Hoth Snowsuit and Vest (ESB)

This is the jumpsuit/snowsuit Leia wears on the ice planet Hoth in Episode V. Here, she wears a vest, gloves, and grayish boots with leg wraps, or gaiters. Her hair is fashioned in a braid encircling her head. She also wears just the jumpsuit portion later in the film while imprisoned by the Empire on Bespin.


PATTERN

Jumpsuit:

Green Pepper 141: required slight modifications to achieve the right look.

Vest:

Green Pepper 109: also required slight modification to achieve the right look.


FABRIC

DWR Supplex in white (Seattle Fabrics)--for the outer layer of jumpsuit and vest
Cotton Broadcloth in white (Silk Connection)--for the lining
White cording (JoAnn Fabrics)
Gray vinyl (joann.com)


The jumpsuit consists of a quilted area around the mid-section of the top portion, as well as quilted patches to the upper/lower arms and thighs. The quilted portions are also piped, as is th collar. I had to draft the pattern for the top portion out of muslin, where I drew lines as to where I needed to cut to give it the right look. Once I did this, it was fairly easy to put together. I "cheated" a bit here on the jumpsuit and shortened the legs and used elastic at the bottom so that it would be easier to stuff the fabric into the boots.

The vest consists of a quilted lower portion on the front and back, as well as two faux pockets on the lower front. The actual vest is not a white, but an off-white. I achieved this look by dipping the cut, pre-sewn pieces into a dye bath of Tan RIT dye. Each piece was in the dye bath for approximately 30-45 seconds, so as to not make the coloring too dark (that was the trickiest part).

For the rank badge, I ordered the plain resin copy from Corellian Exports. They were out of the arm controllers at the time, so I ended up making mine from Sculpey clay. Both the badge and controller required painting, and I used Folk Art Acrylic Paint #662 Metallic Silver Sterling; Folk Art Acrylic Paint #667 Metallic Gunmetal Gray; Folk Art Acrylic Paint #663 Metallic Solid Bronze; Americana Acrylic Paint in Ultramarine Blue; and Americana Acrylic Paint in Primary Red. Here is a close-up of the painted badge and the painted controller.

I found the boots on e-bay, using the following "code" in the search bar: women's gray boots (in whatever size you need). I do not have any photos of the actual boots, but they are a flat boot in gray, with insulated fabric going from the ankle to just below the knee. The gloves are basic white Isotoner brand womens gloves.

I used the gray vinyl for the lower leg covers she wears. Because the color was too dark, I lightened it with the same silver acrylic paint I used above for the badge and controller. For the strips that encircle the legs, I used the plain gray vinyl and attached it to the back of the leg with black sticky-back velcro.

Without further ado...here are some pics of the finished costume.