Star Wars Costume Exhibit

Okay guys, so as some of you may know the EMP in Seattle has had a Star Wars costume exhibit open most of the year. Last month I finally got to go and see it for myself. I cannot even begin to express how amazing these costumes are! They're absolutely gorgeous! Pictures just don't do them justice. They're a thousand times more beautiful in person.

I took lots of pictures, and I have chosen a few (okay, 20+) of my favorites to share here but if you want to see all of them check out my Google+ album.

The exhibit consisted about three quarters of costumes from the prequel trilogy (and most of that was Padme's lol) and the other quarter from the original trilogy. When I saw the costumes I was surprised at see just how small Natalie Portman was. You really can't tell from the photos, but she was tiny!

Please pardon any blurry photos. The lighting was horrible and they didn't allow any flash photography.

They had the dressing gown, which I made sure to take lots of photo's of! I have a new theory on the skirt and I think I figured out what I've been doing wrong on the shape of the bodice...

My favorite, the meadow picnic dress. It's so pretty in person!

I was glad to see they had costumes from some of the lesser known Jedi like Luminara. Every costume has so much detail even if they were only in the background, like Luminara here.

I've been doing research for making a DL-44 blaster for my Mara Jade costume and it was great to get to see Han's in person!

I always get excited when I see closures on costumes. YAY SNAPS!

 I realized that the jumpsuits for the rebel fighters and TIE pilots are nearly identical except for the rebels have an extra set of pockets on the shin and of course the color. (Left: X-Wing pilot Right: TIE Fighter Pilot)

Feel free to share any of these photo's but please link back to me. Thanks!

The Packing Gown {Petticoat}

I have officaly started working on the real Packing Gown! YAY! I finished the mock up for the underskirt/petticoat a while ago and I bough the fabric the other day.  I ended up getting 4 yards of dark blue broadcloth and 3 yards of blue tulle. I used pretty much all of the broadcloth but only about a yard of the tulle.

Because I don't have a serger I zigzagged the edges of the ruffles. It turned out good, it just took a bit of time. Though it went a lot quicker that if I had double folded the edges.

The finished petticoat! To put it in the words of Han Solo "She may not look like much, but she's got it where it count's!". It ended up taking less ruffles than I had originally thought it would.

And here's the "bustle". Again, it doesn't look that great, but it does it's job.

Other than needing to clip a few loose threads, the petticoat is done. I'm super excited to be working on the actual costume and not just the mock up!

Vest and Skirt Update

 I've made some really good progress on the Packing Gown! YAY! I actually finished (for now at least) the skirt and under skirt mock ups. Here's some pictures of the skirt (with the underskirt on of course).

 I think I'm going to need to add another row or two of ruffles to the under skirt, but for the most part it's looking pretty good.

After struggling a lot with the vest, I finally got it right! The back is done except it does need a little work on the shaping of the bottom. Unfortunately this  used up the last of my mock up material. Hopefully I'll be able to get more quickly.

I've almost completed drafting the front as well, but it still needs a bit of work. I've also been working on the collar but obviously I haven't been able to sew it on just yet.

I think that's it for now. Hopefully I'll be getting more material soon so I can keep going.

The Packing Gown {Accessories}

I was doing some more research online for the Packing Gown and found a picture with her shoes! This is really exciting because it's rare to find pictures of any of Padme's shoes. This is from the behind the scene pictures from when Rose Byrne wore the costume during the Rose Parade. I've found these pictures very, very helpful since you can see more of what's under the dress. I found these photo's Via the Padawan's Guide.

Ah, the headpieces. I'm looking into having them custom made for me because I have absolutely no idea on how I could make these. Here's a few reference photo's for the headpieces.

I have found a few that other people have made that are pretty good.

From the lady who made this, "As for the headpiece, I used Model Magic (love love love!) and puff paint and glued the three pieces to a simple jewelry chain."

Here's another one. This one has a tutorial.

And the armbands, like the headpieces, I have no idea on how I'm going to make them.

This is one of the best one's I've seen. I might end up doing something like this in the end. But I would really like to get something that looks a little more like metal.

From the lady who made this, "First of all, it's not metal, it's plastic! As a result - a wonderful light weight and neat fitting. For the base I used an ordinary plastic cup for cold food. I cut the top of it with a metal-working saw (the plastic is rather thick, 3 mm), polished the cut with 2 different sandpapers, fused the edges. I put on the design with a 3D paint. Then, I painted the whole thing with an aerosol enamel. After drying I added the 'stones' with acrylic paint."

Then comes the hair which, believe it or not, is one of the most simple pieces of the costume. At least I'm hoping it will be. I've found a really good tutorial on how to do it and it sounds pretty simple, but anything could happen.

Here's some pictures of her hair from the film.

The hair is divided into three sections, two large sections on the sides, and one relatively small section in the back. The side pieces are triangular and the back part is made into a small chestnut bun on the crown of her head.

This is one of my favorite Padme Packing Gown costumes I've seen. They wrote up a post on the Rebel Legion forums about how they did the hair.

The pictures pretty much explain it all. This tutorial makes doing her hair seem so simple.

And that's about it for the accessories.

Packing Gown Mock up Progress

I made some major progress on my mock up for Padme's Packing Gown this week. I'm so excited to see it all coming together! I made the under vest mock up this last weekend and then I also have made some huge progress on the under skirt and and skirt mock up.

Here's some pictures of the under vest. I haven't gotten to the sleeves yet, as you can tell. It has three pieces of boning in the front and then there are a total of four pieces on the back. There isn't a lot of information of what goes under the costume, so I was left to come up with a lot by myself.

When I was looking at others costumes, I saw someone did a lace up back for the under vest. I decided that that would be the best way to do this, so I did. This was my first time using grommets and it went well. They're pretty easy to use. For the mock up I only used twelve (six on each side) but when I made the real one I want to put a few more on each side. I still don't know for sure how may I will do.

Right now the skirt is in two half's and is only pinned onto Mannie (my sewing form). It's harder to see in these pictures, but the skirt is very, very full. It's definitely screen accurate in fullness. I still need to work on the back though.

I also completely re-did the under skirt. I have four rows of ruffles which are about 6.5 inches wide. I have three rows of ruffles and on the bottom row there are two layers of ruffles.

I've started working on the bustle pad. I'm going for something like this one here, only not as big. The bustle on Padme's dress is very small.