Luke Skywalker Costumes

Well making this costume is a new experience for me. I'm trying to go on ahead and buy all my material and supplies to get started. My only concern is I never learned to sew.

I'm gonna use a lighter weight gabardine material that I can get at Hancock Fabrics for 4.99 a yard. What kind of fabric should I use for the vest that Luke wore in the beginning of ROTJ ? Does anybody have a pattern for that Vest and Tabbards ?

 

For the vest, if you'd rather not get raw silk (which is actually just like $4 and change a yard at Thai Silks) just find something that's very rough and nubby, but kinda soft and drapey. The real vest doesn't look stiff against the body at all. Natural fabrics like cotton and linen are good--polyesters and other fakes won't give you that pilled, worn look as easily. Whatever you do find, washing it a few times will also help make it look older too.

It looks pretty basic, I think any regular vest pattern would work for it; if screen accuracy isn't a big deal then you can just put it together however you want, as long as it's in the ballpark. The tabbards are actually ONE tabbard (I call it a unitabbard )--it's just one long strip of vest fabric about the width of your hand that goes around the neck and comes down the front. It's just a teeny bit longer than the hem of the vest.

 

Does anybody any pics up of their finished costumes ? Is there any good screencaps of Luke full body in that outfit ?

 

once i get my lathe... i'm gonna make "me-sa" a luke rotj saber... then make some more custom solid fan-film(or show off) "for sale sabers"...(if ur interested pm me)

then i'm gonna work on my rotj suit... and hopefully wear it to my first convention

so ill be at my first convention with my first costume and my first machined saber(i made a hardware one) havin' a ball...

and it's all thanks to this forum

 

Well I bought some of the materials. I ended up using the regular black gabardine fabric instead of the lighterweight gabardine. I ordered my the pattern for the jumpsuit from The Green Pepper The question I have is should I use small black snaps or velcro for the chest flap ? I still need to buy the boots, belt, belt buckle,etc. What about the glove where is a good place to buy a pair of black leather gloves ?

 

Alright! finally, the Luke RotJ costume is getting some love. I'm still in the thinking about it stage but some of the thoughts I've had are: Movie acurate or not, mine will be two pieces for practicallity sake. I see that some of you are concerned that it will come untucked at the back but I have a trick for you. I worked as a security guard for a time and the pants for my uniform had a very wide (and comfortable, I might add) waistband with hook and loop closures. On the inside of the waistband, to keep the shirt from coming untucked, there were two beads of some sort of silicone or rubber. This stuff worked like a hot damn, my shirt *never* came out back there.
Also, the magnet idea is a good one. Thank you! How similar is it to Han's shirt? At least Han's shirt is light enough colour to see where the seams are.
Trevor

*edit*
I was thinking I'd try a tuxedo rental store for the glove. That may be a great source for nice thin black leather glove.

 

Hey Trevor,

What would be better to use on the front chest flap black snaps or velcro ? I'm not to sure about the magnet idea.

 

I would be inclined to go with the magnets. The problem with hooks and snaps is that they are visible. You can ge t magnets that are very powerful and hide them inside the front flap and inside the shirt. I once found some small magnets that held to each other through my hand! So, seeing as they only need to hold through two pieces of fabric they could be quite thin. IIRC, they were called 'earth magnets'. This all makes me think there must have been two versions of the costume, one done up and one with the flap down, otherwise they must have used magnets too.
Trevor

 

I personally used a magnet for the top closure, but Velcro for all others. This was mainly because it's a whole lot easier to machine Velcro in than to hand sew a bunch of snaps, plus Velcro's lower profile than snaps. I wouldn't use magnets for the bottom closures for many reasons. First, while magnets are quite good for your health in moderation, I'd be a little nervous about a number of powerful ones so near one's heart. Second, if you got the top caught on something it'd be likely to just fall open completely. Third, you might be attracting every lightsaber and blaster in the place to your chest(which might be nice for meeting new people ). For the top closure I used 2/3 of a slot car magnet. They are naturally in a rectangle shape with an indentation in the center 1/3. So, I used two pairs of pliers (it was ridiculously easy to break) and broke it into thirds. I used the center third (the flatter part) in the flap so that it would be less obvious, encased it in a small pouch of fabric, and hand sewed it to the seam allowance. I did the same thing with the slightly larger third, stitching it into the lining where the other one met it. I am planning to use snaps just at the top where the collar meets to hold it a little tighter shut than Velcro's likely to do, but I only plan to put two in. Let's see some pictures!! I'll be posting mine once it's done

 

Once I get it done I'll post pictures. I just hope I can get it finished before Oct 31/Nov 1.

 

In terms of gloves, I had to use women's XL gloves from Wilson's since they were plain with no design on them, while going past the wrist and being tight, like the movie version. If they're still available, buy the now, since they're 1/2 off. They go back to normal price during the fall/winter months.

 

I took the magnets out of an old sonicare toothbrush head (they're extremely strong and remarkably tiny) for the top closure, and I've got Velcro for the rest. If you aren't planning on wearing it without the vest, you really don't need to worry about the hidden closures for the top of the flap - I just want mine to be versatile because Halloween in Cinci has very unpredictable weather, and if it gets hot I want to be able to lose the extra layer. I'm actually still on the fence over making the hooded cape, but I'll probably do it if I have time.

I'm planning on wearing a pair of black fencing gloves that I've got (I fight in them all the time, so they're are wonderfully supple and worn). I got them from , but they don't seem to have that style anymore - they look like the top ones, but in black. I don't recommend the black three-weapon gloves with the padding - they're great fencing gloves, but too bulky for costuming. You might also try a pair of leather driving gloves.

I finally managed to collect all of my fabric (I wound up buying a black linen blend for the jumpsuit), so assuming that I can finish with my renfair costume this week I'll be starting this soon.

Old_Republic - interesting idea about the hook and eyes for the shirt. I might have to try something like that sometime!

 

Yeah, Velcro, snaps, or hook-and-eye tape for all other closures on this costume are best, but I definitely recommend magnets for the chest flap. Anything else will be visible. In my case, my chest flap piece happens to be double layered, so one magnet will fit sandwiched on the inside. For the second one--I'm actually using a super-thin steel washer! It's completely flat and is attracted to the magnet just as strongly. Flatness is important for me because the washer is actually going on the inside of the shirt itself, against my skin (can't help that, the shirt's not double-layered). Rather than sewing anything in, I'm using Gem-Tac adhesive to avoid visible stitches.

And you don't have to use "rare-earth" magnets--those are actually rather dangerous. They can instantly erase information off credit cards and the like, affect devices such as pacemakers, and wreak all kinds of minor havoc that I'd rather not have to deal with. They can even injure you by shattering if you let them contact each other too strongly. Simple, regular ceramic magnets--the black kind that you see used for fridge magnets--are perfectly fine and much safer. Using one the size of a dime won't pose any risk at all.

 

When looking at the screencaps the back of the chest flap looks to have a different material any idea what that is ?

 

it looks like a very light grey version of the same material that the rest of the outfit is made of. I couldn't find a gray that would work for me, so I'm going to use a very pale off-white that I found (at least until I can find the right color and replace it).

 

For mine, I used a gray cotton blend, I believe, which is the same as my black shirt. I think I have some left over. I'll have to check.

 

My pattern came from Green Pepper today. Has anyone ever used this pattern and if can you give some tips ?

 

I'm getting frustrated guys is there any other type of pattern or patterns that I can use to make this costume. If anybody has any suggesstions PM or IM me. I need help.

 

My questions isn't about the Luke costume itself, but are there any Luke costumers here that are planning on attending Filmcon in Madison, WI, this November? They highly encourage skits/performances for their costume contest and I would like a Luke to perform with (I'm going as Mara Jade).

 

This is not exactly the pattern I used, but it's pretty close. . .I just extended the front of the shirt pattern 9" past the center front (it should be marked on the pattern), cut a new collar (just a band, which should be open about 1 1/2" in the CF), and otherwise made the shirt just like the pattern, except for lining the front panels with a light grey crepe. Then I made the pants just as instructed, though I left the pockets out. I did put back welt pockets in, just for his convenience. So this is my best suggestion.

http://simplicity.com/dv1_v4.cfm?design=9469

 

I guess I could give this a go and try to make this thing myself.
Yoda's words keep coming back to me "Do or Do Not, there is no try."

 

If you really feel like cutting out the middleman, I've seen ready-made black mandarin shirts that already look very close to what you need, you'd only have to stick on the square chest flap.

 

Ok, it's not done, and he hasn't got any accessories yet, but I just wanted to share the preliminary fitting pictures of the ROTJ Luke I've been working on for my student. He got fitted Weds, and boy, was he excited. I made it for him over the summer in secret, he had no idea I'd been working on it. . .Here he is in the initial fitting. . .there'll be better photos when it's all done

 

Awewsome job. Looks very authenthic

 

Actually the first picture in that series is pretty funny too. It's just after he opened his eyes and saw me standing there with the costume. It's pretty cute