Classic Princess Leia (ANH)

Whenever I think of Princess Leia, I think of this dress. This is the classic white dress she wears throughout Episode IV. There are actually two versions of this gown...the Alderaan Princess Gown (worn at the beginning) and the Yavin 4 Gown (worn during the Battle of Yavin). According to sources (namely the Padawan's Guide), the main difference between these two gowns is in the sleeves...where the Yavin version has larger sleeves. This costume really is comfortable...and I now wonder why I waited so long to make it ;)

The basic design of this gown is a T-tunic dress, with no shoulder seams. There are slits up the bottom (sides) of the dress that stop at/around the knee. The hood falls to just below the waist, and is not a full hood (i.e. is open at the bottom, not closed). She wears the classic "cinnamon buns" hairstyle that made this character famous.


PATTERN

McCall's 2339 (H) --**see below for information on alterations**


FABRIC

Dress:

Poly Jet Set in white (joann.com)

Belt:

Pioneer Vinyl in white for main belt (joann.com)
Aluminum sheet for metal pieces (Home Depot...left over from Ceremonial Gown belt)
Approximately 1" silver button blanks (JoAnn Fabrics)
Heavy Duty Snaps in white (JoAnn Fabrics)
White velcro to close belt (JoAnn Fabrics)
Quick Grip All-Purpose Permanent Adhesive


For the belt, I again referred to Obi-Wan's Jedi Academy for instructions, and used the pattern I traced for the metal parts on the Ceremonial belt for this one (since they are the same). I used the adhesive to attach the metal parts, button blanks, and snaps. The velcro was used to help hold the belt closed, since I had problems punching the snaps through the vinyl.

For the dress, I used the McCall's pattern as a base, as it has shoulder seams and cannot be used for the screen-accurate costume replication. I first stitched the pieces together using muslin, and then pinned the muslin to the jet set fabric so that the sleeves would not have seams at the shoulders. The dress is lined with the same jet set fabric, and has elastic attached to the inner layer to help hold the dress in place when worn. The hood is attached under the collar, both of which were drafted by me.

I bought white boots from JC Penney, as I was not willing to pay almost $500 for a pair of exact replica boots from here (maybe I will one of these days). I did buy a toy blaster off of e-bay, and I am planning to re-paint it black so that it is more accurate (a tip I picked up on from Obi-Wan's Jedi Academy).

Here are the pics of the dress, my boots, and the blaster. I will post new pics of the blaster once I have the re-paint job completed.


EDIT (8/31/07):

I have finished re-painting the blaster!! I used Krylon Fusion (for plastic) spray paint in black. I bought the "flat" sheen and realized I should have bought the "satin" sheen. I went back and bought Krylon Crystal Clear Acrylic Coating (1303) to coat the blaster, and it now has a nice shine to it. Here are a couple of pics of the painted blaster.