Padmé "Sleeveless" Costume
Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith
I initial decided to make this costume due to that it looked 'easy' and I liked the style of it. Ultimately, it was easy, but also challenging. I hope that my mistake will help others to improve their versions of this costume, should they choose to make one.
This costume was then made to wear at the 23rd Annual Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Auction, which was held in Mesa, Arizona in October of 2005 during the annual meeting of SVP, although I am sure I will get many more miles out of it. For more pictures of our auction committee dressed as Star Wars characters please click here. This is the second attempt I have made at making a Star Wars costume. So, for those of you who do not know me, I am a paleontologist and so some of my 'methods' may be unconventional to more 'professional' seamstress.
Quick Links
Top Pants Boots Gauntlets Accessories Reference Pictures
I took the information from what I could remember from the movie, tips I was able to get from The Padawan's Guide (A GREAT Star Wars costuming site) and from other fans who had made the costume and posted their tips on both the Padawan's Guide and the Jedi Council threads over at theforce.net.
Links to tips on how to make this costume:
I started with a pattern I already owned and had used: 'New Look' 6254 (by Simplicity). I purchased this pattern last summer (2004) at 'the evil empire' (aka: Wal-Mart). I am not sure if it is still available in their stores or not, but it was very cheap, less than $3. The Simplicity website, which makes this pattern, says that it is out of print, but I hear that sometimes you are still able to track down these out-of-print patters.
click photo to enlarge or visit this link:
http://www.simplicity.com/assets/6254/6254.jpg
From the pattern above, I chose views 'C' for the top and 'D' for the "skirt-ish" piece to work with. I used pieces 1-3 and 5.
click photos to enlarge
or visit these links: http://www.simplicity.com/assets/6254/6254fb.gif & http://www.simplicity.com/assets/6254/6254.pdf?design=6254
Following Lesa's tips, I choose to use Richloom fabric in the color Lichen (7196074). I found this fabric in the home decorating department at JoAnn's Fabric at ~$14. It is a bit stiffer than I would have likes, but they did not care the color of moleskin that I needed at the time. If I ever make this costume again I will use a fabric that has the same 'suede' like texture, but flows more freely, since this fabric is to stiff. However, the stiffness does aid in the 'pregnancy' look, so that is a big plus! Other than that, it seems to be a good match for the top, and it is very forgiving (I made several mistakes and would have to pull seams, and you could not tell where I had done this). I purchased 2 yards (unfortunately, I am no where near as skinny as Natalie Portman!)
The pattern worked well (in my opinion), although I would make a few slight modifications. The opening in the front is really to wide and large, this could be moved in some. Also, the original costume almost appears to have a very slight caped sleeve (although this could just be due to Portman physical build?). I tried to compensate for this by adding just a bit of length in this area. I also added two 'darts' in the front on either side to match the original costume. The is no collar pattern I found to use, so I played with the fabric and looked at several of my dress shirts to figure out how to make the collar. It was very difficult and next time I plan on using a pattern!
Photos © of Lucasfilm, Ltd. (or their
creators; above left), Maggie of The Padawan's Guide (above, right) and myself
(below).
I had a very hard time finding pants to watch this costume. If I had not been pressed for time I may have attempted to make them myself. I looked at several places and could not find them, and did not have time to order them online. Thus, I was forced once again to enter the evil empire! And, of course, they had something that would work (although it took some looking). I purchased "Faded Glory" stretch pants in the color khaki. These are a 96% cotton 4% spandex weave. They worked, although they were missing the stitching that runs up the front of the pants legs.
Once again, a hard item to find. The time and money constraints held me, so I purchased mine pair at Shoe Carnival. They are made by Aerology by Aerosoles. They are not as matte as the costume boots, but they were flats and were affordable.
The gauntlets were very easy to make. I had my cousin pin the fabric to my arm inside out, making the area near my hand reasonably tight (ok, it was to tight, I had to use pliers to get them off!). I simply sewed down the area where she pinned, trimmed, put in a hem and whala - gauntlets! For the symbol on the left gauntlet I took a picture of the symbol into Photoshop, and trimmed around it and made it a image (see below, or Lesa has one you can use here). I then took the image and color printed it onto iron-on paper. I then just ironed this onto the side of the gauntlet. Make sure before you do this that you have the image the correct size for your gauntlet and that you trim very close to the symbol. Otherwise, the iron-on paper will leave a darker film around your symbol where the iron-on that was not printed on is transferred to the fabric. This will cause discoloration and compromise the texture of the fabric in that area (see below). In the future I may try to stitch over this.
I used 1/2 yard of dark brown marine vinyl that I found on sale to make my straps/belt. It was to stiff to turn inside out and reverse sew, so I sewed very close to the edge. I used snap fasteners to secure the back and I sewed the arm pieces to the front center and back. I now realize, after watching the DVD, that the back straps criss-cross rather than go straight down. This is something I will have to fix.
The pins were a task! I used something we use in paleontology to fill in cracks on fossils called PaleoSculpt®. This is a two part self-curing, claylike adhesive, and it worked great! I used this rather than Sculpey due to money constrain more than anything. I am sure it will work just as well and in the exact same manner. I took and image of the pins from the Padawan's Guide and just 'eyed' it. Afterwards I used metallic gold spray paint to paint them and used a superglue (PaleoBond®) to hold on the fasteners. Unfortunately, the glue ran over the top of my neck pin and when I tried to repaint it a discoloration appeared (see red arrow below). Luckily this can only bee seen if you are very close to the pin. My 'eyeing' it didn't work so well for the lower pin - I made it far to large to be used. But, I thought it turned out nicely. So, for my event in October, I had to go without the pin, but I plan to make another.
Other Pictures of my costume and Reference Pictures
All pictures, themes, and charactres are copyright © Lucasfilm, Ltd. or their creators. All original work is protected by intellectual property laws. No copyright infringement is intended - copyrighted images are being used for costume study. Site design, graphics, and content is copyright © ReBecca.
