Padme Amidala Padme Blue Tatooine Dress

Hey everyone My dress is finished. I should have pics for you by early on next week. Thanks to Mrs_M for that. Someone made the dress for me and there are several things that I sorta don't like about the dress, but I think most of it can be redone at a later point. Whenever I get the pics up any suggestions on what to do to help fix it would be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

Obi AnneIf you don't think you can do the embroidery, you can try paint. Obi-Dawn did it and part of my stuff is painted. You don't get the textured look, but you canget the same look. Good luck. Hope I was able to help you.

 

After seeing the movie, here is my take on this dress:

• the shoes look like Manolo Blahniks! They are a silvery-blue.
• The underdress is gauzy and see-through.
• The back is plain! the neck embroidery doesn't even continue around!

 

Didn't catch the shoes. Guess I'll have to go back and watch AOTC again and see.

 

I just had a kind of revelation for how to "cheat" on this embroidery: I was at my aunt and uncle's the other day, and they have a T-shirt sales business and they have a special machine press that they use to apply designs to shirts/bags/etc. What they do is load the design onto the computer, fix it up, and then print it onto this special design applique paper. Then they press it onto the shirt.

I was thinking it may be possible to mess with the actual design in photoshop and print it onto iron-on paper, then press it onto you costumes! It would look much more accurate than paint, and take much less time than embroidery!

Any thoughts?

 

It's been a while since anybody has posted on this thread. Glad to see it bumped back up.
Dana-That sounds like a really good idea if you don't want to or can't do the embroidery. I would definitely consider it cause the paint job on my costume wasn't all that good. And less time is always good. I bet you could get the design pretty accurate.

 

My dress wasn't perfect either, but it was recognizable. The poncho was a good length, but there were some definite problems. The front circle embroidery was too small. The rest of the embroidery was painted on and it was a mess. The underdress was too short as well. I definitely will do this dress again because I was unhappy with the overall result, but I can't complain too much because people could recognize who I was.

 

That is definitely a very difficult thing to get right. Has anyone done this costume and gotten the circle about right? If you have could you please get some info on it? I don't want to get it wrong the second time around.

 

I made this one a wile ago and my circle is 12" across. I used a mixing bowl for the outline of my pattern. I painted mine on and it turned out ok. I'd embroider it if I ever do it over. There are pics of it in the link in my sig. You can decide if you think the size is right or not.

edit: In the second picture I'm actually holding the fabric taught so you could see the detail better. It looks bigger in that picture becasue the rest of the blue fabric is being held tightly behind me.

 

Obi-Dawn-I totally forgot your pics. I used them when I had my dress made. That is about right. I don't know what I was thinking. I had somebody else do that part and they embroidered it rather small. The size of your circle is about right. Thanks

 

Sure. I hope your tunic/poncho fit you better than mine fits me! Ugh, I would really like to re-do it when I get a chance. I've seen some really nice burlap (LOL! Like burlap could be nice! ) that is the correct color and right size weave. It's just so darn itchy. Maybe with a full lining it could work. Anyway, I want to re-do the fit of it and the sleeves. They aren't near wide or long enough.

 

LOL!
Obi-Dawn, there's that Costumers-anonymous affirmation again! You plan on re-making all your costumes, don't you?

It's ok, so do I!

 

Yep.

 

I've decided to attempt the costume making endeavor and I have also decided to start with this one. I read everyone's posts and even emailed Obi-Dawn to see her pictures of her costume to get an idea of what I'm getting myself into. I just had a couple of questions that maybe someone could answer.

1. On the poncho part of the costume: It appears to be lined with, I'm guessing, satin perhaps. I was wondering what people thought about this. If I'm going to do this I'm going to do it right.

2. I am planning (key word there) on doing all of the embroidery by hand but I am having a difficult time finding a picture of the back of the costume. I know this was addressed in earlier posts but I was wondering what the consensus was on the appearance of the back of the costume.

3. Do people find it easier to make the under dress in two parts, a skirt and top, instead of a full dress? Just curious.

Thanks so much!

Cari

 

one more question that i forgot! What is the best material to use on the poncho part? Someone mentioned burlap??? Any help would be great!

Thanks again,
Cari

 

I did this dress and I used trigger poplin for the poncho. It worked rather nicely. The inside(at least the sleeve) is lined with satin. There is no embroidery on the back. You get a very small glimpse of the back of the costume in AOTC and there's not a thing on the back. Even the neck embroidery isn't carried around on the back so you needn't worry about getting a pic of the back cause there's nothing there. I think the dress would be easier as a dress and not as two separate parts, but that's just my preference. Just be careful because if you use a gauze fabric it is kinda see through.

 

Hi Cari Glad to see you here.

I think I was the one who mentioned the *possibility* of using burlap. It is, quite sadly, the best match for a fabric that I've been able to fine forthe poncho/tunic deal. The burlap I've seen at JoAnn's is $2.99 a yard, blue, and has what looks to be the right weave size of the original costume. Alas, it's also very itchy.
Therefore, a good lining would be in order for the whole thing. I haven't really decided to use the burlap or not. I'm too obsessed with the picnic dress right now to think about it much. But, for the first version of this dress that I made I used trigger poplin too. It was easy to paint on.

A satin lining would be nice. As for the embroidery on the back, I'm of the belief that it *probably* only has the white bits around the back neckline and that's it.

The underdress would probably be easier as just one piece. That's what I did. I used a crinkle gauze which I found online. I could dig up the link for you if you need it.

 

Here's my 2 cents--I haven't made this dress completely but I am making one right now for someone. Burlap is the best look, the open weave and color and rough texture and inexpensive BUT it will itch you to death!!! Trigger Poplin is great if you want to paint it, But I found a fabric on the Joann's home decorator flat folds table that is PERFECT!!! The color is awesome and the weave is great, best of all the wrong side is soft and smooth.NOT ITCHY! I know fabrics pretty well, but have no idea what this is. The only had a few yard and it had no info at all on it. It was only $2.96 a yard and wide--but they couldn't tell me if they'll get anymore. If you want a sample to take to your Joann's you can PM me. If you could find it, it is the closest thing possible in my opinion.
I would line the sleeves in baby blue matte satin, and personally I would made a casing around the sleeves (on the inside, between sleeve and lining) and I would but boning in there. I think it would help the sleeves hold their oval like open shape (does that make sense?)
I wouldn't worry about the dress being sheer, her's is VERY sheer in the movie. I, too would do it as a one piece dress.
Hope that helps--Good Luck! <3 FERD

 

Wow! Ferd, you find all the good stuff at your JoAnn's! I can't wait to see how yours turns out! I'm sure it will look awesome.
So, do you think fully lining the burlap in satin would work as far as reducing the itch factor?