the hood of the under-dress.

 

the fortuny pleats... is that the process recommended for the gold dress from episode 1?

also any pattern recommendations for that outfit?

 

Ahhhh! The Theed Throne Room dress. I had always wanted to do it but has no luck finding the fabric or having the body to carry it off yet.

Over here, there is a Polyester kind of fabric that comes in pleats similar to that seen on the dress, only a lot thinner. It's the same kind being used for Darth Maul 12" & Buddies' Robe. Been 5 years and I still haven't seen that fabric in Yellow, let alone Mustard/Dirty Yellow. Having it specially made will cost a lot and I have to pay for 50m of fabrics which ended up as 25 after pleating.

As when I first thot of doing it I was sending out my dresses to my seamstress, never did thot up of a specific pattern I may use for it. But I think there is something in my collection that may fit the bill. Anyhow, I wanted the dress to have sleeves and as an actual dress.

 

A pleater board. You tuck the fabric into the grooves and then iron it until they stay. If you're careful you wouldn't even be able to notice where you ended the board and had to move it and start over. Also, my research suggests vinegar helps to hold in pleats. I'm not sure on this one, though, and I'd highly recommend you test on a scrap to be sure you won't ruin anything.

 

Vinegar in a spray bottle can help hold in pleats (you spritz the fabric with it before applying heat), but it can discolor fabric, so you definitely want to test it, as Jayne mentioned. Some fabrics respond better to a dilutes solution, others to straight vinegar, so you may need to play mad scientist with the mixture if you decide to try it.

Also, here's a link to a "quick and dirty" method of making faux Fortuny pleats.



-sg

 

okay printed out the link so I can have it on hand at meetings...

yeah the colour is going to be hard I may end having to rit dye to the dress fabric and pray i can find the right color velvet for the cloak.

I will see if I can find a pattern-if so I will post it. For some reason I am remembering seeing one simiular in teh patterns for the bibical costumes by similicity or mcCalls...

thanks again.

 

Are we sure it's Fortuny pleats? It's the gold dress you're looking at, right?

If it's the one I'm thinking of, there are pictures of the actual costume from the exibit on Padawan's guide under the Episode One Senate Dress link. It doesn't look like Fortuny pleats to me, they look very regular and precise.

 

To be honest, I'm not sure one way or the other on the pleats on the gold gown, but I know many people have gone with the faux Fortuny method, as hand pleating that much fabric can really be trying. So, I figured I'd post that link again... no intent to be misleading!

-sg

 

LOL, I can totally understand that, it looks like A LOT of fabric to pleat.

 

Well, if Darth Maul's Outer Robe has 96 pleats, each about an inche wide, just imagine how many this Mustard Handmaiden Dress has (200?). So the faux Fortuny pleats is the easy way out.

The shop that says that they can create the fabric for me, is machine pleating it at their cloth factory and the pleats are pretty small, about 2.5-5mm wide.

Hmm, I think someone had e-mailed me before her "report" on what she interpret from what she saw when the dress was displayed (And I luckily printed it out and filed it). And if I wasn't mistaken, the dress is also part of the Art of SW or Magic of the Myth Exhibition. Will have to dig thru' my notes as I'm in LOTR Costumes mood now so all my SW Costuming notes had been put away for the time being (will start reading them and doing my SW Costumes again this June after I wrap my SW Fanforce Group's LOTR Project )

 

I've been looking around for a pattern to use for the episode I battle outfit, and have found one that is perfect Scarlet O'Haras curtain dress. The one sleeve is exactly the same as the battle dress, the skirt part, bodice and collar just need a little modifying. Now I just need to find some fabric. I can't tell if the undershirt is pink like the lining or maroon.

liann

not sure why the markup code isn't working.

 

Thats good, I wasn't sure if you would be able to get it there or not. I bought some fabric to start a mock up. liann

 

EDIT: Sheesh! I should had looked and read through the first page of this thread first.

Réka wrote her account of the Mustard Theed Throne Room Dress on the first page of this thread.

And then on the 2nd page, I found the souce of the photos of this dress, inclusive of the back and parts that has design on it views (but the site is gone so if there is interest, I may post it on my website someday)

Anyhow, a search through a post I made about this dress in The Jedi Closet Forum had me stating that I'm using the design of Simplicity 8839 (the one with long sleeves) to make the dress; actually the sleeves part only as I don't wear anything sleevesless unless it's my "Undies". My inspiration at that time was the white gown Enya worn in her lyric book for the her CD "A Day Without Rain". I guess for the rest of the dress, gonna use something else that is straight cut & fitting, or just do the pattern from scratch.

Ya, someday when I'm done with my major costumes and armors, and I'm a LOT slimmer, I'll fulfil my wish and do this dress.

 

Oh man should of checked myself. I printed out a copy of her instructions so I can have them when I work on the planning...

I am going to try the actual pleasts. while the dirty fortuny might work I want to be as accurate as possible... oh what fun...

I did find a pattern to use, with some modificatations to it-using one size larger for the sleeves and have to lengthen the botten but its the closest I could find to the shape and eas-ability as well as the neckline (which I am awful at doing by sight) Its Simplicity Pattern-5189, its for a simple pull over dress but its the closest I could find in simplicity. I found a great one in McCalls' bridal and formal dress section but I can't use McCalls yet, I am still learning a lot about sewing...

I looked at the picture linked in the post-it acutally loo9ks like the cape is 2 pieces, a head piece and then a cloak with no hood...

 

well i picked up my fabric for the dress. it is more of a deep godlenrod colour. Its the closet I could find in a fabric that will work with the fortuny or pleats. I found the orange/yellow velvet but it was 21 bucks a yard. Ugh... so that will have to wait or maybe the fabric fairy will leave it under my pillow or something.

 

I finished my mockup for the battle outfit I'm not sure if the skirt is full enough though, i might add an extra panel. The sleeve/shoulder is better on left side. I have to make some slight adjustments to the collar. The photos aren't very good you can't see much detail.

I've been scrutinizing the movie and it looks like her belt goes over the top of her costume in the back but underneath in the front, still trying to decide on a shade of pink for the lining. liann