Padme Amidala Padme light blue Tatooine dress/cape

Those beads look really nice actually This is one of those cases where you aim for one or the other effect and it'll be interesting to see what looks best under what circumstance.

I also found my black and white fabric paints which means I am all set for the bodice and skirt if not for the wig and headdress. Well I have some stuff for the headdress... To test a pattern anyway

 

I made my headdress out of sculpy and it was ok until my mom messed around in my closet and it fell off the styrofoam head and got squashed... The 'ear flaps' broke : o( I was going to make the next one out of wire with an antique finish. It won't be like the movie, but it'll be classier than sculpy and much more durable! lol I'm trying to figure out what wire to use though, I know you can bend aluminum up to 6mm, but I'm not sure what that will look like... Where do you buy wire anyhow, the hardware store?

 

Anyhoo, here's a couple good shots of my costume from CIV. I had purchased some long hair to kind of stick in a ponytail, but it didn't curl when I stuck it in pincurls! And I'd repaired my headdress, but it broke in my luggage : o( And then the dress wasn't designed to be a midriff, but I forgot safety pins to fasten the wraps, so I had to kind of tuck them up in back. So the bodice is a bit longer than in the movie *shrug* I spent most of the day with my purse in front of my stomach : oP

[image=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/PrincessofMars/monday20171.jpg]
[image=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/PrincessofMars/monday20172.jpg]

 

wow, I didn't know it was that bad! I seemed to have killed the thread...

 

Your dress looks very good. You should stop by AOI and tell us how you made it. You didn't kill the thread, I think everyone is in Halloween rush mode to make their costumes in the next few weeks.

 

It looks great, Heather! Why would you hide behind your purse, tho? I think it (and you) looks fine! Beautiful detail work on the grey filigrees, too! Sorry about your headdress - I can't believe it got ruined twice!

 

Thanks everybody, lol.

PrincessLeia911: what is AOI?

Adalia-Durron: You could just make it without the open midriff for your daughter. That's how I originally did mine.

Kreleia: I know, argh! Hopefully when I make it out of wire it will be a little more sturdy!

 

Unlocked for recent query

 

Thanks SS

Finally after many months of interuption, house fire, and event after event and no sspace to sew I have got my recreation underway, for real!

[image=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/glittersweet/costume/starwars/padmebluecloak2.jpg]
[image=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/glittersweet/costume/starwars/padmebluecloak1.jpg]
[image=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/glittersweet/costume/starwars/padmebluehood2.jpg]
[image=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/glittersweet/costume/starwars/padmebluehood1.jpg]

Today I have the fitted inner part of the body patterned and ready to sew, but my camera needs charging. I also just refound my glass beads for the hood and skirt front.

Oh yes, that's my Geonosis battle outfit pattern the hood and cloak is pinned to I'm taking scale patterns and notes as I go so hopefully they will be of use to others That curved flare at the front of the arm insert comes about in quite a fun way which I think is the way the original came about.
I decided if I couldn't get that flare then I wasn't going to make this outfit. But I got it so I'm sort of stuck finishing it

Note how the colour changes depending on lighting conditions, much like the original

Still a fair way to go and I want to reshape the hem at the back of the cloak. The point got caught up (the crepe grips to itself!) but it's still not quite as sharp as I'd like it anyway. The piping won't be fun to redo but I went to the trouble of dyeing it myself I really do wan to make the most of it

 

I have some more progress:
[image=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/glittersweet/costume/starwars/padmebluehood4.jpg] [image=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/glittersweet/costume/starwars/padmebluehood3.jpg]

Base for the top and a new hood. Ijust counted my beads and I think I have just enough. I really hope I remembered the pattern right for the skirt beading... Woot! I over estimated so have plenty of beads I have five packs of 35 and there are fewer than that used in the costume skirt and hood. Phew! I just need to hunt out my seed beads to find the spacers

 

[image=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/glittersweet/costume/starwars/padmeblueskirt2.jpg] [image=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/glittersweet/costume/starwars/padmeblueskirt1.jpg]

I've been taking patterns as I go too.

 

Neimhaille, the skirt horizontal pleats are really good! Were you making the hole skirt from one piece of fabric?
I wonder, how you'll make vertical pleats. Pretty sure, they'll be great, too!

 

Thanks Sotis. No it's a five part skirt as I spotted the side seams in the original and given the amount of drape in the back determined there must be a CB seam as well. The shaping just about did my head in I don't mind admitting it, particularly of the cloak, it's all much less intuitive than it appears. The closing will be a little different than planned but should also help with the draping.

I'm just debating in my own head as to how to best support and stabilise the skirt drapery panel. I need to decide between a full petticoat, a brief or simply a panel and then adjust it when wearing it. I suspect the full petticoat will in out I then just need to decide what to make it from. And how short so it can't be seen.

 

Neimhaille, your dress is turning out great! I wish I had time to add this to my costume list for real. I fear by the time I have time for it I'll be over 40 years old and it just wouldn't look right on me. *sob*

I will confirm from my visit to FIDM that there is a center back seam to the skirt. This is where it opens up (it looked like a zipper in the center back), and there is a tab that extends up from the waist of the skirt in the center back to connect it to the bodice. (The tab is an extra piece added at the waist line).

 

Excellent I suspect the tab is to hold the skirt up, the sheer weight of the cloak and hood holds the upper part down quite well as it is

I still haven't decided on the lining aspect of the skirt. I'm going to look for more clues before deciding. My fabric definitely needs something. Well it's not so much an issue with the fabric but since there is so much in the upper piece (double layered hood and cloak) the skirt looks a little skimpy as one layer.

 

Yeah, the skirt at FIDM didn't have a lining that I noticed. But that fabric was not as thin all the silk knits I've found. It seemed closer in texture and weight to the polyester knit used on my ANH Leia dress (I didn't use jet set, I used something a tad heavier and a different weave). And we know that one of the Tatooine Ep II dresses was a synthetic from Dressing a Galaxy.

Anyway, I agree with adding lining if the knit you have isn't quite thick enough on its own. I suspect if I use the rayon knit I bought for this gown (If I ever make it) it will need lining too... it's just too thin on it's own.

 

I have put off overdyeing my new piping (for the hood as I have already sewn the cape sleeve piping) as I couldn't recall the proportions of colour. I just got a colour I'm really happy with so I thought I would share it.

1 part Pthalo Green (it's a cool blue toned dark green)
2 parts Lemon Yellow
4-5 parts black

All this is acrylic paint and using a paintbrush it's mixed to a paste with some warm water then more water is added and more until a thin milk like dye bath is formed. I probably used about 2/3 cup of warm water and about 1t of black paint it that gives you an idea of how much dye is made.
I poured the liquid into another container and back again to remove all the unmixed paint.
I wet the piping in water from the tap, squeezed the excess water out then swirled the piping in the liquid. Then pulled the piping out, squeezed the excess liquid out and rinced under water. This was too pale so I put the piping in again swirled it around and then squeezed out the excess. This is close to the oclour you will wind up with when it is dry and this colour is a warm slightly muddy grey as per the exhibition photos.
In normal lighting it is probably a more silvery grey so I would start with one part yellow see how it goes then blend in the extra yellow to the dye bath and repeat the process.

I also used optic white piping (polyester) which is why I needed so much yellow, it wound up almost purple without the yellow, even with the green it still tended towards the optic blue tones.

So now I'm breaking out the overlocker again to see what I can work on while the piping is drying.


Oh I haven't yet tried but I suspect the other method used to dye wigs (acrylic *ink* and isopropyl alcohol) would also work for this.

 

My piping dried and it's been sewn into the hood now I really really recommend anyone making this to do the piping around the neckline as well as edge of the hood. It's annoying but it just looks so very pretty.

 

I also pressed and did a little more tweaking of the hood:
[image=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/glittersweet/costume/starwars/padmebluehood5.jpg] [image=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/glittersweet/costume/starwars/padmebluehood6.jpg]
As I really am focussed on getting the patterns right in my costuming (fit and correct patterning are my main focal points) I was a little worried how the shaping of the hood would go. Once I had a gathering thread in place and started easing the fabric at the front of the neck and gathering at the back the right tension and direction of stresses started to show and the piping has just finished that off nicely. I am not sure if I'm cheating or if it is the way it was made but I gathered the hood to the piping so that it is completely separate rather than both layers to one side and then the other side of the piping sewn into the body structure. I will have to tack it in place but that is easy enough. I can also ease the neckline into place this way as well.

I seem to have misplaced my black seed beads so I'll have to do a hunt for them. I have some nice silver metal thread that will be used to sew them in place to the hood and skirt front as it has been suggested to do. The original is sewn with black thread as it doesn't show up on film (in the folds of the skirt) but the round beads are silver lined and in real life the black thread looks a bit out of place.

 

It looks great! I'm jealous

 

Thank you I had a look at the other stores that carried this fabric and there is none left I was going to buy a bolt and pass on my good fortune. Still it's just a good substitute not the actual fabric anyway

Today I got the beads sewn to the tip of the hood. They are so pretty. And they click and clatter and make a bit of noise

Edited to add image:
[image=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/glittersweet/costume/starwars/padmebluehood7.jpg]

 

It's look very-very nice!Good work!)

 

Where did you get your coin beads and what size are they?

 

Thanks Polly-Padme

I got the beads from a local fabric/manchester chain here called Spotlight. I think they may be 8mm.