Padme Amidala Sabe Decoy Black Travel Gown Feather Headdress

My first instinct was that it looked like a velvety knit - the fabric did have that velvet texture for sure! I thought it might have been woven into that shape by velvety yarns... but it could also just be a 3 dimentional velvet (I don't know enough about textiles to know how they'd weave that 3-D shape). I guess my point is that these are not triangles sewn on to the fabric. They are part of the shape of the fabric.

When we go back we'll have to take a better look at the fabric, maybe my little binoculars will reveal something?

It also seems that some of the swatch books for the ltd edition Dressing A Galaxy will have a swatch of this fabric! Sadly, mine did not have this swatch. The scan of the swatch in my book looks like a velvety fabric with a rippled texture, and then there seem to be elastic threads running in concentric circular patterns through it that help sort of 'smock' it into the 3-D points?

- Kay Dee

 

Here is some additional info from Bibagirl who has worked with the FIDM exhibit and the recent fashion show for Trisha's Star Wars costumes:

The Black Travel "lace" was created by embroidering the black lace on a silicone backing which later disapeared when dipped into water. The black over-robe is velvet and the points are sewn in a spiderweb pattern.

- Kay Dee

 

Oh dear! There goes my plans. I still lack a lot of sewing skills so guess my best bet to "have" some degree of accuracy is to do like the Action Figure (Triangles Sewed onto a backing). When people asked, just say I followed the action figure just like some people followed the 12" Potrait Doll.

Thanks for the lead Kay Dee and Darth_Manos.

Now if only I can wrap the other projects so can start on this one so can wear it for the SW Exhibition coming here.

 

The points look like Shibori. Tie-dye is one version of it. Here is the definition from www.shibori.org:

Shibori is the collective term in Japanese for tie-dye, stitch-dye, fold-dye, pole wrap-dye, etc. It is translated into English as shaped-resist dyeing, because no comparable embracing term exists in English.

Some fiber artists have experimented with the technique with knitted wool fabric. Objects are tied to the fabric or pleats are sewn into it, then they felt (full) the fabric by washing it in the washing machine or agitating it in hot water by hand (like shrinking a sweater in the wash). When the object is removed, its shape remains.
I've never tried it before but the pictures I've seen are really neat!

wraith13

 

Shibori! That's the bunny! I've been trying to think of the term

Though I was also thinking in the line of another type of fabric manipulation. I've also recently (last 5 years) seen a fabric where points were created by sewing concentric rings of elastic to the inside of the fabric. Now I cannot recall where or when I saw it, just that it freaked me out when I touched it Springy pointy... it was weird

Thought I'd mention it just as an option

 

Springy pointy....Sproingy?
Neimhaille, the concentric rings sounds just like what Bibagirl said. Since its not wool, it probably isn't felted. Is it another type of Shibori technique? Plucking the velvet and sewing around to hold its shape? Or sewing the elastic rings while stretched and letting it spring back creates the points?

wraith13

 

Cool! The scan of the fabric in the book did seem to have tiny micro pleats in it, as well as those concentric circles sewn in to aid in the shaping.

I'm glad someone here knows something about textiles!

- Kay Dee

 

Hello All,

Ok, if any of you have read my posts or questions to Bibagirl, you'll know how obsessed I am with this particular costume. Well, seeing all these detail pictures of the "peaks" and reading the discussion on how they are made, I wanted to try and see if I could similate them in small scale and it seems to work really well. Just tiny running stitches (in my case VERY tiny, cause of the smaller scale) done in concentric circles and the end threads pulled and gathered slightly will mold the fabric into these cone shapes. Here is a pic of the test "peaks" I did. The flat one did not turn out well as my stitches were too long. With smaller stitches, the gathers become like pleats and it looks pretty convincing.

[image=http://www.paul-pham.com/posts/P9280038.jpg]

Paul
paul-pham.com

 

Biba-Fett ( aka Bibagirl ) says it looks about right.

 

Excellent work there paul

In store at the moment is a double layer net fabric sewn with elastic that form soft peaks. I have taken a photo of the back and the front of it if anyoen is curious.
I thought it was quite funny actually that it came back in fashion and I spotted it not long after posting here

The elastic is like shirring elastic (well obviously as it's machine sewn ) and sewn in lopsided squares. The elastic is continuous so when it comes back out of the centre of each point it makes the point pull to one side.

This is where hand sewing has it all over machine At least commercial machine. You could do these by machine, and make each peak individual.

You need at least twice the final width to make them. The roll of fabric was clearly not cut as the end was not elasticated. It seems the net was 150cm wide (about 60") and wound up around 75cm wide. That doesn't seem too far off the final width of the fabric used on the gown if there is a centre seam down the back.

 

Hello,

Thanks Neimaille for the compliment. I would love to see your pics of the fabric. If you could post them, that would be great, or just PM me if you'd rather. Also, I just got my copy of the Dressing a Galaxy limited edition and unfortunately I did not get any swatches for this gown, however the picture of the swatches suggests that the running stitches used to gather up the fabric may NOT be concentric circles but rather concentric ovals or lonzenge shapes. Anyone else notice this??

Paul

paul-pham.com

 

Unlocked for recent query.

 

Every now and then I get people e-mailing me asking what I know about creating the peak pattern on the outer coat. So, I'll document my research here.

If anyone has a chance to visit the Sci Fi museum in Seattle, be sure to check out Cat's costume from Red Dwarf near the exit. The shirt is made of a sheer organza or chiffon sort of fabric that has the same peak pattern as Queen Amidala's black outer coat. Since it is chiffon, you could clearly see the swirl stitch pattern that created the peaks. It almost looked like there might have been thin elastic used in the bobbin, and regular thread in the needle of a machine (I'm sure this was done on an industrial scale though, not home sewn). The elastic helping create a gathering so that peaks will form. Here is a rough sketch of the swirl pattern that the threads run in (note - I should have gotten each circle closer together by making the connector line between swirls shorter... but this is the general pattern):

[image=http://kay-dee.net/costumes/queenamidala/swirl-pattern.jpg]

You can also see in this scan from Dressing a Galaxy(darn, I still wish the real swatch was in there!) the stitches are very long basting stitches. So I suppose if elastic in the bobbin of a home sewing machine doesn't work, you could hand baste and gather the stitches, or do a long stitch length on the sewing machine and attempt to gather it.

Now, there is nothing saying that the stitch pattern on the Red Dwarf costume is what was used on the Queen Amidala Gown, but it is a worthwhile pattern to experiment with, and could be a lot faster than starting and stopping concentric circles since it is one continuous stitch. Maybe they just need to be drawn in more of an oval swirl to match the scan of the swatch we have, and add quite a few more rings of stitching to make the peaks wider and taller than the Red Dwarf costume? In this high res photo I took at the exhibit, it looks like roughly 12-14 circles of stitching are in each swirl. So it is my guess that the pattern I drew above not only has to be made into perhaps more of an oval (hard to say, the DAG scan may look like an oval due to the way the fabric was pressed open after the gathering was already done) and you need to make the swirls have about 12-14 lines going from outside to center. Which means making the swirls about 2.5 times larger.

 

I am still working on the coat for this but need to make a push to get it done for an Xmas Parade coming up in 3 weeks. I used concentric circle pattern of a Solo plastic cup and had 4 inches between each circle set. I used regular chalk to trace as the dressmakers stuff kept disappearing. Here is a test I did here: [image=http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l107/princessleia911/Padme%20Costumes/Black%20Invasion%20Gown/DSC_0007.jpg]
[image=http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l107/princessleia911/Padme%20Costumes/Black%20Invasion%20Gown/DSC_0008.jpg] And here is some actually progress on the real fabric: [image=http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l107/princessleia911/Padme%20Costumes/Black%20Invasion%20Gown/cones.jpg]

With my fabric being 60 inches wide, it takes 9 circles across and about 6 rows down for 1 yard and I need about 4 yards to make the coat.. I also found that regular Gutterman thread was breaking with the gathering so I am using elastic thread in the bobbin and black embroidery thread on the top. I am sewing long basting stitches on a sewing machine. The circle sets have 4 concentric circles. To gather them, I start with the smallest and work up to the largest.

 

Thanks for posting that Kay Dee And now.. four years later I have edited my photos to upload:
[image=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/glittersweet/sm_DSCN8601.jpg][image=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/glittersweet/sm_DSCN8602.jpg]

Very similar except these were stabilised in between with a checkered grid of stitches.

 

Did you do that yourself or did the fabric come that way? It looks very nice.

 

It was manufactured that way (she photographed it when she saw it in a store... see above post

 

My Escape from Naboo Gown:

[image=http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l107/princessleia911/Padme%20Costumes/Black%20Invasion%20Gown/IMG_2335.jpg]
[image=http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l107/princessleia911/Padme%20Costumes/Black%20Invasion%20Gown/IMG_2346.jpg]
[image=http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l107/princessleia911/BeccaCon%202010/TPMcasecopy.jpg]

I need to finish the attachment points on the back so I did not show those b/c they look wrong and my hubby helped me and did not get how to fix it correctly(but he did try). I also need to redo my feathers as I did not make the headdress or skirt but the feathers just look atrocious to me.

 

Wow! Looks good, Becca!

 

I concur. Looks great!!!

 

Amazing! I can't imagine how much time you've put into it.