Luke Skywalker Costumes

LOL. You're probably thinking of flannel, which many long johns are made of and is a notorious fabric for pilling. This texture you're remembering would certainly be for the tabbards/vest. But they were made out of raw silk, which is the same fabric used for Yoda's gnarly robe in ESB and ROTJ. You can get real raw silk for great prices if you know where to look. If not, you can use soft linen or 100% cotton and wash it several times till it turns nubby and old-looking. Luke's Jedi cloak was also rough-textured, because it was a thin wool. His suit material was likely a wool gabardine or something related; it was a smooth fabric.

Like we've said a bunch of times, you don't have to go out and get these exact materials. Just find stuff that looks close to it. You'll save time, money, and lots of headaches. Just steer clear of anything polyester (unless you're doing classic Leia), or else it'll look like those awful store-bought Halloween costumes.

 

Hmm, perhaps we are thinking of two different fabrics when I say long johns? D What I meant is that I remember kind of a little indented square pattern very similar to thermal underwear. I know what raw silk looks like and it doesn't match up. Perhaps it was the cloak with a very pronounced texture. I wish I'd paid more attention! Have you seen the costume up close?

Thank you for your help! Hey, no telling me not to try to get the actual fabrics! D I'm a perfectionist, so I'll at least try until I have to settle, lol. Heh heh, I'm doing classic Leia for Halloween... Stretch polyester, here I come!

 

Oh, do you mean it looked like...quilting? Now, that would be odd. I have thermal underclothes, but they're vertically ribbed, so I don't have the same thing you're describing. Hmm. Well, thanks to people taking photos of the Dressing a Galaxy exhibit there are plenty of close pictures of Luke's black costume floating around now, and you can plainly see that both the cloak and vest are heavily textured. Here's a good one from an album that Phayze posted on page 1 of this thread:

http://photobucket.com/albums/v295/reverendz3n/Luke%20ROTJ%20Ref/?action=view&current=lukerotj6.jpg

 

oooooooo *wants to touch* Wow, I didn't know his cloak was brown, cool beans. Damn, I wish I'd picked up that fantastic nubby brown wool I saw! My brother asked for a black jedi cloak for halloween, but I saw this fantastic deep dark brown that I knew would work for Anakin in the bargain bin. Only problem is it was only 5 yards. But that would probably work for this cloak *sigh* Maybe it will still be there...

 

Well, I tell you...I've had, and I am having a hell of a time with this costume...
for one, the materials I picked were hard to find, and there not even the original materials, imagine I went for that?!... I had hard enough time finding material that resembles the originals.
Also, I have to admit that the cloak, I bought tailored made to my measurements via internet, and the vest, shirt and pants I designed, but had a tailor make them...that is n process now, but I am driving him up the wall!... alot of it is communication errors.
The belt I am making on my own, and have just painted it black, the buckle needs to be grinded to get the diagonal tips, and I have to clean it up cause I am doing the shinny look on the buckle, not the painted version. I have seen the movie and there is definitely a reflection on the buckle...it may have been painted shinny black too though.
I even bought a back up hilt in case my parks saber (arc-wave model similar to the ROTJ saber/hilt) does not come in by Halloween.

Overall there is alot of time and money I put into this project!

 

Usually, the "simple" costumes take longer to make than expected. Hang in there! Mine took a little longer than expected, and after 8 years, I'm still trying to make improvements on it!

 

Hey kids,

As you may have read in the "Who are you going as" thread, I had to scrap my Luke ROTJ due to time constraints. I'm going to use my old (and terribly slap-dash) custom Jedi with a few mods and call myself Old Ben. Or I might wwear some victorian stuff so I can match my wife. Who knows. I probably won't get the Luke ROTJ done until after New Year's.

Anyway, I was doing some research for another costume when I stumbled on something pretty cool: a butterick pattern for a jumpsuit. Butterick makes really simple patterns and you can often get then for $1 on sales, so if you're wanting to do your ROTJ as a jumpsuit, here's a nice alternative to the Green Pepper Co.

Note that pattern calls out material needs for the top and bottom separately because they're making them two different colors. Also, you'll need to mod the collar, but that's pretty obvious from the pics.

EDIT: It also just occured to me that if you're a DIYer, then you could use this as a starting point for an X-wing Pilot flight suit.

 

Just a theory guys on the ROTJ outfit. There could be a zipper in the back. If you watch Luke's scenes without the vest the back of the top has a seam across the shoulders and a seam down the center (spinal) area. could this be the opening for the jumpsuit negating the thoery that the bib opens completely?

 

Not very likely, but and interesting thought.

The seam across the shoulder is the yoke, so unless that and the collar were split in the back for a zipper it would make more sense for the closure to be behind the bib. I'm guessing a basic hidden zipper that goes from the neckline to around the bottom of the bib probably does the job . . . .

or, at least that's how I'll do mine.

Can you get some screencaps of what you're seeing? I've never noticed a center back seam before.

 

I'll take a peak when I get thet chance and give times and scenes. Stay tuned.

 

Scene 39 indicates a pleate of some sort however, if I may steal a line WAY to common inb the NFL "upon further review...."
Scene 41, 43 and 44 indicates that it was just that a pleate line and not a zipper. Theory debunked!

 

Well near the beginning of ROTJ the clothes under his cloak seem very easy to make even though I have no experience.

[image=http://jedi-academy.com/film/luke_salute.jpg]

Now I just have to plan the robe, the site says to use a cotton/wool blen, it seems hard to find in the UK on the internet, but how much is it to get enough for a 6ft person or per meter?

 

I had a question relating to Luke's farmboy outfit. I've been using a pair of loafers and Ace bandages to suffice for Luke's ANH footwear for events, but I've decided that I need better shoes. I know the leg wrappings are old tan puttees, but what about the actual boot part? Anybody know what that is exactly?

 

Um, well, perhaps you can take a look around websites like The Parts of SW, but I think they were pretty much just custom-made canvas boots (they could be suede or something else soft, but they look an awful lot like plain fabric to me). The only unique things about them are the "ribbing" on the sides of the ankles and the really thick rubber sole. For all we know they might not have even gone that far up the leg, since the puttees cover them.

One of the members of the San Francisco fanforce has a fantastic farmboy Luke costume--he'd probably be a good source of advice. I think he's JedHead's bro.

 

Motorcowboy sells boots of the same style, but they're pretty pricey ($300+!! ). If/when I make this costume, I'll probably look for something cheap that fits well and just use a white leather paint to get the color. The leg wrapping cover up most of the boot detail, anyway.

 

Something I've been wondering since I got my copy of the New Essential Chronology is if anyone's going to try to do the costume they gave Luke in it, which is basically just Obi-Wan's ROTS costume from the looks of it except for Luke's saber and the traditional black glove.

 

Does anyone know how wide the belt is that Luke wears in ROTJ? I would estimate its width at possibly two inches. The buckle looks like an octagonal shape.

The black shirt and pants look like they are made of a similar material to me. I was looking at a picture of Luke in his ROTJ clothes in the Star Wars Visual Dictionary, but couldn't tell if it was a one-piece outfit or not because of the belt. I believe someone mentioned a documentary where you can see Mark Hamill being fitted for the costume without vest or belt on. Is this in Empire of Dreams, or possibly From Star Wars to Jedi? Those are the only documentaries that I recall.

 

The belt is, I'd say 2 inches wide (that's how wide mine is), and the shirt and pants are the same material, having seeing it up close at FIDM. Both of those documentaries show the fitting of the costume, but in "Empire of Dreams" you can see it better without the belt. It's two pieces.

On another note, if anyone's looking for goggles for the ANH farm costume, I have an extra pair for sale on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/STAR-WARS-PROP-PILOT-GOGGLES-SKY-CAPTAIN-TOO_W0QQitemZ5453790293QQcategoryZ1060QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

Yeah, the buckle is octogonal, though I've been puzzling over whether it's also a glossy black in ROTJ or it's just a trick of the light. It's kind of confusing when most non-photographic images and action figures of Luke ROTJ show his buckle as silver, yet it seems black in the movie.

At least I did find out a Dremel diamond cutting wheel will slice the corners off a Tandy buckle to make it an octogon. Just...very carefully.

 

The belt is, I'd say 2 inches wide (that's how wide mine is), and the shirt and pants are the same material, having seeing it up close at FIDM. Both of those documentaries show the fitting of the costume, but in "Empire of Dreams" you can see it better without the belt. It's two pieces.

Thank you for the information, JedHead1. I took a look at "Empire of Dreams" and saw Mark Hamill wearing his ROTJ outift without a belt on. It looks like the shirt is slightly tucked in the pants, making it a two-piece outfit.

Yeah, the buckle is octogonal, though I've been puzzling over whether it's also a glossy black in ROTJ or it's just a trick of the light. It's kind of confusing when most non-photographic images and action figures of Luke ROTJ show his buckle as silver, yet it seems black in the movie.

I remember Luke's belt buckle as looking silver or at least shiny in the movie. It looks this way in some Internet pictures that I have. However, in the picture of Luke from The Star Wars Visual Dictionary, the buckle looks darker.

Also, I noticed that the belt itself looks like a dyed or faded black rather than a true black. Luke's belt doesn't look as dark as his pants do.

Do we assume that Luke wears the belt underneath his vest during early parts of the film? On the front of the belt, there's a saber hook and ring on the left side. On the back of the belt, there's a box on the right side- although I'm not sure what that is for.

 

My Luke buckle took the best of both worlds: it's a dirty silver! Plus, most artwork and toys portray it as silver anyway. It's a black belt, even though the real one is dyed black. When I wear the vest, I wear the belt under the obi so I can hang my saber, even though in the film Luke tucks his saber into his obi when he swing with Leia. On the other hand it's hanging on his belt when he climbs the side of the sail barge! But when I have the vest on, I remove the back pouch since it would give a very noticible bulge, and the obi won't close!

 

My Luke buckle took the best of both worlds: it's a dirty silver! Plus, most artwork and toys portray it as silver anyway. It's a black belt, even though the real one is dyed black. When I wear the vest, I wear the belt under the obi so I can hang my saber, even though in the film Luke tucks his saber into his obi when he swing with Leia. On the other hand it's hanging on his belt when he climbs the side of the sail barge! But when I have the vest on, I remove the back pouch since it would give a very noticible bulge, and the obi won't close!

At Jabba's sail barge, Luke isn't wearing the leather belt with an octagonal buckle that we see him with later in the film (at least not on the outside of his outfit). He's wearing a different belt, which is made of the same material as his vest.

When Luke is climbing the sail barge, his lightsaber is hanging on the left side of his belt. When he swings with Leia, it looked like the saber is tucked inside of Luke's belt- near the right side of his waist, but over the obi.

 

For those of you that aren't sure, Luke's ROTJ belt buckle is actually black, which I didn't believe till I saw the costume at the Dressing a Galaxy exhibit in LA a few weeks ago.

 

For those of you that aren't sure, Luke's ROTJ belt buckle is actually black, which I didn't believe till I saw the costume at the Dressing a Galaxy exhibit in LA a few weeks ago.

I think you're right. I just took a look at the film and at Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary. Luke's belt buckle does appear to be the same color as the leather portion of the belt in certain scenes, but the buckle shines in the light. My conclusion would be that its a black buckle that simply looks more silver when light is reflected on it. The type of belt buckle that JedHead1 described sounds pretty close to what Luke wears in the movie.

I also noticed some additional details on Luke's belt. There are two large white pegs on the right side of the buckle. A small hole can be seen directly to the left of Luke's belt buckle in Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary. I assume that the belt had some holes that Luke could fasten the buckle onto. On
the left side of the belt, directly above the lightsaber hook, is two small pegs that are side by side. Two more even smaller pegs that are lined up near the top and bottom of the belt can be seen above the key ring, furthest to the left side of Luke's belt.

 

those "pegs" you're seeing are just the rivets used to hold the stuff on.

The ones on the (that is Luke's) left of the buckle hold on the saber hook and d-ring, and the ones on the right of the buckle are holding the loop of belt-leather that keeps the buckle in place.

I'm a fan of screw-on rivets, but the hammer-in variety are cheaper (though I think they're a collosal pain in the backside, but that's probably just because I don't know how to use them properly. )

Nice detective work on the buckle, kids. I never even thought to question the color and just always assumed it was silver, seeing as how that appears to be the SW fashion. I imagine that a high gloss black spray paint on a plain metal buckle blank would do the job.

If I remember correctly, the ESB buckle is also octagonal, but silver and the ANH buckle is square and silver. Anyone see anything different?