Maternity Cosplay - Making a Padme Costume in One Week

I made Padme Amidala's Mustafar "sleeveless" costume for Emerald City Comicon 2015 in 23 hours over 4 days. I wanted to share tips on how I made it because it is a very comfortable maternity outfit, a great cosplay option for pregnant mamas!

ECCC 2015 - Mustafar Padme Amidala by Avalyn Cosplay

- I had only four days in which to make the costume (M-Th)

- I had little to no experience making pants, and no patterns! I couldn't find the right leggings at the mall on short notice, so I was going to have to figure out how to make them.
- I made the entire outfit for a Total Cost of $25.25.

It was a last-minute decision to tackle this project but I am so glad that I did! SmallRiniLady and I were presenting a cosplay panel on Friday and I felt it was necessary to wear a costume but I couldn't wear my old costumes since I was 5 months pregnant. Padme in Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith was my natural choice for a recognizable pregnant character; my first cosplay was Arena Battle Padme from Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones, so this was like coming full circle.

At the EMP/SFM Star Wars Costume exhibit

1. Collect Reference Photos

Get as many photos as you can up front before you start a new costume recreation project! There is nothing worse then getting near the end of your build before finding a picture shot from the back that shows your character has a prehensile tail you didn't know about...

I started by doing an image search on Google and Bing, using my smartphone. Then I found amazing close-up detailed reference photos on padawansguide.com .

I saved all of these images to my smartphone, then uploaded five essential images to the Cosplanner app so I could easily find them again.

This is a picture of the ACTUAL MOVIE DRESS being made!
- at the Star Wars Costume exhibit at the EMP/SFM

2. Figure Out What You Need and Buy Stuff

Materials needed for making this costume:

1. Fabric for leggings: Cream stretch knit fabric (should stretch width-wise across your leg for a snug fit, does not need to stretch length-wise)
2. Fabric for the dress and gloves: Oatmeal/tan suedecloth 
3. Material for the harness: Dark brown leather or faux leather (I bought 8" of 60"-wide $35/yd synthetic leather from the home decor department) - you actually only need about 4" or so at 60" wide. 
4. Interfacing for the collar.
5. Fimo (moldable plastic clay like Sculpey that you harden by heating in the oven) for the filigree details on the broach and harness "buckle". 
6. Fabric Paint for the sleeve emblem (I used brown acrylics over black fabric paint because I couldn't find any brown fabric paint)
7. Acrylic Paint - shades of gold for the filigree pieces, browns for the sleeve emblem

On the Sunday before the convention I found all of my fabrics at JoAnn's. After a moment's hesitation at the cutting counter (can I REALLY get this done before Friday?), I took the plunge! 

Total Cost: $25.25

- Disclaimer: this is the total amount that I spent this week on this costume. I did not count in the price of the boots I already had ($35), the Fimo that I already had (I think I bought it for $2 on clearance 6 years ago), or all of the tools I used which I already had (sewing machine, serger, thread, needles, elastic, fusible interfacing, tailor's chalk, markers, pointy stick tool for detailing the Fimo, paintbrushes, acrylic paints I already had, hot glue and glue gun, oven, the craft room and tables in my house, etc.).

Stuff I left out:

I took short-cuts on the boots and hair, using boots I already had, and just braiding my natural hair instead of making a hair piece. If you are trying to make this costume to wear at Rebel Legion events, please see Rebel Legion Costume Standards for Padme Amidala/Skywalker (Tan Mustafar Outfit)

3. Sew the Costume Garments

Monday I started sewing the dress. Breaking down the construction I planned to make the top first, with seams to shape the bust. I found a jacket pattern (Simplicity 2207) in my collection that would do. I used the front and back pieces, chopped them off at the waistline (the dress has an empire waist) and excluded the sleeves. I left some extra fabric at the tops of the armholes to account for the shape of the fabric coming over the shoulders. Then I sewed the top pieces together according to the instructions in the pattern. In the interest of saving time, I did not put lining in the dress.

My method is to try it on (inside-out), pin it strategically, take it off and adjust the pins slightly, smoothing the fabric, then try it on again to verify that works, then sew it. I use both a serger and a sewing machine.

Here all I have done so far was sew together the Simplicity 2207 jacket pieces.

Next, I sewed up the front, leaving enough of a V-neck to fit my head through (this would be pinned together with the broach later). Then I finished the armholes with a rolled hem.

After that it was a matter of draping on a skirt, drafting a collar and hemming everything. The collar was the most complicated part; I started with the bottom edge of the pattern that came with the Simplicity 2207 jacket pattern, traced it onto pattern tracing material and made it into the larger rounded shape I wanted.

The skirt part is pretty straight-forward if you have had a little bit of experience making dresses or skirts. I made the skirt with two pieces (front and back), attached it to the jacket at the high "empire" waist, fitted the front draping over my baby bump, pinned down the side edges perpendicular to the ground, sewed it on, and turned under the bottom edge to hem it.

For the harness straps I cut two 2" strips from the faux leather (which I assume was 60" wide). I turned down both long edges 1/2" and sewed them 1/4" from the edge. I pinned the straps to the dress at the back but did not sew them until after I made the hardware. (This is a fast, cheap, but nicely finished look. For a more accurate look I would have used real leather or at least had no stitching lines showing. Also, in hindsight I think my straps could have been up to 1/4" wider in the finished and still would have worked.) 

For the finger-less opera gloves, I created my own pattern, designing one sleeve as two pieces sewn together, the seams running  from hand to bicep. 

Squeezing a glove pattern piece onto fabric remnants!

I measured the length of my arm from where I wanted it to start and end, plus extra length for a rolled helm at the hand and elastic casing around the upper arm. Then I started measuring the circumference of my arm at various points, making sure my thinnest point at the wrist would still be big enough to fit my hand through. I cut my four fabric pieces out of the scraps from my dress (I barely had enough because I forgot to account for the gloves, whoops!).

For the leggings I styled them after my favorite super-comfy maternity leggings from Loved by Heidi Klum. But Padme's leggings have vertical seams up the center front and back of the legs, not at the side seams, so I couldn't just trace existing pants and I had no patterns that would work. I needed to figure out how to make these by myself.

Finished maternity leggings and finger-less opera gloves

So to make the pants I cut my fabric in half (one piece for each leg) and cut the U shape for the crotch area center seam first. I just grabbed a random pants pattern in my size and traced the U shape for the center seam, putting together the front and back pieces. I left enough room to wrap around the front of my leg but kept the back bigger so it could wrap around the back and meet the other edge at the center front. I stitched the U's together then pinned the fabric to my clothes to drape the legs. It was a matter of pinning at the widest point, letting the fabric hang straight, then pulling it tight to follow the curves of my body and pin as I go. 

I made a waistband of a straight strip of fabric in a tube around elastic, then pinned it to the top of the pants keeping it high in back and low under the belly in front, overlapping the front edges in a V with the ends disappearing. I gathered the top edge of the pants to fit it to the waistband.

4. Detail the Costume

For the brown Sleeve Emblem I saved time by painting it on instead of embroidering. Note that the emblem only appears on Padme's left arm (yay, I only have to do this once!).

Now, if only I had remembered to buy fabric paint! I made a quick trip to Wal-Mart in the middle of the week and discovered there was no brown fabric paint! So I bought black puffy paint instead (no time for a trip to another store!) and decided I would use some brown acrylics I already had at home to brush on top of the black.

I drew the emblem onto paper by hand (it took three attempts to get the size and shape right), then cut it out to use it as a stencil. I put paper between the two layers of fabric to prevent bleed-through of the paint, positioned the stencil, roughly brushed on the black, removed the stencil and finished off the edges and small details by hand.

First I brushed black fabric paint onto the left sleeve and let it dry overnight.

After the fabric paint dried overnight, I dry-brushed dark brown acrylic over the black fabric paint. Then I used a lighter brown to brush on highlights, assuming a light source would come from above. This gave the effect of embroidery and was very quick and easy to do!

Here is the final emblem, with the brown acrylics over black puffy paint, brushed onto suedecloth.

Lastly, I made the broach and buckle filigree pieces. I haven't worked with Fimo very much, so I started with the smaller broach, hoping it would be a success. Worbla would not have been a good choice of material; it isn't very smooth and I wouldn't be able to get such tiny, fine details with it. I needed something flexible yet sturdy so it wouldn't just break apart halfway through a convention day. Metalwork is not in my repertoire, so Fimo seemed to be a good choice (it was!).

The first step was to bring up close-up reference images and sketch the designs onto some paper, at scale. Then I could start forming the Fimo by hand right on top of my sketch, working from the bottom up. I tried to give it extra thickness and weight where I could, to make the delicate pattern more sturdy.

Making the broach.

After the Fimo hardened in the oven, I primed and painted it (I may have forgotten the primer!) using black acrylic as a base; then I layer Copper over the black, and Royal Gold on top, with another shade of gold dry-brushed on in areas. The mixture of metallic colors gave it an aged, dimensional look.

I hot-glued the buckle onto a pin-back and pinned it to the dress to close up the V-neck below the collar.

The finished broach

I repeated the whole process with the buckle for the harness. I actually sewed the two straps together in an X, then I traced the straps onto my paper first so I would be able to make the "buckle" fit the straps correctly.

I only drew one side of the buckle since it is symmetrical.

After I finished making the buckle (I think this took 1-2 hours), I carefully peeled it off my paper and transferred it to tin foil on a cookie sheet. Then into the oven it went!

Fimo buckle, ready for the oven.

 I painted the buckle the same way I painted the broach. I did not add Mod Podge or anything on top of the metallic paint; usually that will change the paint surface to make it look less metallic. I would rather just re-paint it later if anything rubs off after wear. Since I dry-brushed it, it should not flake off, it will just rub off a little on the edges over time. (After three days of wear, the only place it rubbed off was on the top center tip and it was only noticeable on close inspection.)

The finished "buckle" for the harness.

Lastly, I attached the buckle piece to the harness using hot glue in three places. The hot glue held up pretty well. It did start to peel off in two places on the first day; I hot glued it again at the Cospitality Lounge and it stayed put through two and a half more days. I would rather have it peel off the harness than break apart in the middle of the filigree; that it one big reason why I used hot glue to attach it.

I am super happy with how my costume turned out! I wore it to ECCC 2015 on Friday and Saturday, and then I wore it again to the Star Wars Costumes exhibit at the EMP/SFM in Seattle on Tuesday.

Mother/Daughter cosplay! Avalyn Cosplay as Padme with #LittleLolo as Princess Leia at the EMP/SFM in Seattle

Golden Snitch Prop

It's the Golden Snitch!

This is a really quick project but requires a few tools. Here's how to make your own Snitch like this one.

Tools:

• hot glue gun & one hot glue stick
• electric drill (e.g. a Dremel with a drill bit)
• scissors
• fine-tipped paint brush
• blunt/wide-tipped paint brush

Materials:

• a wooden ball
• two yellow feathers
• gold acrylic paint
• light yellow acrylic paint

All of the above (excluding the drill, perhaps) should be available from your local craft store.

Directions:

1.  Using a drill bit the same size as your feather stems, drill two holes in the wooden ball, angling the hole in the direction you want the feather to come out.
2. Stick the feathers into the holes to make sure they fit. Use scissors to trim the feathers to your desired length. Then take the feathers back out of the holes.
3. One hole at a time, squeeze hot glue into the hole and then shove the tip of the feather in. Before the glue cools, twist the feather so it's facing the right direction. Then repeat for the other hole and feather and let the glue cool.
4. Using a blunt-tipped brush, paint the ball gold. To minimize brushstrokes and keep the nice wood grain visible, paint on a very light layer, let it dry, then add one or two more layers of paint until the wood color is covered.
5. Using a fine-tipped paint brush and light yellow paint, detail on a design to give your Snitch an aerodynamic, athletic, or magical appearance. I just made up a design, but if you want you could find reference photos from the Harry Potter movies and try to create a movie-accurate Snitch. You'll note the "real" Snitch is not a completely smooth ball. To add texture, you could use gold puffy paint to "draw" the design on.
6. Finish with a light coat of gold over the light yellow. I also edged the yellow with a darker gold to give it the illusion of depth.

Arc Reactor for Iron Man

Are you ready for the Avengers movie?

Halloween 2008
Michael has been bulking up since then so he can be Captain America instead...

Meet my brother-in-law, Michael Mulligan. He is a professional actor and a pro at making movie props. He made this Arc Reactor and gave it to my husband (who is a big comic book fan) for Christmas back in 2008. HOW COOL IS THIS?

This is a completely handmade custom replica of Iron Man's "arc reactor".

It lights up with LEDs!

Michael also made this custom shadowbox and mounted it inside so it can be displayed in our living room. A cable runs out the back so I can plug it into the wall to turn it on instead of relying on batteries.

It looks amazing, whether it's turned on or off!

Seriously, how's this for a night-light? Every geek needs one!

Random Fact: if you have the Collector's Edition of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, pull out the behind-the-scenes DVD. Michael's in it doing movement acting for undead warriors!

Getting Ready for the Deathy Hallows II

In celebration for the final Harry Potter movie, I have made more Movie Poster Mosaics, using tiles from the previous movies.  (cough ok just the first 5 movies).  Being a techy I wrote my own program that resizes pictures and does math calculations of 9 points in each tile to match that section of the picture to replace.  A little intense but makes awesome mosaics  You can click on the photos to go to the DeviantArt page to see the picture in full scale by clicking on the photos again.

Who are you rooting for?

Inspiration - Movie Posters

I came across an artist on DeviantArt, Mr-Bluebird. 

He recreated several series of movie posters.

Alfred Hitchcock Series

The way he uses just two colours and simple designs yet it says soo much.

Whimsical Journeys Series

I love his use of extreme colours to push the wildness of these magical lands

 Paul Thomas Anderson Series

I love how he can incorporate text as part of the image.  Also how the picture has movement to it.

Pixar Series

Using well known but not main characters makes gives this a mild, yet recognizable unqiue posters. 

And then THE BLOB

Giving the classic comic book look with the polka dot gradients really helps date this movie. 

This artist has many more Movie poster and other print pieces that are amazing. Approaching these classics from his own perspective just makes my creative juices flow (oh he's a MUSE)  Should check him out on either his DeviantArt account or his personal site. 

http://mr-bluebird.deviantart.com/

http://www.combustibleart.com/Home.html

I'm Mary Poppins, Perfect in Every Way

Did you know that there is a Sound of Music Singalong that is a family version of the Rocky Horror Picture Show.  This is something I have to drag my mom to. 



For the Costume Contest I dressed up as another recognizable Julia Andrews character.  Then I got kicked off stage during the Costume Contest for being in the wrong movie.

Cosplay Week #3 - Eowyn

What if Eowyn was brunette? HAWT.

I probably would have made a more convincing Arwyn, but I really love the white dress Eowyn wore in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

I made this costume back in college on a limited budget. It was my second movie costume and the first dress I ever made so I used purchased patterns to make the dress: Simplicity 9891 for the sleeves and McCalls 3861 for the dress train. I used a T-shirt as a guide to make the front/top of the dress and then trimmed the neck to a V shape.

For the fabric I went cheap and used polyester. Being a college student at the time I balked at the thought of purchasing 8-9 yards of wool! And while I had found the perfect wool at Hancock Fabrics, they only had 3-4 yards of it. I found this nice slightly off-white polyester of the similar weight and texture for only $2/yard at Walmart. I used a cheap polyester lining, too, of a cream color (you can tell the lining of the dress in the movie is darker in pictures of it billowing in the wind).

I found an awesome gold and white braid for all of the lining details around the neck and sleeves... and when I saw the movie again it looked like I used the EXACT same braid that they used! It's thin and flat, with a white squiggle over gold. The embroidered ribbon at the neck isn't the same embroidery as the original, but I came as close as I could... I don't have an embroidery machine and purchased trim is faster anyway.

For the sleeve lining I actually didn't find a good brocade or silky goldish-cream fabric, so I overlayed a gold tulle. It was hard to sew though! However, the awsome thing about this dress is that even though the bottom hem gets really dirty whenever I wear it, I can just throw it in the wash and it comes out perfectly clean and I don't even have to iron it! No trips to the drycleaners!

I love how the belt turned out. It's not perfect, mostly because I couldn't fit in all 21 of the round pieces so they're a little spread apart, but it took forever to put together and I got tons of compliments on it.

For the belt, I started with white cross-stitch canvas, which made it easy to place the beads. I sewed on a string of gold beads (from JoAnn's) with gold thread... by hand, counting the squares like cross-stitch in order to keep the design symmetrical and even over the whole belt.

For the circle pieces, I used wooden disks which I painted with silver acrylic paint. On top of each I glued a star of craft foam, painted silver, then I used silver wire in a circle around that and gold wire for the petal shapes, and gold beads attached with beading wire. The center piece is similar, except I used an orange juice can lid instead of the wooden rounds and foam stars, since the center round is bigger and more intricate. I made that one first. The center piece is attached to the top of the vertical drape piece, which loops over the around-the-waist belt piece and attaches to itself with velcro on the back. The around-the-waist belt piece is separate, fastening with a wide buckle in front, which is hidden by the hanging piece where it wraps over it.

I wore this costume to WesterCon, Comic-Con, and a local movie viewing, and it held up very well!

If I thought a long blonde wig would help I would wear one, but I look funny with blonde hair.