Apr 11, 2014

Jedi Food Capsules {A Tutorial}

One of the accessories for any Jedi belt is the food capsules. Even though you never see them used in the movies, they add a bit to the look of the belt.


I didn't really think I would end up having any of these for my Obi Wan inspired Jedi costume, at least not before May the 4th. But after doing a quick google search I found that other's were making them. And what was even better was that it was something that I could make myself.

My finished capsules.

I don't have any previous experience in making anything even remotely similar to this, but it was fun to be doing something for a costume that doesn't involve fabric.

This is a list of supplies I used to make mine.
  • Pen caps
  • Round studs
  • Hot Glue
  • Plaster
  • Sandpaper
  • Primer
  • Paint
  • Flat Top coat
For painting them I took an old cardboard box and cut the front off. I then strung some fishing wire across with duct tape on the ends to hold the caps while I sprayed the primer and top coat.

As I mentioned in my previous post, it took me forever to find the right pens. But I finally found a 4 pack of these pens at Target for about $4.


When looking for the pens, you want to find some that have an angled cap like this.

For the bottom of the pen cap I bought some rounded studs from Pacific fabrics. They came in a 20 pack for less than $2.


I folded the spikes on them down so that they would be flat on the open end of the pen cap.

Next I filled the end of the cap with hot glue.

 I did the same thing with the studs.

Next I glued the studs to the pen caps.

To fill in the cracks between the studs and the cap I used spackle and made sure to rub it in the cracks real good.


After the spackle dried I sanded the excess off, leaving it nice and smooth.

Then I sprayed them with primer.

Then it was time to paint. I ended up using these colors, which were the closest I had to the actual colors. The colors I used were gold, rubber, steel, and black. All except for the black were enamel paints. The black was acrylic.

After that I sprayed them with a couple of layers of a flat top coat. And ta-da! They're done!



Apr 9, 2014

Costume Shopping

Today my mom and I went all over the place looking for items for my Obi Wan Jedi costume. I ended up finding everything on my list except for leather dye, which we did actually find some at Hobby-Lobby but it was the wrong color.


While looking through belt tutorials on the Rebel Legion forums, I found a very helpful tip for the belt buckle. They suggested going through buckles on purses and shoes for the center buckle. I ended up finding a buckle I liked on a belt, but I'm not sure if it's the right size. I'll know as soon as my leather for the belt comes in the mail.



Unfortunately today wasn't a fabric shopping day. I have some awesome coupons for JoAnn's but they don't start until next week. So for now I don't have too much to work on.

I have some awesome news regarding the costume though. I have officially finished the pants! I was so glad I found these at Goodwill so I wouldn't have to make them. And they were only $6. When I got home I took the hem down and sewed elastic for under my feet to keep the pants down.

You may have noticed in the first picture I bought some pens. I'll be using the pen caps for the food capsules for the belt. Once I make those I'll be posting more details about them. We searched all over the place to try and find pens with the right cap and finally found some. Target has a 4 pack for around $4 of the perfect pens. I was so happy to finally find some that didn't cost a fortune!

Here's the tutorial from the Padawan's Guide on how to make them.

Apr 8, 2014

Obi Wan {Revenge of the Sith}

May the Fourth is just around the corner and if you're a Star Wars geek and costumer like me, then you know what that means. It's time to make a new Star Wars costume!

I've been wanting to make my own Jedi ensemble for a while now, so that's what I decided on making for this year. I posted a while ago about Jedi inspiration and making my own unique costume, but I've decided do it a little different.

I love Obi Wan in the prequels, so I'm basing my outfit on Obi Wan's from Revenge of the Sith (my favorite of his three uniforms/outfits/whatever you want to call it). I wanted to share some of my research even though I've already got the mock up done. I'll be buying the material next week and I think I'll have the sewing part done not too long after that.

Most Jedi costumes are fairly simple, consisting of the outer tunic, tabards, the obi, whatever undershirt they have, pants, boots and belt. I'm gonna start from the top and work my way down.

Around his neck is his undershirt, which has three pleats and is made from a dark brown knitted material. His inner sleeves are made out of the same material and are scrunched near the wrists.

Next we have the outer tunic (OT) which crosses in the front and has long, wide sleeves. It's made out of a sort of gauze in a tan/brown color. The sleeves of the OT are lined, but the rest of it isn't.

The tabards are the wide strips that come over his shoulders and hang down a few inches below the OT on both the front and the back. They are held in place by the obi, which is the sash like thing around the torso under the belt. Both the Tabards and the obi are made out of the same material as the OT.

Jedi belts are made up of two belts. The first one is about 2 inches wide and the second one is about 1/2 inch wide. The smaller belt is held in place by 8 sam browne rivets placed around the belt. It also has a fancy clip in the center front.

Around the belt are many things such as pouches, food capsules, and of course their lightsaber.


Here in this picture you can see my favorite part of every Jedi costume, the boots.



For drafting my OT pattern I used Ver's pattern as a guideline, and I was able to get the mock up done really quickly.


I'm planning on buying the pants and part of the undershirt (I'll explain more in a later post). I'm also going to be making the belt myself, but I'll be posting about that more later too.