Navy Linen Dress and Shawl (ROTS)

Padme' wears this closer to the end of ROTS. In this scene, Anakin asks her why Obi-Wan had visited her earlier that day. He then confesses his doubts about himself, the Jedi Order, and his desire not to lose her.

The dress is described as a simple linen gown with a jet-black necklace and belt. The belt does not go all the way round, but rather stops near the sides, decorating only the front. A black lace shawl is occasionally worn over this dress. This dress also can be seen under the long velvet cloak (Leia Buns cloak) near the beginning of the movie.











PATTERN

Butterick 4018 (B)--pattern is out of print; some modification required

FABRIC

Dress

Italian Linen in Dark Denim, medium weight (Denver Fabrics--site is now in the process of changing owners; not much available in stock at this time)
PPK3 Lace (JoAnn Fabrics)


Shawl

Black Chantilly Lace
Black Cupped Scroll Sequins
4" Black Poly Fringe


ACCESSORIES


Necklace

Czech link chains, 8mm beads in black (#522814; Crystal Freedom)
Silver necklace closure


Belt

50mm Round Faceted Jewel (J21BK; Harmony Glass)
1-1/8" Black Faceted Buttons (LaMode; JoAnn Fabrics)
7/8" Black Faceted Buttons (LaMode; JoAnn Fabrics)
6/0 Czech Glass E-Beads in opaque black (JoAnn Fabrics)
Czech link chains, 8mm beads in black (#522814; Crystal Freedom)
Black Felt
Small silver pin closures

For the dress, I hand-dyed the lace with Navy RIT dye. The linen serves as the under-layer for the dress, and the lace over-lays the linen. The sequins and fringe were hand-stitched to the Chantilly lace, with the fringe on both the front bottom and back bottom to even out the weight distribution on the shawl; the sequins are stitched around the front of the shawl.

The necklace encircles the neckline, and has 8 smaller strands hanging from the center portion. For the belt, I hand stitched the beads to felt cut to fit the buttons/jewels, and then glued the felt to the jewels. The pin closures were also stitched to the felt, and then pinned to the dress.

Here are the pics of the necklace and belt; and the dress with shawl.

"Leia Buns" Cloak (ROTS)

Padme' wears this long velvet cloak when she greets Anakin upon his return to Coruscant. The cloak helps to conceal her secret--her pregnancy--until the moment is right. Upon closer inspection, the under-dress is very similar to a dress she wears later in the film. Her hair is styled after Leia's classic "cinnamon bun" look from ANH, but with a slightly different twist, and this is the only time we see her wearing earrings.

PATTERN

No pattern was used for the cloak. I essentially draped the fabric across my dress-form, and went from there.

FABRIC

Cloak

Bright Crushed Panne Velvet in Navy (JoAnn Fabrics)
Burnout Velvet in Flagstone pattern (Silk Connection--there is still some left as of the writing of this entry; the company is selling out there stock of burn-out velvets)
Country Classics Solid Cotton in copper (JoAnn Fabrics)


Under-Dress

**See information under Navy Linen Dress and Shawl entry for this**

ACCESSORIES

Earrings

Bought these at Wal-Mart--fairly close to what Padme' wears

Pin

Blue Quarter Flat
Blue Felt
Navy Crushed Panne Velvet
Creative Buttons by JHB; 3/4" Navy
6/0 Czech Glass E-beads in Sapphire
Red Heart Fiesta Yarn in Buff
1/8" White Silky Cord
1/16" Twisted Cord in Light blue
1/16" Twisted Cord in White
DMC Traditions Crochet Yarn in white
Royal Metallic Rick Rack


**All materials for the pin were found at JoAnn Fabrics

I hand-dyed the burn-out velvet with Navy RIT dye, and flat-lined it with the copper-colored cotton, and then stitched those layers to the panne. To help the cloak drape across my body and to stay in place better, I used the stronger hook-and-eye closures.

For the center two portions of the pin, I stitched the beads onto the Quarter-Flat fabric, outlined the beads with the fiesta yarn, white cord, and the twisted cords (twisted the blue and white together). For the outer two portions of the pin, I stitched the rick rack, white yarn, and fiesta yarn to the velvet. I then glued the fabrics to cardboard, glued felt to the back of the cardboard, and glued/stitched the pieces together. I then stitched two small pin closures to the back of the cardboard so that it would attach to the cloak.

Here is a pic of the completed pin; here is the completed cloak.

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.

Mustafar Outfit (ROTS)

Padme' wears this outfit when she ventures off to Mustafar to confront Anakin about what Obi-Wan had told her.

I had originally done this one for Halloween in 2005...my first sewing "adventure." Although I still own this original costume, I decided that I needed to re-do this one, for it was far too inaccurate for me (now that I have done several screen-accurate costumes since then).


TOP

Pattern:

Butterick 4393 (A)--required modifications


Fabric:

Moleskin in a light tan/beige
Casa Satin in gold--for lining


Leather straps:

Latigo Strip 1" X &2" (Tandy Leather Factory; #4761-00)


Brooch and Buckle:

Ordered from Shadow Dale Creations--price was much cheaper when I ordered them


PANTS

Pattern:

Butterick 4201 (D)


Fabric:

Country Classic Solid in Ivory
Jet Set in Nude--for contrast panel


Here are some pics of the original costume (I did not own a dress-form then). And here are pics of the updated costume, the new gauntlets, and the brooch and buckle.

Dressing Robe and Gown (ROTS)

Padme' wears this costume near the end of Episode III. In this scene, Obi-Wan comes to plead for her help in locating Anakin...and he tells her of his (Anakin's) dark deeds at the Jed Temple. In the movie, it appears that she is only wearing the robe, but photos from the Dressing A Galaxy book reveal the presence of a gown under the robe. This costume was relatively simple to make, and is very comfortable to wear.













UNDER-DRESS

Pattern:

McCall's 4001 (B)

Fabric:

Casa Satin in White
Casa Lace in Grape
Casa Satin in Mystic Purple--for ribbon around waist

Trim:

Black Russian Jacquard

Charm:

1.5" Color Tear-Drop Crystal in purple (Crystal Freedom: #C63)
4mm Swarovski Crystals Fashion Crystals in Purple mix (JoAnn Fabrics)
Placques Findings in gold (Fire Mountain; #H152431FN)



ROBE

Pattern:

McCall's 2853 (A)

Fabric:

Short Hair Poodle Fleece in Purple
Casa Satin in Amethyst--for lining

**All fabric and trim was found at JoAnn Fabrics or joann.com

Beads/Tassels:

6/0 crystal beads (JoAnn Fabrics)
Seed Bead #11, transparent rainbow purple hank (Fire Mountain; #H146877SB)
Seed Bead #11, transparent rainbow clear hank (Fire Mountain; #H146872SB)
Bead Seed-beaded light purple 18mm (Fire Mountain; #H156236GB)



HEADPIECE

Main headpiece:

I used light gray craft foam from JoAnn Fabrics. I traced out the pattern for the strips, cut them out, and stapled them together. I then covered my styrofoam head with plastic wrap and pinned the headpiece to the head. I painted the foam with Folk Art Acrylic Paint, #662 Metallic Silver Sterling. Because the foam wanted to soak up the paint, I had to keep adding more until it looked smooth (approx 14-15 coats).

Pony-tail Holders:

I used Sculpey clay in silver. The clay was molded to look similar to the real holders, and baked according to the directions. Once the clay was cool enough, I used the same acrylic paint as was used on the main headpiece to obtain a more accurate color. I slipped the holders over a pony-tail made from artificial hair extensions (in red) and attached them with clear rubber bands (they wanted to keep slipping down).

Here are the pictures of the final product: under-dress; robe; the trim on the sleeve; and a close-up of the charm.

Steel Blue Veranda Nightgown (ROTS)

Padme wears this gown early in Revenge of the Sith. This is a simple, yet elegant gown, and the first one where we see her pregnant abdomen. I revised part of this costume from my original version to make it slightly more accurate...moved the position of the pearl strands and redid the back drape. However, I did not do the fancy stitching (fagoting) seen on the front of the original. I am still not 100% happy with the back drape, but it will do for now. Currently it is attached via hooks and eyes, and consistently falls off...so I will be stitching the drape directly onto the straps.

Pattern

McCall's 4995

Fabric/Accents

Casa Satin in Cornflower (JoAnn Fabrics)
Pre-strung pearls
Wreath-shaped rhinestone pin on front
Swarovski crystal closures on drape
Darice Jewelry Designer Acrylic Bead Assortment--Blue 1977-47
Silver rhinestone tiara

Here are the photos of my original gown. Here are the photos of the revised gown.



Updated 7/7/07:

I finally finished the revisions to this gown!! I added a light blue trim to the front and sides of the gown. This trim had the fancy stitching very similar to the fagoting stitching used on the original gown, so I couldn't refuse. I also revised the back drape...using three charms instead of two so that the fabric falls better. I also stitched the drape to the straps, which I also revised slightly.

I also made a Japor snippet out of Sculpey clay in tan. I then painted it with Folk Art Acrylic paint in Country Twill (602) and the grooves with Americana Acrylic Paint in a dark brown (color not indicated). I then sealed the paint with two coats of Folk Art Artists' Varnish Satin (885). For the chain I used a small-link silver chain by Blue Mountain...I had to cut this to size and add a clasp.


Here are the pics of the newly revised gown...and here is a pic of the Japor snippet I made!!