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.

Ewok Village Dress (ROTJ)

Princess Leia wears this dress while in the Ewok village on Endor. This is a simple dress, as the Ewoks live simply. In the movie, the slit noted on the right side of the dress really is not too noticeable. However, when looking at promo shots of the dress, the slit is obvious...and goes really high. She wears her hair long, and with a braid going across her head.







PATTERN

McCall's 4490 (C): required some modification, primarily shortening of skirt length

FABRIC

Microsuede in tan (Fashion Fabrics Club)
Country Classics Solid in white (JoAnn Fabrics)
Suede lace in beige 1/8" (JoAnn Fabrics)--for lace ties and braid wrapping
DMC cotton floss #738 (JoAnn Fabrics)--for accents
Offray Ribbon: 1017SFS Navy, 3/8" for wrist accents/ties


This costume was relatively easy to make and is very comfortable to wear. I used Heat-n-Bond iron-on adhesive hem for the hemline. I bought a pair of crochet-style cork-wedge sandals to wear with this...they were originally $50, and I got them for $15!! They are very comfortable as well.

Here are the pics of the sandals, and of the finished dress.

Princess Leia's Bespin "Gown" (ESB)

Princess Leia wears this outfit in Empire Strikes Back while she and Han are on Bespin (a.k.a Cloud City). It only appears on-screen for a few brief minutes, but it instantly became a favorite of mine. When I started the research for this project, little did I know just how much detail was on the cloak. Once I knew just how much time would be involved, I had to figure out how much time I had between the time I started the project in January until I left for CIV in May. I spent approximately 20-25 hours/week working on the embroidery for the cloak...in all, close to 400 hours, just on the embroidery!!

Following will be the details on the construction of this "gown"...patterns, fabrics, embroidery floss, etc. The outfit consists of a long top/dress with a triangular-shaped belt; harem-style pants; and a heavily-embroidered cloak. The original cloak was actually a curtain panel!! The collar, hem, and wrists of the top have a coppery-colored trim, as does the outer edges of the cloak. The embroidery on the cloak is shadowed to show through a sheer inner layer. Her shoes match the color of the top and pants, and are a slight wedge-style. Her hairstyle consists of a bun and two looped, cascading braids. Others who have made this costume state that the most difficult part of this project, aside from the embroidery, was figuring out the color of the top and pants...with the color appearing different at different angles and lighting. I just chose something that looked close to what I could figure out from pics I have seen and that would compliment my skin/hair-tone.

TOP

Pattern:

New Look (Simplicity) 6673(E)

Fabric:

Sueded Silk Charmeuse in Cayenne (Thai Silks; number 011D-615)

**See below for trim information


BELT

I drafted the pattern for the belt with the assistance of detailed pics and information provided by fellow costumers. I used the charmeuse for the fabric, since it is supposed to match the top and pants in color. I then used fusible interfacing to stiffen it up a bit, and cut a piece of craft foam to slip inside to help hold the shape. Snaps were used to close the opening at the back where the craft foam is inserted, and heavy-duty hooks and eyes were used to connect the ends of the belt in the back.


PANTS

Pattern:

Simplicity 5359 (B or C would work)

Fabric:

Sueded Silk Charmeuse in Cayenne (Thai Silks; #011D-615)


CLOAK

Pattern:

I essentially drafted my own pattern by trial and error. I took some relatively cheap sheer fabric with the hang and flow of my good fabric, hung/pinned it on my dressform, and cut it. I then estimated about how much fabric would be used to make the cloak, and cut that from the yardage of good fabric I had ordered. Essentially, it turned out to be 2 yards of material for the embroidered portion of the cloak, and less than 1 yard for the triangular-shaped collar.

Fabric:

10mm Silk Chiffon (54") in Natural White (Thai Silks; #070E-000)

Embroidery Floss: All DMC Brand

838
975
301
3078
Blanc

**See below for trim information

**The outer layer (embroidered layer) was left as the natural white color. The inner contrasting layer was dyed using a 1:1 mix of Scarlet and Sunshine Orange RIT Dye to make the color paprika. When the fabric was washed out after the dying, the color lightened to more of an orangish-red...lighter than the fabric used for the top and pants. However, when the cloak is placed over the under layers, the dyed chiffon looks darker. The triangle-shaped collar consists of several layers: outer layer = natural white chiffon; second layer = dyed chiffon; third layer = thin fusible batting; inner layer = sueded silk charmeuse in cayenne. The collar is also "quilted" with the same color thread that was used to stitch the top and pants together.

The cloak is heavily embroidered...and here is the pattern I drafted with many pain-staking hours of research, sketching, erasing, and more sketching. I spent approximately one month, a few hours each night (3-4 nights/week) drafting this out. I first drew the pattern in pencil onto a light brown paper, and then traced over the pencil with pen. When it was time to start the embroidery work, I traced the color-coded pattern onto Sulky Totally Stable stabilizer, which was supposed to stick to the fabric after ironing it on and to be removed by tearing it away. However, since the fabric was 100% silk and the pattern was so long, I had problems with the stabilizer sticking to the fabric. Luckily my embroidery hoop helped with keeping the stabilizer in place during the embroidery process.


TRIM

I used a metallic cord for the trim on the top and cloak. To attach the cord to the garment, I used DMC 5279 (metallic copper), and it matched perfectly.

The cording was a metallic rattail cord in copper. I ordered it from Greenberg & Hammer, Inc (www.greenberg-hammer.com) back in November 2006. I just tried looking for it online, but could not find it (the item number provided on the invoice was not valid).


SHOES

I had problems finding shoes that were either ballet-flat or with a slight heel, satin, and dyeable. I finally found a local bridal shop that carried satin, dyeable ballet-flats...so I paid the small extra fee to have them custom dyed to my fabric swatch. Here are the shoes, and here they are next to the fabric.


HAIRSTYLE

For the hairstyle, I had to order extensions, as my hair is definitely not long enough. I found an on-line company that carries red pieces/wigs...and red that matches pretty closely with my own natural red. I ordered a "switch" for the bun and two long braids. Here are the pieces I used (they look slightly brownish in the pics, but they are red).


Here are the pics of the final product. This outfit truly is comfortable to wear, and I cannot wait to wear it again!!

Princess Leia's Ceremonial Gown (ANH)

Princess Leia wears this simple, yet elegant gown at the medal ceremony at the end of what is now known as Episode IV: A New Hope. This is my second favorite gown of hers...the first being her Bespin "gown" (write-up to come soon). I made this at this time for a specific event at the up-coming Celebration IV in LA. From the moment I put this dress on, I truly did feel like royalty...name Princess Leia Organa.

PATTERN

Simplicity 4630(D)



FABRIC

White Casa Satin (JoAnn Fabrics)
White Silk Double Georgette (Silk Connection; #2018452)

NECKLACE

Ordered this from Sister Sola on e-bay. This saved me a tremendous amount of time!!

BELT

Gray vinyl for the main part of belt (joann.com)
Aluminum for metal pieces/hardware (Home Depot)
Approximately 1" silver button blanks (JoAnn Fabrics)
Heavy duty snaps (JoAnn Fabrics)
Quick Grip All-Purpose Permanent Adhesive
Folk Art Silver Metallic Acrylic Paint

For the gown, I followed the pattern, with no alterations. The back of the real gown comes up to the shoulder line...mine is slightly lower. I drafted the sleeve/"wing" pattern myself by studying photos of the real costume. As I said, I ordered the necklace on e-bay from a respected and talented fellow costumer.

For the belt, I used a tutorial specific for this belt found on the *Obi-Wan's Jedi Academy* web site. I used their dimensions for the main belt part and for the metal/aluminum accents. The pieces were attached using the Quick Grip adhesive...and they really do stick well. I had problems attaching the snaps, so I ended up using the adhesive for these, too, and have not had a problem losing these items. The vinyl was painted with the acrylic paint prior to adding the accents.

Here are some pics of my finished belt, the necklace, and the finished gown (minus the belt).