Princess Leia Leia's Ceremonial gown from ANH

It looks fantastic Caitlin - especially for being a quick job I'm spending all this time on mine and I don't think it will look any better. I don't know if I have the patience to draft out the gathers under the bust. And I'm not using a knit (probably a mistake), so I have to add darts in back to get the fitted look.

Right now I'm altering my second muslin and cutting out new revised pieces. My fingers are crossed!

-Kay Dee

 

It looks really pretty Caitlin!

 

I think your costume is beautiful, Caitlin. I seem to be having trouble with the belt to my costume. Since I modeled it after the animated ceremonial Leia in the "Behind the Magic" cd, when I put the belt on I am gathering too much material up in the back.
If the links to webshot work, my pictures are below.

mydress

 

Hi LadyStar,

You know, the link you provided is only viewable by the 'owner' of the album (you) and we can't log in to view it. Do you have a public place you can upload the photo to?

I'm also worried about fabric bunching up when I put my belt on - that's why I added darts to the back to help it contour to my body better. (Even if it's not screen accurate, I figure it will look better since I don't have stretch fabric).

Ugh, I was excited because I thought I FINALLY finished the muslin for my dress, but when I went to drape the sleeves on they were so heavy they they pulled the straps off my shoulders! I tightened up the center back, and now I have to try taking in my straps a bit at the shoulders to see if I can get them to hold the weight of all that Georgette. I had hoped to have my pattern completed before I left for vacation on Thursday... but it's looking like I won't get it finalized until I get back next week.

It's like I take one step forward and two steps back. Please let the belt be easy to do so I can get this finished before D*Con

- Kay Dee

 

It's like I take one step forward and two steps back.

I hear ya'. It's been like that for all of my D*C projects this year.

You're really good with fitting things though, so I know you'll figure this one out!

 

Oops...I think this will work. My book is set to public viewing but I'll have to email Customer Support if this doesn't post right.

mydress

I have darts on the front (since I didn't drap the sleeves across the front) and now the dress hangs so straight, the belt can't help but bunch up somewhere (and so I fold it in back). I'll be anxious to see what you come up with because I'm stumped.

 

It looks lovely Ladystar! I'm so jealous

I kept re-fitting and recutting my pattern to minimize as much of the front waist bulk and back waist bulk as I could. I've been putting on belts with my muslin just to check that each time I do a fitting.

I was just shocked at how much my sleeves dragged my straps off my shoulders. Have to take a break from it because I'm just fried and furstrated. (Good time to go back to my headdress). I figure if taking in my shoulder straps doesn't work, I'll have to redraft the entire neckline brining it in a bit. Not impossible, but not fun when either.

-Kay Dee

 

Here's a possibly stupid question kay_dee... would one of those bra-strap underloop dealies work? I know I've seen them at a fabric store before -- it's a very, very soft velcro system that you stitch discreetly to the underside of your gown at the shoulder, and then you use it to anchor the dress using your bra strap.

 

Very good input SG--I've even seen dresses made with a tiny loop of ribbon sewn down on the shoulders of the gown (on the wrong side) and the two ends attach with a snap--and you open the snap-put your bra strap in and snap the loopy shut--Keeps things neat and in place.

Does that make sense?

I found the belt pretty easy Should be able to finish it in time, Kay_dee-Here's to hoping you do!

~Jen

 

ladystar, your gown looks so lovely! I can't wait to make this one. Sigh, sometime around November....

 

Thanks Surly - I had planned to add a loop to the inside of the strap to catch my bra to keep it from peaking out - but I don't want to rely on the bra to hold up the dress. I figure it's a fitting issue, and since I'm in the muslin stage I think with more alterations I can get it to fit right. I just made Soooo many tweaks to this pattern that I'm not in the mood to re-draft the bodice in order to fix the sleeve problem

Ferd - it's good to know the belt was pretty quick to put together. I figure it will take a few days because I have to paint on coats of silver paint, let it dry, then add the metal do-dads. I'd rather make it once the dress is done, but I guess if I got in a pinch I could fit it to my muslin while I finish sewing up the dress.

-Kay Dee

 

Thanks for the compliments.

I had trouble with straps on a bridesmaid dress I wore so I actually sewed the bra straps right in to the gown the night before. Of course, this dress had a back zipper and I could just slip in to my straps/sleeves and then hook and zip up from the back but it's another option (which was pretty much covered by the posts above). You could always try a strapless bra (if you already haven't) but sometimes they are more of a pain than straps!!

As for the bunching of the belt, I think I am going to try a lighter piece of fabric. My mother-in-law took a look at it and feels that it's more the weight of the belt than the dress. I figure it's worth a shot since JoAnne's has what I am looking for already at half price (of course, tomorrow is .99 cent pattern day so I am sure to come home with more projects ).

 

Whee! I mostly finished the dress in time for GenCon, although the belt was just the vinyl, no metal plates or buttons, and it was fastened with safety pins in the back. And I had to rush to change into the dress after the costume contest, so I left my hair in the French pigtails I'd used under my Sikozu wig and I still have all my sparkly makeup on! Pictures:

[image=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v91/jainamsolo/leia1.jpg]
[image=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v91/jainamsolo/leia2.jpg]
[image=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v91/jainamsolo/leia4.jpg]
[image=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v91/jainamsolo/leia6.jpg]
[image=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v91/jainamsolo/leia8.jpg]


Caitlin

 

You look beautiful Caitlin. Fantastic job.

 

Very cool Caitlin - thanks for sharing the pictures!

I pretty much got zero done on my costume this week - so I don't think it will be ready for D*con. (My fault for getting preoccupied with some family junk I guess). Well - I got back to my headdress yesterday, but as I was assembling the bun thing figured out I need one more weft of hair to make another braid. It will take a good 3 hours out of my day today just to drive to San Francisco to get more hair (crosssing fingers they still have 1 bundle left of the color I'm using).

Slowly prodding away...

Kay Dee

 

Great job Caitlin. You look fantastic!!!

 

I was at Joann's yesterday buying patterns for $.99 and ran into this lovely material. A poly knit with a very sort right side, very slight stretch, good weight, it was EXACTLY what I would buy for this dress.... if I were making it black. -=sigh=-

The bracelet is finished. Buying fabric tomorrow and getting started tomorrow. I have a deadline of the 10th of Sept for this. -=facepalm=- This is what I get for deciding at the last minute to make it.

 

Fantastic Caitlin and ladystar!

 

Very lovely, indeed, Caitlin and Ladystar!

 

Fenig, I got some poly knit for my ANH Senate Leia at Joann's that sounds like the exact same fabric. The good news? It was white. Check other stores or ask at yours. They'll probably have it.

 

I found something else that is just as good at Denver Fabrics. I love being a bus ride away from that store.

Here is an image of my finished Leia dress. Well, finished in the sewing respect. Belt isn't done and the bracelet is drying right now. Getting the necklace tomorrow.

[image=http://ic1.deviantart.com/fs4.deviantart.com/i/2004/244/0/2/A_New_Hope_Leia_Dress.jpg]

I started with Butterick 6593, but ended up making a LOT of alterations to it. The sleeve was an experimentation draft with muslin, a lot of pins, and my friend Krys. Thanks Krys!

 

Very nice work Fenig! I wish my costume had come together as easily. I'm just amazed how some of you can whip these things together seemingly overnight! I think I solved the shoulder strap problem I was having, and got as far as drafting another sleeve/wing that I still have to attach and fool around with (looks like you got it figured out Fenig!).

I was pushing the deadline as it was on this costume, and then my Grandpa had a heart attack over the weekend so I was pulled away from it. (I was in the middle of finishing my headdress bun when I got the phone call with the bad news). It was stressful enough dealing with my grandparents that I abandoned the idea of trying to finish this for D*Con (I had brought my belt stuff with me to my grandparent's house thinking I could somehow get that done while I was there - but just had to tell myself 'forget about this, it's not important right now'). I *will* finish this for Halloween though! And there is always CIII next year

-Kay Dee

 

I'll see what I can do about drawing up the shape of the pattern I used for the sleeve. It was hard. We started with newspaper, then scrapped that and just used some extra muslin I had lying around. It's a VERY odd shaped sleeve.

 

Thanks Fenig - right now my sleeve shape is roughly like this:

[image=http://kay-dee.net/costumes/leia_cermonial/sleeve_pattern.gif]

It would be interesting to see how close or far off this current draft I have is to what you ended up with.

-Kay Dee

 

Wow, really close. I got a different shoulder though.

[image=http://www.geocities.com/fenigdurak/CelebrationSleeve.jpg]

Mine curves out a little more.