Padme Amidala Padme's Gold flower outfit

I went looking for fabrics at Hancock's today, and I found this:

[image=http://home.earthlink.net/~schaulkr/temp/bodice.jpg]

The color's not exact -- it's more of a darker burnished gold, but the texture's spot on. I'm not entirely sure if I'm going to use it yet. There wasn't much left on the bolt, so I bought a couple yards just in case I didn't find anything I liked better. It's a possibility though!

 

Look!!!
[image=http://members.truepath.com/viowater/p19/p19-69.jpg]

No laces in the back!!! I just found this, so I haven't looked at it too closely yet, but there don't appear to be laces. Is it a zipper?? Also, it doesn't look like there is too much ornamentation on it. Thoughts, anyone?

 

Kirsen, that is a very pretty fabric. The texture is good as long as you don't mind it being a bit dark. I think it's nice though. I had really wanted a textured fabric too, but I couldn't find one in any color! Someday I'll see the perfect stuff and have to remake the whole darn thing!

Mrs_M, I saw that shot too and stared at it for a long time. It looks like the aren't laces, but the image is a bit blurry to me. I still don't feel convinced one way or the other. I think I'm going to end up doing laces anyway to get the 'corset' look. I tried my stuff on this weekend and I put the corset/bra thingie I wore with my wedding dress over the costume blouse. Then, I put my finished corset section over that and it looked good with the 'sucked' in shape the corset thing gives me. Now, I'm going to have to make my husband practice lacing it up so he can help me get dressed before the Celebration!

I got some good progress done this weekend. I didn't get to the cape yet. But, I did get the skirt finished! YAY! And, I have one sleeve almost done with ribbon wrapping. I'm actually sewing the ribbons on by hand so that they won't move when I wear it. This has been a difficult process. I had my husband modeling the sleeve as I tried to pin the ribbons onto it. That wasn't too sucessful ! So, I found a cardboard poster tube that is a liitle bigger in width than my arm and used it in the sleeve as I wrapped the first ribbon around it. That worked well. Whew!

 

Well, those verticial stitching lines on the bodice are probably boning channels, but the other stitchings that go around the design might be stabilizing stitchings. When building a corset/place, you usually zigzag your light fashion fabric on to a heavy fabric that can take the stress, like coutil. But with that much embroidery, they might have had a problem with the fashion fabric getting pulled and stretched out of shape and "pooching" away from the coutil. So, doing a few more "decorative" stitchings across each panel would be away around that.

 

I was so happy today! I found my corset fabric. It is the exact texture of Padme's, but it's white, so I'll have to dye it. But I was more than satisfied with it.

I have decided to take my time on making this dress, because it deserves it. I don't want to be rushed by a deadline for having it done. So for the premier, I have decided to make her white tatooine dress instead. Besides, my husband likes that one *wink wink.* But I will hopefully be doing this costume at the same time, and I'll continue to post about it.

 

Well, I have the front part of my corset finished, I just need to do the embroidery. But fortunatly my best friend volunteered to do it So I think I'll hand that over to her and I'll go and work on the rest of the dress.

BTW, for the back of my corset I've got about 15 fabric covered buttons.

 

Darn Natalie.
I hate her.
She's so beautiful, how does she do that?
boohoohoo...

 

Yay! I found my skirt fabric!! After a bit of looking, I came to the realization that I could for for color, or for texture, but not both. So, I found some amazing fabric at Joann's with the perfect texture (nice vertical lines, with just a hint of iradescent sheen to it), just a little on the tan side. Not a problem though, just throw in a yellow dye bath to get a little closer to the source. The fabric is Rice Paper Cha (?), no fabric contents on the bolt, but probably a poly/rayon/nylon mix... and is in the home decorating section under Sheers. I got 8 yards, and will continue to buy 8 yard sections each pay period!

 

Up! We can't let this excellent thread die!!

 

We won't let it die!

I've been super busy trying to get it finished. I decided on a zipper closure for the corset afterall. Yay! I sewed in the boning and lining yesterday and it looks very nice.
Now I'm working on drafting a pattern for the cape. Not as easy as it looks! I think I figured it out after pooring over my drafting textbook for over an hour last night. I'll let you guys know if what I'm planning worked or not.

Here is a link to a great picture of the dress. It's from the upcoming visual dictionary and contains text that might be spoilerish for some, so beware.

picnic


edit: And, you can see the very front of her shoes! Looks like closed-toed light cream color shoes, which is what I'd planned on! YAY!

 

Hello all..
My fabric shopping is this saturday!
YAY!

There's two new pics I have seen
here is the same one that Obi-Dawn
posted without the spoilers

and here is one cropped from a
puzzle box.

BTW.. Did you all notice there are two
places the sleeves have silk ribbons?
Maybe that is why there are two elastic
places on the sleeves.

In P-19 at the Vanity Fair shoot Natalie
lifts her arm up to reveal more ribbons and
a knot on the back of her elbow...
You can clearly still see the ribbons
trailing from her wrist and a bunch of
fabric seperating them.... thoughts?

 

I just wanted to let you all know that I put all my thoughts together on my website, and created a costuming page for this dress. It is under "costuming info." under the picnic dress section. The bandwith has been used up, so don't everyone look right away. In a couple of hours it should be back up though. I hope this helps out! Also I hope everyone's respective costuming projects are going well Let me know what you think!

 

Here is a SUPER HIGH QUALITY pic of the top of the dress.

Be warned, the pic is absolutely huge!

 

WOW! WOW! WOW!

Thank you! That is exactly what I needed!

*hugs Sil*

 

That is amazing
THANK YOU THANK YOU!

I guess my best friend was
right it looks like there
are ribbons woven in and
out of the corset... it is
perfectly clear in that photo!

THANK YOU!

 

I looks like there really is gold thread used in the corset embroidery as well.
The edge of shawl is scalloped and it looks like it is embroidered all the way around the edge.
I love this picture!

 

WOW!!!!!!!! Thank you!!!!! I just wish we had such a nice picture of the rest of the costume too. (I know, never satisfied...)

Take a look at those squares cut out of the material in the corset too. How do you think they did that?

 

I think that's what afaeryschild was referring to about ribbon being woven in and out of the corset fabric. I'm not to sure if it's ribbon or just cuts made in the outer fabric? Hmmmmmmm......

 

I cannot tell if it is ribbon or openings
either.. hmm..

from the same sight there is another
one here
that is great for the embroidery!

 

Wow! wow, wow! Those shots are incredible! They will be so incredibly useful! Thanks!

Dawn- did you notice in the second pic that the embroidered flowers seem to be in rows parallel to the top edge? The groups of flowers alternate between one and three. That sure makes things easier to lay out! Also, it looks to me like there are small buttonholes (or similar) right where the strap and the cape overlap? They seem to have used a flower as a 'button' to keep the cape in place. I think that's what I'll do with mine. (Not that I'm even close to working on the cape yet.)

I'm still beading away on my skirt and blouse. I'm hoping to have the blouse done this weekend. Then next week, I'll tackle the embroidery on the corset.

Take care all!
M.

 

WOW! I went to work last night and missed out on so much! Those pics are great!!! Well, now we know how the cape was trimmed...It was embroidered! Not ribbon or trim! The material for the cape looks more like a light tulle than a sheer chiffon, now, since you can see the actual netting of it. Oh my gosh my brain is on overload from those pics!

EDIT: Did anyone else notice the vines and daisys embroidered on the corset? They are clearly visible now! Especially in the second pic.

 

Yes! I had already noticed the daisies and embroidered some on my corset a while back. With this bigger picture I was able to spot about four more that I need to add on. It's soooo pretty!

The shawl/cape does look like a tulle, but I have a few concerns about using tulle:
-I think it would be harder to embroider ?
-Can you find tulle wide enough to make the cape in one or two pieces? I haven't looked, so I don't know, but the pattern (which s_g was so kind to help me with ) is pretty big. There is a lot of drape to this thing. I would like to make it on one piece, but even with the chiffon I have, it will need to have a center seam down the back because the fabric isn't quite wide enough.
Any thoughts?

edit: Mirax, I see what you're saying about the 'button' flower possibility. I'm probably going to attach mine with a few strategically placed hook and eyes. It also looks like there is some sort of pin or clasp that pins the cape together in the center.

 

Hey, Obi-Dawn!

Tulle actually comes in really really wide widths -- I think the most common width for tulle on a bolt is 107" (If I remember correctly). So from that angle, it would work.

The drapeyness of the cape makes me think they must have used some variety of tulle other than your standard rather stiff JoAnn's or Hancock stock. It could be a silk or rayon tulle, which are a little harder to find.

-sg

 

Here is the pattern I am going to use:
[image=http://us.f1.yahoofs.com/users/c60cd515/bc/Padme/__tn_cape+drawing+1.gif?bcEl1B9AKYm5cskV]
Unfotunatly, when I uploaded the pattern online, it got kind of smashed....It should be taller!

Anyways, I am going to make the top line the same length as the distance around my shoulders, after I'm wearing the costume.

As far as using tulle...My biggest concern is that it will be too stiff, you know? Not drape right. Maybe a finer tulle would work. I just don't know! The biggest problem with embroidering it is going to be doing it all by hand, rather than by sewing machine. Talk about time consuming!

 

Hi surly

Wow, I've never worked with tulle and didn't know it came that wide! The stuff at Joanne's and Hancock's seems sorta stiff to me too. I'll have to go take a closer look at it.