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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Padme Amidala Padme Blue Tatooine Dress

Discussion in 'Costuming and Props' started by Lelila, Jan 21, 2002.

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  1. PadawansGuide

    PadawansGuide Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Sep 26, 2002
    kreleia said: EDIT: Is it just me, or does anyone else find that picking the "easy" costumes end up taking FAR more time, thought and patience than you ever expected?

    Ya know, I never thought this was an "easy" costume (though I suppose next to Amidala Senate gown it is!) ;)
    Sewing-wise, yes this costume is much simpler - but the embroidery definitely makes a difference in the difficulty level!

    Maggie
     
  2. kay_dee

    kay_dee Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 15, 2002
    Hi - Just checking in on this thread :) Obi-Anne I must say I'm very impressed with all of your hand embroidery! I'll bet that took hours to complete. Maggie- Sorry your polyester cloth didn't take up your dye :( But at least your orginal underdress did! Now you won't have to sew another one. And your poncho looks great by the way. I don't know, maybe this costume isn't all that much easier than the Senate dress ;) There sure is a lot of embroidery to contend with on this one, but I guess the cut of the dress is easier to deal with huh.

    Great work everyone!

    -Kay Dee
     
  3. PadawansGuide

    PadawansGuide Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Sep 26, 2002
    I think one thing that does make this costume easy sewing-wise is that it's not fitted - so less tailoring - no corsets or special undergarments! And the level of detail, say, next to any of the Amidala costumes from TPM, is not even close. But working on this costume pretty consistently evenings and weekends, it still took me February until April to finish!

    But besides loving this costume from the first time I saw a blurry version of it in that Ep. II select image, I think I chose it because there aren't too many Padme costumes I thought I had the skills for! I have learned a lot doing this costume, which is nice! :)

    Maggie
     
  4. kreleia

    kreleia Jedi Knight star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 14, 2000
    I think I chose it because there aren't too many Padme costumes I thought I had the skills for! I have learned a lot doing this costume

    I think you hit it right on the head, there. It wasn't so much that I was thinking "easy," as I was thinking "not extremely difficult - I've done similar stuff before." Heh. Surprise. :D I've *never* done embroidery on my machine before, and I've certainly never painted this much on fabric before.

    And, yeah, it seems like every costume project I take on, I learn an entire book of new skills to make it work. Sheesh! [face_laugh] But it's cool too. I can at least say "Oh yeah, I know how to do that," now. ;)
     
  5. Padme_Anakin_Fan

    Padme_Anakin_Fan Jedi Youngling star 2

    Registered:
    Jan 22, 2003
    I'm currently working on this costume. :)
     
  6. Obi Anne

    Obi Anne Celebration Mistress of Ceremonies star 8 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 1998
    I also realised that this would be the only dress that I could actually make, I was lucky too since I just had to dye the underdress not make one from scratch.

    What I know from the time it took is that one of the emblems on the slieves took me 5 hours to make, I did it on a train so I can remember the time.

    Now of course when I've made one Padme-dress I feel a lot more confident in doing more, and I still thinks it funnier to do the embroideries than actually sew the dress.
     
  7. PadawansGuide

    PadawansGuide Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Sep 26, 2002
    Welcome padme_anakin_fan - if you have questions, feel free to ask!

    kreleia - I know what you mean! I'd never done machine embroidery either and this costume was a real learning experience!! I'm so glad I did it - I always liked this costume! And it's also given me confidence to try harder things! :)

    Maggie
     
  8. Lelila

    Lelila Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 16, 1999
    LOL I had never really done anything before! But doing the circle embroidery by hand really taught me something about patience, also that I actually *can* do this sort of thing. I think this one is a very doable costume, and now I'm not afraid of tackling the next one this summer.
     
  9. PadawansGuide

    PadawansGuide Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Sep 26, 2002
    Hi everyone - long time no updates!

    In my quest for better underdress fabric,
    I found a great seller on ebay that sells thai silk (which can be washed in cold water) in lots of nice colors and for reasonable prices. The seller is "oregonsilver" and seem to put up pieces that are in 4 yard lengths for about $20 for the 4 yards.

    I sent them a pic of the padme dress and asked if they had anything the right color and they sent me this.

    I'm thinking it will be just right because I think their fabrics are slightly darker than their pics (based on my first try, a color described as royal blue that ended up being much darker than I thought it was going to be). Anyway, so I'm going to get it and crinkle it using this technique:

    http://www.costumes.org/pages/fortunyfake.htm

    So we'll see how it goes!!

    Kreleia how's your costume coming?

    Maggie

     
  10. Jedi-Nitess

    Jedi-Nitess Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Jun 26, 2002
    That crinkle method works pretty well. That's what I used to get the crinkle effect in my cut-scene Padme dress. It's a temp fix until I can find a better fabric.

    The only problem I had was getting it dry. Of course I also twisted six yards of it. And if you decide to put it in the dryer in a stocking, make sure it's a really strong stocking!

    Overall I was pretty happy with the results.

    Good luck! :)
     
  11. kreleia

    kreleia Jedi Knight star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 14, 2000
    Hey Maggie!! :) For some reason, I couldn't access the pic of the fabric. ?[face_plain] Probably a temporary server glitch. Anyway, the fake-fortuny method ROCKS!! I just did that with 6 yards of 8mm habotai silk, and... yeah. It came out gorgeous! I just let it air-dry too - none of that funky microwave stuff. I was afraid I'd scorch the fabric if I tried it.

    Blue dress update: :)
    I'm currently in process of re-embroidering the circle. No, I didn't take it all apart (ack!), I'm just embroidering over the already existing stuff to make the colors richer. I'm also adding a bit of orange to the outer yellow ring - it seems to tie the circle into the rest of the poncho piece better that way. It's just taking FOREVER.

    Sleeves are finished but not yet attached. Still need to do lining as well. These, of course, will be done as soon as I finish the embroidery - which, HOPEFULLY, won't be too much longer.

    :D
     
  12. PadawansGuide

    PadawansGuide Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Sep 26, 2002
    Hi kreleia - I got my blue thai silk today and it is absolutely the perfect color!
    I"ve been having server problems the last few days - I checked the pic of the silk though and it was ok - so try again if you can.

    I'm boiling it as we speak to make crinkles. I hope it will come out ok! I did a test run on a piece of muslin just to see what the crinkles will look like.

    In case anyone else is interested, here's the ebay seller's ebay store:


    http://www.stores.ebay.com/oregonsilver/plistings/list/all/dept5/index.html


    Their name is "oregonsilver". They didn't have the color I have listed on ebay - I sent them pics of the costume and they sent me that pic of what they are calling "light country blue". So if you email them looking for this fabric, that's what to ask for.

    I'll take some pics of my crinkled fabric when its dry and unwound. Cross your fingers for me!

    Kreleia - I think your circle will look great with some orange - I did mine with fabric paint over the yarn - but any way you do it, I think the color will add to it! Glad you are making progress! The only advice I will give on attaching the sleeves is to measure before hand and maybe to just baste the lower sleeves on to check the length before sewing with stitches that will be hard to pick out! I resewed mine on several times because they were really uneven! And I had to majorly shorten the upper arm portion because it was too long.

    Good luck and let me know how it goes!!

    Thanks Jedi-Nitess for your encouraging note about your sucess with the crinkling! I don't think I"m going to use the microwave - I'll probably just air dry!

    Maggie

     
  13. kreleia

    kreleia Jedi Knight star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 14, 2000
    Maggie - the pic link worked. The fabric is GORGEOUS!!! :D Great find!

    Here's a pic of how the circle is looking:
    [image=http://www.kreleia.com/images/blue_circle_progress3.jpg]

    I know the orange looks kinda wierd when you see it just in the context of the circle, but with the whole outer poncho, it looks MUCH better. It just ties in the colors of the cirle with the rest of it. :)

    Also, you can see that I'm half-way finished with the outer circle. The inner circle yellow is already done too. I don't know if I'll go over it a third time - probably not. It already looks better than it did originally.

    So, there it is! :)
     
  14. Sister_Sola

    Sister_Sola Manager Emeritus star 4 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 19, 2002
    Looks fantastic kreleia! Good job!
     
  15. PadawansGuide

    PadawansGuide Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Sep 26, 2002
    kreleia - I really like the orange! I think the circle has a kind of red/orange gradient to it - so what you've done looks right!

    :)
    Maggie
     
  16. PadawansGuide

    PadawansGuide Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Sep 26, 2002
    So my crinkling experiment was part sucess, part failure. The success part is that the crinkles came out great and I'm really happy with the result. The failure part is that the hot water pulled a lot of the dye out of the fabric leaving it streaky. Sigh. So I bought more of the fabric, and I'm going to try using cold water (after testing the fabric by soaking a piece in cold water, though supposedly the fabric is washable in cold water).

    But I decided to cut an underdress out of my streaky fabric just to see how it will look. I cut it slightly big because I was afraid, with the crinkles, that
    it would be too small or pull wierdly. But I ended up having to take in the extra that I cut. I can pretty much just cut it normally.

    The underdress I made had short sleeves - the pattern I'm using is
    for both sleeveless or short sleeves. This time, I didn't bother with sleeves - and when I tried it on, I
    actually liked it better. The shoulder "straps" are very wide and so the poncho totally covers them
    - and I think I'll be cooler if I don't add sleeves. So here are pics of the undergown (color
    isn't quite right). I didn't bother with the neck or sleeve facings, or hemming, but you get the
    idea.

    I love the texture of it! But ignore the streaks for now and imagine it a solid color! Also ignore
    how badly the poncho fits my hanging dummy. That thing is like a size 2, but I didn't want to have
    to pull my Arwen costume off my dress form until I have a nicer version of the underdress to photograph.

    underdress

    underdress and poncho

    Maggie
     
  17. surlygirlie

    surlygirlie Manager Emeritus star 4 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Aug 1, 2000
    I know it's certainly not costume accurate or anything -- but I think the streaks are really lovely.
    :)



    -sg
     
  18. PadawansGuide

    PadawansGuide Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Sep 26, 2002
    I kind of thought so to, in a sort of tie-dye way! I almost kept the streaky fabric intact to use as a drapery or something, but I wanted to practice cutting the underdress out of the crinkly fabric. I"ll probably finish it and use it for something! :)

    Maggie
     
  19. surlygirlie

    surlygirlie Manager Emeritus star 4 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Aug 1, 2000
    Surely it would make a great summer dress all on its own!
    Or, if it's too sheer, throw a jacket or something over it -- it's too pretty not to get use!

    -sg
     
  20. Sister_Sola

    Sister_Sola Manager Emeritus star 4 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 19, 2002
    Looks great Maggie! Even with the dye streaks.
     
  21. PadawansGuide

    PadawansGuide Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Sep 26, 2002
    Yes - it would make a nice summer dress! Maybe a beach cover up or something!

    And I just love the crinkles as far as the Padme part goes - I think it looks just right in person. So I'm excited to try again with cold water. :)

    Thanks for the compliments!

    Maggie
     
  22. kreleia

    kreleia Jedi Knight star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 14, 2000
    hmmm... while I agree that the streaks actually look really good, try adding some plain white vinegar to the water next time. Be sure to mix it in pretty thoroughly before adding the fabric - but vinegar actually helps set and lock the dye.

    Other than that, this fabric is GORGEOUS! Absolutely beautiful for the underdress. YAY!!

    Today, I begin piecing my poncho together. FINALLY!!! All the embroidery is DONE! :D

    Soon... very soon...
     
  23. kreleia

    kreleia Jedi Knight star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 14, 2000
    Kay, all the silk is cut for the lining, the main body of the poncho is trimmed to the right proportions (try on, take off, draw, pin, try on, take off, readjust, re-pin, try on, take off, cut, etc...).

    steps to finish:

    --serge raw edges of lining, and piece together
    --futz with sleeves to go in right - might need to undo some more of the shoulder seam to accomodate the top point.
    --sew sides together of main body
    --baste in lining
    --add ribbon
    --finish edges

    WAHOO!!! So CLOSE!!
     
  24. PadawansGuide

    PadawansGuide Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Sep 26, 2002
    Woohoo! So close! You're almost there!! :)

    I can't wait to see it when it's done!! :)

    What are you doing for the underdress?

    Maggie
     
  25. kreleia

    kreleia Jedi Knight star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 14, 2000
    Thankfully, the underdress was the first thing done on this... waaaaaay back in July of last year (when I originally started the project). I'll need to re-hem it, since it's a bit long, but no big deal. :) It's cotton bubble gauze that I dyed to a sky blue (using Rit, I think). I doubled up the thickness since the gauze is so sheer. I'm going to re-wash and re-wrinkle it after re-hemming (jeez - enough re-do's already! [face_laugh] )

    Currently working on sewing in sleeves... :D
     
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