Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Blue Tatooine Poncho (AOTC)

Padme' wears this outfit while staying at the Lars homestead on Tatooine. The scene where this one makes its appearance is one of sadness...Anakin returns from the Tusken camp with his mother's now-lifeless body. Anakin admits to Padme' that he had slaughtered the entire tribe of Tuskens...admitting that he was a Jedi and knew he was better than that. Padme' tries to comfort Anakin during this difficult time the only way she knew how...by offering food and drink and a helpful ear.

The costume consists of a bluish slightly off the shoulder under-dress with a plunging neckline and a dark royal blue poncho. The African and "space nouveau" design on the front of the poncho demonstrates a more casual feel to this costume.



PATTERN

Simplicity 7964 (F): for the under-dress. This is a very relaxed, casual dress that tends to run slightly large. I probably could have gone with a smaller size with this one.

Simplicity 5153: essentially used as a base only for the poncho. I ended up with an entirely new pattern when finished with the modifications.

FABRIC

Under-Dress

Cotton Gauze (#6099421; Silk Connection)

Poncho

Wool Coating in Royal Blue (from Denver Fabrics, which is still selling out their stock with the change in ownership)
Cornflower Casa Satin for the lining (JoAnn Fabrics)

BEADS

African Krobo Glass Trade Beads (SKU TR40; Afrodesign Studio)

RIBBONS

**All Offray brand found at JoAnn Fabrics

TORORG
YELGLD
LTORCH


EMBROIDERY THREAD

**All Sulky brand

1296 = Hyacinth
1235 = Deep Purple
1242 = Nassau Blue
1226 = Dark Periwinkle Blue
1024 = Goldenrod
1168 = True Orange
1187 = Mimosa Yellow
1193 = Lavender

Bobbin lt Poly = white (882-0010)

Traditions White Crochet Yarn (DMC; #4522116): color B5200; Lot 156981; size 10; for white stitching around neckline, sleeve hems, and in lower circle.

I dyed the cotton gauze in Evening Blue RIT dye. The fabric is naturally crinkled, so no further crinkling was required. As I mentioned above, the dress is loose-fitting and comfortable to wear. For the poncho, I essentially had to draft my own pattern, using the Simplicity one as a base. The colored design on the sleeves and bottom front were machine embroidered with satin stitch. The fleur-di-lis and smaller designs on the circle were also machine embroidered, but were done so on separate pieces of fabric that were then hand-stitched onto the poncho. I lined the poncho and then attached the ribbons and beads with hooks and eyes, to make taking it to the dry-cleaners easier.

Here are the pics of the finished costume.