The Everyday Geeky Girl: Lucasfilm

Her undershirt is very similar to her Resistance shirt, just made with one layer of fabric unlike the screen used Resistance shirt. For my costume, I actually used a older version of my Resistance shirt but I highly recommend the pattern I suggest above, just without the collar part.

Tunic

For my tunic, a good friend made my pattern and I altered it. But the pattern created by Sew Corellian is excellent! The only alteration I suggest making is to the back, placing the panels more side by side. Mine starts overlapped under the obi, then falls side by side.

I highly recommend making a mock up or two, as the front is very tricky to get to sit right, especially if you are busty like me! Once you are happy with your mock up, I recommend cutting your lining first, as if you make a mistake, the broadcloth is SUPER cheap to get more of. (lol I made one and was glad I cut that first!) Also, the slits on the side are not flush together, they split far enough apart so that the holster does not bunch.

Mock Up

Once you are happy with your lining, cut your tunic fabric. TAKE YOUR TIME, this stuff snags! You will want to lay your lining down as a pattern on your fabric first, the diamonds standing TALL, not wide.

Lining pinned up after adjusting (the wrap is going the wrong way lol)

I sewed up my bodice first leaving the bottom where the panels go open. This would ensure I placed my panels correctly and is I had to remove them later if the weren't falling correctly I could take apart the waist seam easily. First, you will want to sew up your lining, followed by your diamond fabric. Next, right sides together, sew the lining and the diamond fabric together. Make sure you are sealing the edges with a zig zag or surged edge as this fabric will bunch when washed because it will unravel.

Now you can sew your panels up, right sides together. Make sure you also surge these edges. Once you get all the panels sewn, place and pin them onto your bodice. Once you are satisfied, fold your raw edges in and sew.

As you can see here JUST the top of my back panels overlap, to account for my butt/hips. After about 1.5 inches, the whole thing falls side by side. My obi covers this overlap.

Now here is an optional thing. I added cap sleeves to mine as the shoulders were not wide enough with my design, and the whole thing would have sat funny on me because I am busty. NOTE: If you are applying for Rebel Legion, make sure these are covered up by your wrap, as it will NOT pass (I know, I'm a judge lol)

Wrap and obi

Remove your cheese cloth from their packets and unfold them both. Lay them flat on top of each other. If you have a hall or an large open space this will work best. Once you do that, fold the whole thing like a hot dog, so that its a about a footish wide. Sew up that side. Next get a dye bath of WARM water going of the charcoal. Do a quick dip, rinse, then let it air dry. Do that until it's a shade lighter than what you want.

While this is drying, if your obi fabric is NOT the shade you want, drop it into your charcoal dye bath, then rinse and throw it into the dryer. Repeat as needed to get the shade you want.

Next get a dye bath of pearl grey in WARM water going and do one last quick dip and rinse and let dry.

To make your obi, there is a great tutorial here to make it. I used Velcro to close mine.

All put together with belt by Aethereal Designs

Pants

My pants were a Good Will find! I highly recommend you check out thrift stores for this as you will be cutting it up!

So after looking at images, and this wonderful sketch made by a fellow Rey, I cut up the inside seam of the pant and the outside of the legs until I reached the curved seam.

I did a pin tuck down the center of the front of the pant legs until a reached where I wanted that half moon curved seam. This was also just a pin tuck into place, as well as the bottom seam below the knee. The darts were sewn on either side of the curve, but done on the inside. However recent photos look like these seam are also top stitched like the others. Now, recent photos also show that the curved seam continues to the back, which is something I will be adding. When I was done with all the pin tucks and top stitching, I sewed up the inside and outside pant seams. Last I added elastic to the bottom for stirrups, but that part is completely up to you.

Boots

My boots were a thrift store find, too, but another Rey found the same boots which I have linked above for you. See where the over the knee part is? I cut that off first. That has the faux leather on both sides. I separated the two pieces. Then on the part I initially cut, which was straight, I sewed up. I removed the straps and buckles.

Testing spat height

Next I cut them up and used them for the loops. There wasn't enough of the wider straps from the bottom, so for the last two loops on both sides, I used the thinner straps on both sides.

With loops and testing out the laces. This is before I cut down the top 1.5 inches

Realizing that for my short stature the boots were still a wee bit too high, I chopped off about 1.5 inches off the top of the boots then hot glued the layers together. Next I trimmed the bottom of the "spat" I had made to fit better over the bottom of the boot in sort of a curve. Then I used the suggested leather dye from Tandy, but if you can order the conac color, that would be closest!

Spats trimmed everything glued in place and the boots dyed

One final note

When you have your belt made or if you are making your own belt, make sure you account for about 8 layers of extra fabric!!! Otherwise your belt will not fit right!

And there you go! As always, please feel free to message me if you have ANY questions at all as I may have left out something I'm sure!

10 March 2017

Resistance Rey Cosplay

Supplies needed:

2 yards of grey herringbone wool

2 yards of interfacing

2 yards of grey flannel lining

Low loft cotton batting

2 yards ribbed knit cream colored cotton

Grey/brown pants to alter

Rit pearl grey dye

Frey Stop

Butterick B6097

Tools needed:

Permanent marker

Leather punch

UPDATE: PATTERN CAN BE PRINTED OUT HERE

After making NINE versions of this vest, I finally settled on a version I think is as close as I could come to screen accurate. Special thanks to Ladies of the Legions, The RPF, and my friend Jenna for their help and feedback with this one!

The pattern I chose worked SO well, and I highly recommend it! To alter it, I cut out all the pieces at the largest size, laid them out and matched the front parts together to get rid of the princess seams. I did the same with the back, then replaced the seam line with the correct shape. After altering my pattern to match the screen worn outfit, I cut out all my pieces, lining, interfacing, and wool. The back pieces of the lining and interfacing do NOT have princess seams. I kept them both as one piece. Then I placed my lining on the dress form, going up a half a size, and pinned the pieces to fit correctly, then trimmed as needed. I took the those pieces off and repeated with the lining. I did not do this with the wool as that would be dyed and formed next.

Bringing a pot of water up to very hot, I added my grey dye and dyed each piece of fabric for about 5 minutes until I got the shade I wanted. After cooling all the pieces off in cold water and wringing them out, I placed them on my dress form and wet formed the wool, but just for the bodice.

After wet forming it with my hair dryer, I waited for the rest or the pieces to dry. Then I trimmed and started sewing. I sewed my interfacing and lining together, to keep the interfacing from moving around between layers. Then I proceeded to sew the wool together. Now the wool was a different beast, as I had to place a layer of wool behind the princess seams and neck seam to create the "gap" between the layers. I used some scrap wool which I quickly dyed and threw in the dryer to dry. After placing the wool behind the seams, I folded the seams back to reveal the back piece of wool and create the gap, then I top stitching. I repeated this for the neck line. Next I put the whole thing together and pinned it in place.

To make the shoulder pads, I made a half circle, with about two inches seam allowance, then cut out two pieces of my low loft batting a without the seam allowance, and placed it behind it, then quilted it. After placing and pinning, I topstitched over my quilting.

Next I did all the handwork. The stitching in the gaps is a ladder stitch, and the whole thing is sealed with a closed blanket stitch.

The bottom of the vest was sealed up with a straight stitch with a very small seam allowance. Then I went back by hand and frayed the bottom by hand, pulling out the threads.

Next I worked on the gauntlets. I used a pattern I modified from my K-Stew Snow White pattern. first I made a pattern based off of screen shots for the holes in the gauntlets that makes a lacey pattern. Then I printed it out, punched the holes out, then used a sharpie to mark where I need to punch holes with the leather punch.

Once I punched the holes out, I put Frey Stop on the front and back of the holes, then dried the fabric in the microwave!

After this, I cut out my flannel lining and one layer of low loft batting. Then I created the padded area, topstitching to quilt it. Then I used the closed blanket stitch all the way around all sides but the front. For the front, I cut a scalloped edge, then sealed it with a straight stitch right over the top of the scallops.

Now I moved on to the shirt. I had to create a pattern for this from scratch, but once I was done, I was very happy. Nothing crazy was done here, except adding the "swoop" detail in the back. I'm not happy with my collar, and will be fixing that soon. A pattern that I would recommend for this one is here.

Last I did my pants. For those, I picked up a pair from Good Will, cut off the bottom of them and used those for my knee pads. I made a pattern for the ribbing by hand, then placed them on each piece of fabric, then put one layer of low loft batting below that and started quilting. When I was done, I placed the pads on the pants, folded my excess fabric in, then, cutting the outside of the pants up the side, I topstitched the pads on. Then I went back and stitched my pants back up again, leaving a small section unstitched on each side like hers.

For the belt, holster, and bag, I used EmeraldB's walk through to create them. I can't recommend it enough!

I hope this has helped out! I get questions on how I made my Resistance Rey daily, and I knew I had to do a write up on it. I'm sure I missed something, so don't hesitate to ask if you have questions!

Photos by Antler Productions

Edit by Realitysubsitutions

26 April 2016

Making Mustafar Padme

Long time no posts! I have been busy working on SO many cosplays, and over the next week or so, I am going to be working on write ups on how I made some of them! First up is my most recent: Mustafar Padme.

Two years ago I originally made this costume for my first pregnancy, entered it in the Con Carolina cosplay competition and placed 2nd in the novice division, first costume I ever entered in a contest. I was fairly pleased with it at the time, but after talking with another cosplayer from Rebel Legion a few weeks later, I found that I had made some major errors with it. Fast forward to this past November and I'm pregnant with my second Padawan! Now I knew I had to remake this one more accurately so I could submit it to Rebel Legion.

Version one.

I used the wrong color fabric, my pants were not off white, and I was missing the Naboo symbol on the sleeve.

Materials used

Patterns: Burda Style 6958 (Bust), McCall's MP363 (Skirt), McCall's 1773 (Gloves)

Fabric: From Hancock Fabrics 3 yards of microsude polyester in khaki, 2 yards cashmere tan polyester pongee lining fabric

You'll also need either vinyl or leather for the straps

Notions: Khaki zipper (12 in or longer), brown embroidery floss, two snaps

The Top

For the top, I took the top portion from view B of the Burda maternity pattern and modified it to follow the seams on the original top. With a separate piece of paper, I traced the center front panel. From here I made my adjustments, making the neck line a slight V, as this pattern is set up to be a button down. Now, I took a look at the original costume and placed a line on the pattern where I would cut it for another panel to create the correct number of seams. When I was done, I had templates for five panels on the front, looking like this:

The center panel piece was lined up with the fabric fold and the rest laid out normally. I repeated this process with the back pattern pieces, but when laying them out on the fabric, I did not line up the center piece with the fold, as that is where I would be placing my zipper.

Next, I took both central pattern pieces and laid them out on the lining fabric the same as I did on the suede and cut those out. They would be used as seen in the image above.

I placed the suede and lining together and "surged" them together (I didn't have a surger yet). Then I did the same with the edges of all the other pieces. Next I proceeded to sew the front panels together to look like this:

On the mannequin, I adjusted the inverted V at the waist. Next, I went back and top stitched over every seam, save the sides and top of the shoulders, as I didn't see top stitching there in the exhibit photos.

After I was done with that, I attached the zipper, hemmed the arm holes with the same top stitching, then moved on to the collar. This I had no pattern for. The original was a separate piece, attached with magnets, and I wanted to do the same, but not with magnets, but with snaps. I measured the neckline then used the measurements to make an arch shape with the suede fabric. I sewed the two pieces together, then measured, cut and placed a piece of felt to go in between the fabric to stiffen it so it would hold it's shape. Then I "surged" the edges together. I added snaps where I wanted the collar to attach. However, it wasn't holding when I put it on, as the weight of the metal pin (I'll get to that later) was causing the snaps to pop. So I tacked the collar down on the front, shoulder seams and either side of the V, this way I was still able to get my head through. I kept the snaps by the zipper so the collar would stay down in the back. This worked really well!

For the skirt, I used Padawan's Guide for most of my info for this build, but when I got to the skirt and misread the instructions, thinking that is said that it was a full circle skirt. So I took my McCall's pattern, which has a circle skirt pattern, and cut my suede and lining, then attached them to the top, so it looked like this:

I even finished the bottom, thinking I was done, then popped it on and realized not only was it a wee bit too long, but WAY too full! Then I went back to Padawan's Guide and saw that it was HALF A CIRCLE skirt. So I took apart the skirt, and adjusted it with the McCall's pattern, making sure that I also was making the back of the skirt longer than the front. I hemmed the bottom, with the same top/double stitching that I did for the arm holes, and for the lining I just used a rolled hem foot, which made my life SO much easier! It was a pain, but when I was done the whole thing looked SO much better and fit very well.

The Sleeves

Now on to the sleeves. I just used the sleeve pattern from this, which works SO well for anything fitted! I measured my arms from my knuckles to about five to six inches to the top of my shoulders and used that measurement to determine how much of the full sleeve pattern I needed. I added a little over an inch for hemming and went from there. I "surged" my edges, top/double stitched the top and bottom edges, then I pinned the sleeves together, slid them on for fitting, adjusted the pins for a snug fit and stitched up the sides.

Lastly, I cut a stencil of the Naboo symbol. I was just going to paint this on in brown, but after looking at it, all put together, I really needed that last element to pop, so I went back over it and hand embroidered the symbol, and that looked SO much better!

The Straps, Buckle, and Brooch

You probably have been wondering about the straps, buckle and broo ch as you've been looking at my progress photos. This is the same set of straps I used in my original costume. They were made out of pleather, folded and hot glued together. The two straps are criss crossed in the back and front, sewn together in the back. Velcro was sewn in so I could easily get in and out of it.

The buckle and brooch were originally made in gold Sculpy and baked. I was SO afraid of it breaking while I moved, so I talked to my father, who has a foundry, and he cast the pieces in metal for me. The result looked very much like the on screen version!

I do have these for sale, and you can contact me on my FB page if you are interested in purchasing a set for your own costume!

The Pants and Boots

For the pants, I bought a white pair of jeggings made from a stretch jean fabric. I turned them inside out and added the front and back seams to each of the legs. Then I tea dyed them with four tea bags. If you make them too dark, it's okay, just wash them with detergent right after, and this will fade the color down. The boots I purchased from Shoe Show. I had to take them in on the side a little bit, but they worked well for this costume.

Final Notes

If you are making this costume and you are pregnant, make sure you leave room for your boobs to grow. You will also want to wear a really supportive bra, as the straps can give the illusion that you are really sagging.

I am really pleased with how this costume turned out and I ended up placing second in the Master's Division at Oak City Comicon with this one!

If you have any questions at all, please feel free to message me on my FB page Owl Feathers Cosplay, I would be more than happy to help!