Owen Lars Costume

Okay, I've been thinking about making a typical civilian type costume for a while. After debating about which planet to take from, and checking the difficulty of a few favorites I've decided to try some moisture farmer garb from Tatooine, or to be more specific - Uncle Owen Lars from Episode II-IV.

It doesn't seem too difficult. After doing some reading on here and elsewhere it seems Luke's outfit was just a heavyweight karate GI and a pair of some bleached jeans, and Owen seems to follow that same fashion. If not that, just a simpler Jedi type tunic and robe and possibly a knit turtleneck with a belt and slacks.

I'm trying to keep this simple. I'm not that great at sewing, as my expertise comes more in the form of putting together armor and the sort .. but, I want to give this a try and I'm not afraid to give something new a shot. I figured I could assemble most of this from items online with a few alterations, namely dirtying things up an making them appear older.

Has anyone attempted something similar? Any suggestions, tips? Besides dying clothes, and muddying them up is there any other more 'proper' way to make them appear dirty and more worn?

Thank you.

 

I've never made a costume like that (in fact I have yet to complete a Star Wars costume) but I have done a little bit of dirtying up costumes and such for theatre.

I made a costume where the character I played was in an accident and basically didn't realize she was dead, for a very short drama skit last semester. I used red paint and literally fingerpainted across my shredded costume to make blood streaks. It looked real for the most part, considering a threw it together the night before I had to perform. I accidentally used washable paint (which would work fine if you want to practice first) so I'm going to have to re-paint it if I have to use it again. Most of the paints I work with backstage though never come out, which depending on what you're using them for, can be both a good and a bad thing.

One of my friends used makeup to smudge his costumes up, and then dragged and kicked it through the dirt for added effect, if that helps any.

You could wash certain fabrics a lot so they look more worn. I don't think there really is a 'proper' method of making things look dirty and worn. I've worked in theatre long enough to figure out that often the most effective ways of creating something are the non-proper ways.

I don't know, that's just my opinion. Hope that helps!

Take Care,

C1

 

Depends on the fabric, but bricks are very abrasive and tend to wear down the fibers, giving it a more lived in kinda look. I just know that from theater. I'm sure there are a million ways to make things dirty, but just wearing it and rolling in some dirt should work pretty good!

 

Yeah, I'll probably just end up taking it outside and throwing it around for awhile. If I don't like it, I'll wash it off.

So far it looks like for the upper tunic I'm going to go with a cheap heavyweight karate gi (which really isn't cheap), get some RIT dye and see what happens .. maybe poke some holes, and tear some parts around the body.

I don't think I added this, but I'm going more for the Episode II Owen Lars look. Uncle Owen would be a bet of stretch. Thanks for the help, keep it coming.