Martial Arts Uniform

hey, sorry if there is already a thread like this, but i searched and didn't find anything so here goes,
Last year, my neighbors moved away. And in the process, my family recieved quite a few items.
Including
-2 martial arts shirts
-2 martial arts pants
-a full suit of pads
-and a whole lot of belts.

i was wondering, what is the cheapest way i can turn this uniform into a costume? i don't have a whole lot of money and am too young to get a decent job. (DAMN BEING 14!!) please help a n00b...

-Apestar

 

I can understand only being 14 and not be able to have a job it is very annoying. I really do not know what to say maybe I would just say find some good photos and try to see what you can do but in my opinoun the best route to go is making your own.

 

ya... i've been trying to work on it but would like some help with anyone who has done it before.

 

You are welcome to ask my wife and myself any questions about hand-making a Jedi costume. She and I tackled one for Halloween (she sewed...I ran through the templates and did all the research). We'd be happy to try and help.

I don't know if these pics will offer much help, but they are of the process of my costume.
http://bigjon.no-ip.org/photo/thumbnails.php?album=6

Feel free to PM me for our AIM, MSN, or YAHOO info.

 

okay, here's what I'd do:

tea stain or dye one of the uniforms (jacket and pants) in one color (maybe a medium brown or grey), then cut up the second pair of pants to make an obi (use some velcro to hold it together in the back), and then cut the sleeves off of the second jacket to make a vest. Dye both the obi and vest some color that looks good with whatever you dyed the first parts. Go to the nearest second-hand store and get yourself a nice wide leather belt for a buck or two and combine as you see fit. It probably wouldn't hurt to put some velcro on the jacket and vest to hold them closed.

I'd probably wear the vest as an under-tunic, that way the obi would contrast with the outer-tunic, but that's just me.

Oh, and the final step is to take pics and post them so that we can all see!

EDIT: Almost forgot - you can also bleach/dye the belts that you have and use them to make leg-wraps like Luke's in ANH.

 

like i said before, i am a costuming n00b and don't know how to dye... also, what exactly is an obi? i have heard the ter tossed around but don't avctually know what it is.
pics may help...

 

the tunic is the actual jedi "shirt", for lack of a better term, and usually hangs down about mid-thigh. the tabbards are the long pieces that come from behind, up over the shoulders and hang down about 4 inches longer than the tunic in the front. the obi is the piece that wraps around the waist and holds the tabbards in place.

three excellent sources for more info and pictures are:

http://www.padawansguide.com/index.shtml
http://www.rebellegion.com/jedigarb/
http://www.jedi-academy.com/ep1_kenobi_tips.html

 

Dying fabric is easy stuff - just get yourself a box of RIT dye (usually from the detergant isle at the grocery store) and follow the directions on the box. All you need to do is heat up some water, mix in the dye and let your fabric soak for a bit. Stirring it around a bunch helps the color set more evenly, but most things that I've dyed usually have a slightly mottled color that I think looks pretty cool.

Tea staining works pretty much the same way, except you use tea bags instead of powered dye to darken the fabric. It gives things kind of an aged brown look.

 

I made my costume out of a couple of karate GI's pretty much the same way described above by Phayze, except for the obi. I got some vinyl for the obi and tabbards. I'd suggest getting either some magazines with really good pics, or an action figure to reference. Figures are not 100% accurate, but, they are a good start. In this pic, I'm not wearing my inner tunic (It was hot on that ship, man!)

[image=http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y193/Master_Byrd/masterbyrdred.jpg]

 

According to the "Dressing A Galaxy" book, Luke's ANH farm costume shirt is actually a jujitsu shirt, NOT a karate gi as most people would think.

 

Can we see pictures? Like, my uniform has lgoos s that would make it idfficult for me to do anything but your may be easyer.

 

Yeah, but the karate gi is cheaper... About the logos, should just be a matter of pulling out the stitches and removing the patches.

 

ya... one of my karate uniform shirts that i "inherrited" has stripes along the sides and a huge logo on the back. So does one of the pants, but minus the patch on the back. ill probably use this for the Obi. NAd be carefull removing patches.

 

Ok, I don't know if you've finished your costume/ gotten enough information to make one, but here's just an Idea from lil' ole' me...

that having been said, I have done some karate before, and just pulled up some pictures. The karate gi appears to be identical to the jujitsu shirt. Correct me if I am wrong, everyone, but I do not see a difference, so if there is one please tell me so I can make the costume perfect should I make it for my brothers!

so, the luke anh outfit would be the perfect costume, in my opinion. Here's a couple reference pics of the costume, and a karate gi, as well as jujitsu outfit.
http://padawansguide.com/originaltrilogy/luke_anh3.jpg
http://padawansguide.com/originaltrilogy/luke_anh4.jpg (warning this picture is large)
http://padawansguide.com/originaltrilogy/luke_anh6.jpg
http://padawansguide.com/originaltrilogy/luke_anh.jpg
jujitsu:
http://www.juka.com/uniform/bronze.gif
karate:
http://www.bogubag.com/Uniforms/Karate/Adidas_karate/adidas_karate_champion_l.jpg

ok! all that being said, if I were to make the costume from a karate gi, I would leave the top alone, as it appears perfect. Then, if you have access to a sewing machine like me, I would tighten the pant legs, so they are not so loose, or simply get a pair of regular tan pants from the store.
After that, you'll need some boots... luke's appear to be flat-soled, round toed boots, so there are allot of styles that will work for that.
Then just take a two white belts, if you've got them, and wrap them around the boot tops after you put them on. Use some sort of pin to keep the top and bottom in place. I'm not sure of another way to keep the wraps in place, but that's just me.

After that you'll need a genaric dark brown belt, with a flat rectangular buckle, prefferably black, that can be smeered with white paint to get the dirty look luke's has. (ref pick 03 for that)

To finish off the costume you'll need binoculars, a small leather tool pack for the left side of the belt, some small white round top buttons (6 of them I believe) to glue on to the belt as seen in the reference pics, then a round container for the right side of the belt, and then a lightsaber, and that's it!

Hope that helps some, for those of us who love to do things last minute, and especially while we dont' have money to buy anything (totally with you there)

~Nidrail

 

I'm pretty sure that a different material is used for the two different suits. From what I've seen, the jujitsu suit uses a much thicker material, but the overall shape and style of the two suits seems to be pretty similar.

 

All martial arts uniforms come in different weights...