Padme Amidala Padme's Gold Picnic Dress v3.0

Go for it mishagrey! We'll all be here to cheer you on!

 

Wow mishagrey - should I be welcoming you to our picnic club/cult? He he ... let us know if you decide to jump in with both feet and make this costume!

Some of you know I'm considering doing a V 1.5 of my costume. (Especially since Ferd has found the correct sequins to use!)I say 1.5 because I don't want to re-do my corset, just the skirt and blouse.

Thai Silks has a new crinkled Georgette that I'm thinking could be perfect for my new version! (Well, it's new since last year anyway).

11.5mm Crinkle Georgette, 45"

I'm still not 100% sure that the original costume used a crinkled georgette for the overlay... it looks crinkled if you look at the cover of Vanity Fair.

[image=http://kay-dee.net/costumes/picnicpadme/vf_crinkled.jpg]

However, the high res head shots of Padme don't look like crinkled fabric.

Padme High Res Head Shot

I just don't know what to make of it! I doubt they would have used crinkled on the skirt, and smooth on the top? I guess you never know though.

As far as the underlying fabric, I was thinking of either using 15K Crepe De Chine, 12mm, 45" or if that looks too shiny after I dye my test swatch I figure the Heavy Crepe Georgette, 16mm, 45" will work to give it some opacity.

I've picked up some dyes to experiment with. But if I can't come up with a color that blends with my existing corset I won't bother with this project. No point making the costume look worse with fabrics that don't match! I think if I were going to do my corest over again it wouldn't be a big deal, I'd just dye the corset fabric in the same formula as my skirt and blouse so matching would be automatic!

I'll post an update on my dye progress in the next few weeks. (I'm in the middle of sewing some cushions for a couple of steamer chairs at the moment).

-Kay Dee

 

kay_dee, I know what you mean about the crinkle. I've always thought the skirt looked crinkly in that picture, but then the top does not.
Maybe if we all get super lucky we'll get to see it on exhibit someday and then all our questions will be answered.

 

I think I have become a member of the picnic dress cult!

Obi Anne, thanks for that info. $200 isn't that much, especially if I spread it out over 2 years like you did.

 

*bestows upon misha the honorary picnic basket*

Welcome to the insanity!

 

Hooray mishagrey - Welcome to the picnic! You'll have to keep us posted on your first task, finding affordable fabric and patterns This costume does use quite a few layers of fabric, I found the bulk of the cost was in the skirt and blouse. The corset only required a little over a yard of fabric, so even though I used silk and coutile for that piece it cost less than the rest of the costume that was done in Polyester!

If you are not in a hurry I'm sure you know to wait for the 99 cent pattern sales at JoAnn's (they seem to be having a lot of them with the 4th of July weekend around the corner). That's assuming you have a JoAnn's in your town. I've also found that the 40% off coupons they send out with their flyer are great for saving money - they apply to fabric if it's not already on sale

-Kay Dee

 

Okay, question-how hard is the Simplicity Picnic pattern? Because I purchased it and I'm a total beginner-I haven't sewn or used a pattern since I was fourteen. (I'm 26 now).

Anyhoo, I plan on using the Simplicity, and simply making an overskirt for the dress to give it more accuracy, and finding a shawl pattern somewhere. Any advice?

(It'll be a little while before I can attempt this, but at least I'll have something to look forward too)

 

Guinastasia I used the Simplicity Picnic pattern, it wasn't to hard, but there were some things I needed help with, and I sew a lot of costumes. But it's fairly easy

~Spacelady

 

Guinastasia, welcome to the picnic!

I have not used the Simplicity pattern so I can't really comment on ease or difficulty, but from the pics on the pattern it looks fairly straightforward to me.

If you are at all inclined to experiment, I would suggest maybe substituting the sleeves with those from another pattern. While still not totally accurate, McCall's 3739 offers (IMHO) a much better alternative for them on the white dress on the left.

As for getting back into sewing, I think that's great! I was a very prolific sewer up until I was around 21 and then sorta gave it up until I was around 30, which was when I saw a picture of this dress and I haven't stopped since! I think it's kind of like riding a bike, I was a bit rusty at first (still am at some things *cough*waistbands*cough*) but it all came back to me. (Especially the ripping out of seams after screwing something up! Blarhar!)

 

Guinastasia - The closest pattern I've found for the Picnic Shawl is Butterick 3345. You would have to alter it by enlarging the neck hole, rounding out the bottom front corners, and making the edges scalloped. I'm not sure how the pattern pieces lay out, but if it has mulitple pieces they would need to be taped together to make one piece.


[image=http://store.sewingtoday.com/cat/itm_img/3345.jpg]

I had only sewn off and on through out my teen years making simple doll clothes and stuffed animals. I didn't take up sewing again until I was 32 when I got the urge to sew my own costume for a Halloween Party! The picnic costume was only my second person-sized clothing item/costume that I'd ever constructed and I didn't think it was all that difficult. It helps to have a message board like this come to for questions (everyone here was so helpful). I'd just open the pattern and read the directions before purchasing it to make sure it's something that you understand

-Kay Dee

 

Oops! Obi-Anne is right, the McCall's pattern I linked to is #3797! I typed the wrong number!

 

yeah new picnic dress makers still haven't made any progress on my corset, trying to get some other costumes out of the way and am leaving this one till last.

 

Thanks for the tips-I'll check them out.


It'll probably be a while before I get a chance to start, but at least I can stock up on information before hand.

 

In 4 petal sequin news, for the heck of it I contacted www.ticketpunch.com about their 4 petal hole punches. The closest size they have is the #291 4 petal punch at a width of 3/16"

They pointed me in the direction of Hanky Panky Crafs and they have a 4 petal hole punch as well. I've e-mailed them to find out what the size is. Once I get some news I'll post the info. I'm getting some of Ferd's sequined fabric, but I was researching this as a back up.

Well, I spent last night and this morning doing dye tests for my silk crinkled crepe. I think I'm getting close to a formula that will blend with my original corset and cape. I actually went back to the Acid Dyes I had used for my cape (I had used a 3:1 ratio of Aztec Gold to Olive on that nylon netting). The sales person at Dharma said the dyes should work OK if I use very hot tap water... and they did! (It's going to be too much fabric to do over the stove). I'm still experimenting, but I may use close to a 1.5:1 ratio of these dyes for my silk. It lacks the slight peachy/orangy gold cast I see to the movie costume... but that clashes with my yellow corset so I can't go for something 100% authentic anyway.

I was all excited the other night to finally test out my new 'used' husklylock serger's chain stitch for the vines and I was very upset to discover that the machine had not been serviced properly when I bought it!!!! One of the looper arms is scraping against the plastic free arm cover and it's stitching badly as a result of being so far out of whack. Grrr... they better fix it!

Enough of my rambling


-Kay Dee

 

Great research on the hole punchers!

That is frustrating news about your serger. They better fix it, indeed! Keep us posted.
And it sounds like you've got the dye thing totally under control! I can't wait to seeyour results.

 

Excellent news about the sequins and dye, kay dee, but boo about your serger! Mine has suddenly started making a clicky noise when I chainstitch-- I think it's something to do with the needle thread's tension thingie. If it doesn't sort itself out, I'm going to have to take it into the store where I bought it.

But I've thought since I bought my serger that a serger chainstitch would be perfect for doing the vines! Can't wait to see what you come up with.

Caitlin

 

Eeek Caitin! Sorry to hear you are having serger issues too

The Hanky Panky craft place e-mailed me back. Here is what they said:

"I just received another size of 4 petal, the large measures 3/16" across and the small measures 1/8" across. Both of them are $42.50."

Kind of expensive, but the shape is right!

As far as the dye tests go, I feel like I'm going to need at least 2 more days to fool around and see if I can get closer to the color I want. (Stuff is looking funky under my lights at night... grrr!)

Oh well, I'm going camping tomorrow night so I won't get it all sorted out until next week I guess.

-Kay Dee

 

What about using ribbon embroidery for the roses on the corset? I've been embroidering for a few years and recently found out that making ribbon rosettes is incredibly simple and oh so pretty!

 

Excitement! I got to go shopping at G Street fabrics (MD/DC/VA area stores) today for the first time and I *finally* found some silver crinkle fabric (poly, not silk, but that's OK) for the corset of my planned blue/silver picnic dress! It was $12.88/yd and the whole store was 25% off, so I got a yard for just over $10. Once I get back home to San Diego I'll take some pics and post them.

The dress is going to have to wait for next year's con season, but I'm excited about finally assembling all of the fabrics!

Caitlin

 

Guinastasia - I believe that early on some people did use ribbon embroidery to do the roses on the corset (it may have been Liannb?). Many of us opted to embroider the roses with floss the way that the movie corset was done, but ribbon ones do look pretty and are probably a little faster to do.

Caitlin - I'm happy to hear the materials for your blue/silver costume are coming together!

-Kay Dee

 

Hee hee hee--I just went to see Spider-Man 2 the other night and noticed that even MJ has fallen victim to the Picnic fad. She too, has Padme Picnic curtains in her apartment. You can see them behind her in the scene where Peter is leaving a message on her machine and she is listening to it.

~Ferd

 

ObiAnne Your neices are so cute, congratulations