Mara Jade Chronicles FE Edition

[Guest Anonymous]

Hello and welcome to the Flagship Eclipse Edition of the Mara Jade Chronicles.

 

Sounds fancy doesn't it? Some of you might know I've got another build topic going on the RL forum, but I felt that I should keep something here too, seeing as how FE *is* the EU detachment. So for this initial post, I'm going to put up some pictures and try to go over what I have done/am planning to do/etc.

 

First, the things I have at the moment.

 

My goggles. Not much to say about them, lol.

 

My gloves. I still need to soak them for a bit so that they'll shrink some. They're a size extra small, but you can kind of see in the picture that they're still quite large on me. I'm waiting to do that process until I have several hours I can wander around wearing wet gloves.

 

My cape. It is still lacking the clasp, and I'm a bit unsure how I want to do it. The fabric is actually darker than it appears in this picture, the lighting in my room often does freaky things (generally a pink or yellow tent). It's made of a polyester made to look like raw silk. I discovered it's pretty much impossible to buy raw silk in my town. I'm pretty happy with the look and feel of this though.

 

My shoulder harness. I made these (and the belt) using a dark wine belt blank. I used various sand paper and files to give it a slightly weathered look and to remove some of the red, then added a very very light layer of a russet brown dye. The clasps on the front are made from purse sliders, altered slightly and then glued into place. They are attached in the back with rivets to a metal ring. Since many of the images I was working with showed the straps attaching in the back at three points, they are riveted to each other at the top (with another above the ring to keep it from sliding out of place) and then folded over and riveted at the sides. Much like with the cape clasp, I'm at almost a complete loss on how to finish the back piece.

 

My belt. Same red wine base as the shoulder harness, and same weathering/coloring process. The floating strap is riveted in the middle of the back (the rivet will be covered with the holster when I finish it) and at the front where it is hidden under the buckle. The buckle is the rectangular blank that can be bought at Tandy Leather. I still need to do the holster, I'm waiting till I get a blaster to work on that, and a pouch or two to hold phone/ID/money/etc. I plan on using a similar technique for them. I'm not sure about the closures on the pouch (if snaps are allowed to show and that sort of thing), but I do know that I want to be able to easily add and remove them so they can be used for other things, and I'm still in the air on how I want to achieve that.

 

Last picture.

A closeup of the weathering on the belt and shoulder harness. Here you can kind of see the wear pattern I used and the way I smoothed out the edges. The final look I was going for (as can be seen when not in super close up) was nice, but worn. Since she seems to wear it all the time I can't imagine that it wouldn't get some weathering.

 

Now for the other bits and pieces.

 

Boots: I've been going slightly nuts over these since I have wider calves and bad ankles. For a long time the only boots I could find in my size, with the proper style so that I could use them for things like Imperial Officer later on, and wide calved were running about $300, which I could get them custom made for the same price. The last few days however I've been looking into equestrian stores, which have the style I want, the size I need, and a pretty decent selection under $70. So I'll be checking the local stores to make sure what I'm seeing is what I think I'm seeing.

 

Shin guards: I've been leaning towards the Rockgardn style shin guards. They very closely match the ones depicted on the decipher cards, and I've found some places online that sell the 2007 version for about $30.

 

Cowl: I'm thinking about making a black cowl since that goes with the gloves I already have. It would save me from having to work on the clasp now. On the other hand, I've found capes to be very handy when you get chilly, lol. I eventually want to collect all the options for Mara, I'm just debating if this one should come first.

 

Jumpsuit: I think I've found some material that will work, but I'm not sure. It has the medium sheen, and from a couple feet away looks very much like leather, but up close it has a much more... synthetic look. I'll try to get some images/samples of the fabrics that I've considered so you can let me know what you think. I'm also definitely planning on doing a muslin mock-up first. I had one prior attempt at making a jumpsuit rather similar to this one, and was very unhappy with it. Despite having chosen the "correct" size according to the pattern, it was way too big when I tried it on, and had the illusion of making me look much bigger than I am since it was baggy in all the wrong places. I've also been thinking about how the thigh panels can be done without sacrificing flexibility, and I think I may have a solution (I won't go into it now since this is getting much longer than I wanted it to be). I know that the zipper is typically placed in the back and done as a hidden zipper, but my sewing skills aren't the best. Has anyone considered alternative types/locations of closures before?

 

I could go on, but I'll leave it at this for now. Thanks to anyone who made it this far. I'll keep you updated.

[Guest Sakara]

heya welcome and nice post showing your progress. like the work on the harness and belt..like that it matches.

 

One thing i noticed and that was the cape fabric. I think it is too shiny for what her cape is supposed to be. I think you might be confused with what raw silk is or what the description is trying to get across.

raw silk in this instance refers to the roughly woven native type silk like silk noil , not the slubbed dress silk that i think youre thinking of.

i give an example here

http://www.doughtysonline.co.uk/fabrics/patchwork-quilting-fabrics/du11.html

or here

http://www.aurorasilk.com/shop/silk-fabric.shtml

 

hope that makes sense lol

 

now this is my take on what ive seen from past Maras and the description of her costume.

[Guest Anonymous]

It makes perfect sense. I started out walking around fabric stores and I'd see something slick and shiny and go "ohhh" thinking it was silk, but every time I looked at the label it would say "polyester satin" so finally I asked the store clerks. They took me to see some dupioni silk that looked rough, but the shine on it was rather blinding and it didn't flow or hang at all. So we went to more stores, asked more people this time specifying "raw silk." They kept saying "oh don't use raw silk it's $200 a yard" and I would leave laughing because I clearly remembered people talking about getting it for under $5. So I came home, did as much research as I could to find out what raw silk looked like, and then went back to the stores. I came down to two choices that matched well, the polyester silk I bought because of the texture of it, and a crepe fabric which had too smooth a texture, but better coloring.

 

I'm considering re-doing it later on with internet bought raw silk. In person, this fabric looks great, in every single picture taken of it, it looks shiny and about 5 shades lighter than it actually is lol. That's why I've been leaning towards going the cowl route and coming back to the cape later on. Finding the right fabric is being a pain and I'm at a loss on how to do the clasp.

 

The leather work on the belt and shoulder harness, those were my pet projects. I'm really happy with how it turned out. I'll try to get a few pictures with it on so you can see more how it looks against black and how it hangs. I also found that the leather working was quite enjoyable.

[Guest bassclarinets]

clasp - mine is the shape of the correct clasp on top and i put a side release buckle underneath it (and glued it to the clasp part) - the clasp itself is stationary - how it buckles is hidden away underneath..

 

Jen

[Guest Anonymous]

Whoo! I am finally going to be getting more funds to work on this and hopefully enough to finish it up!

 

So, question. Is what I currently have on the shoulder harness (I'm referring to the metal ring where it all attaches in the back) 501st acceptable, or do I need to put some kind of cover on it so it will look more like most of the comic images that I've seen?

[Twi'lek Pam]

So, question. Is what I currently have on the shoulder harness (I'm referring to the metal ring where it all attaches in the back) 501st acceptable, or do I need to put some kind of cover on it so it will look more like most of the comic images that I've seen?

 

 

To be 501st acceptable, you will need to have a solid piece in the back like those shown in the comics. There are no references that I know of that show Mara with just a metal ring at the back of her harness.

 

Pam

[Guest Anonymous]

This is a question mostly for Pam, but anyone else who has some answers please chime in as well.

 

I'm aiming for having Mara done before the end of October. I've finally sorted out how I'm going to do the back piece on the shoulder harness. I also decided that I'm going to get some black fabric and do the cowl and wrist wraps, and a little cream to do that cowl and gloves, that way I have some variety to choose from. Plus I've worked out what I'm doing for the jumpsuit (I found some perfect material). Due to strange requirements for one of my classes, I also now have a very comfortable pair of boots that will work perfectly with the right kind of shin guards, which brings me to my main point.

 

How do I go about making the comic-style shin and knee guards? what material do I use? Where do I get these materials? About how much will it cost? I've gotten about as far as "make a cast of my leg" and then I go blank on what to do next.

[Twi'lek Pam]

How do I go about making the comic-style shin and knee guards? what material do I use? Where do I get these materials? About how much will it cost? I've gotten about as far as "make a cast of my leg" and then I go blank on what to do next.

 

 

I'm really bummed that I didn't take pictures of my shin guards while I was making them. I didn't have a good camera back then, and I wasn't in the habit of keeping records for making tutorials later on!

 

There are a lot of ways to make the shin guards. My preferred method is to start with the body cast of the legs, and sculpt the shin guards on top of them using sulphur free oil based clay. You can get that at most sculpting supply stores. Once you have the sculpture, you make either a flexible silicone mold or a one-shot plaster mold, and you cast your shin guards in that. The cost varies by the techniques and the materials used. I'm a bad one to ask about prices, because I tend to make things "to last" for repeated use, so I get high quality materials and then make everything the complicated way. For example, these leg castings were created for the Mara shin guard project, but since I made them in fiberglass, they've held up well and have been used for multiple projects since then. (My legs look shy.... some personality traits always show through, even in castings. )

 

 

One of the important things to keep in mind when you sculpt shin guards is to remember that underneath them you need to leave space for your boots and your leggings... so don't make the guards skin-tight!

 

 

Pam

[Guest Anonymous]

This was a bit of a random thought but...I would love to visit your house. Seriously...it seems like you would have random body parts just lying around all the time. A pair of legs over there, some lekku here, a torso on that dresser, a head on the kitchen table...

 

What do you recommend casting it out of? Fiberglass? And, I think I remember that you tried something like this, but what about shin guards made of silicon?

[Scottrooper]

LOL!!!! It sounds like you have been to our house! There are random body parts all over the place Between Pam's sculpting forms and mine, we actually have a full body except for hips, hands, and feet.

[Guest Anonymous]

Alright, couple of questions and an update.

 

First, would these (after being painted black) be acceptable shin guards? http://www.rockgardn.com/items/body-arm ... 1=1&menu=1 I've seen discussion on the LZMX style of the same brand, but this is slightly different since it has the mesh stuff that will go all the way around the leg, which I think the mesh would make my boots look a little better as part of the finished product.

 

Second, what other techniques have people used to make the backpiece on the shoulder harness?

 

OK, now the update part. Today I got the fabric to make the jumpsuit. I'm quite fond of it actually. It has a nice amount of stretch to it, it's not got a whole lot of shine (slightly less than the non-wet looking PVC) but there is some shine in it, and the texture feels like leather and has that kind of look to it. In fact it was called "liquid leather." I'm amazed I got it. The store had it in last weekend when I couldn't afford it, and they said it was a one time only thing that they were never planning to carry again. I went to another store somewhat upset and found one cheaper that had a more rough leather look to it and not as much stretch, and figured I'd end up getting that. It worked out in the end though! I'll try to get a picture up of this "liquid leather" stuff soon.

 

I also got some muslin and the standard kwik sew pattern everyone seems to use. I figure I'll probably screw it up twice before I've got the right alterations made to do it on my "final draft" fabric. Plus I got some elastic rope to use in the piping, which I'm planning to try to do the back piping and the diamond as well.

 

I also got some cream fabric to make the cowl of, and I think I'm going to try to make the gloves too. I got some black as well to do the black cowl and the wrist guards. I know I don't *have* to have all that, but I like options!

[Twi'lek Pam]

LOL! I somehow missed the body parts discussion earlier. Scott's right... we've got body parts all over the place. He joked once that it looks like a serial killer lives in our workshop.

 

It's cool to hear that you've got fabric that you're happy with... congratulations!

 

I like that those shin guards have the vents in the front, which make them look more accurate to the shin guards used in the Decipher photoshoot. I'm not sure that I like the "armor" plates themselves, though. They look very thin, and even sewn onto to mesh. That makes them look very insubstantial and not very armor-like. My advice would be to keep looking for shin guards that have a thicker look to them. They are out there, they just take a bit of hunting!

 

Here's how I made the back plate for my Mara harness. I made a mold from this form and then cast it in fiberglass.... and then apparently I lost the doggone mold! (Which is a very traumatic experience for an organization freak like me!)

 

http://theflagshipeclipse.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=343

 

 

Pam

[Guest Anonymous]

You guys do set those body parts around for decoration near halloween right? This year my mom is planning to buy one of those big breakaway chains, and have my dog's leash hidden so that it looks like that's the only thing holding him. We're not sure if we're going to have him outside for that, or inside, lol.

 

Ok, question about the fiberglass, does it come the color you used, or did you have to pain it, and if so, what with?

[Twi'lek Pam]

You guys do set those body parts around for decoration near halloween right? This year my mom is planning to buy one of those big breakaway chains, and have my dog's leash hidden so that it looks like that's the only thing holding him. We're not sure if we're going to have him outside for that, or inside, lol.

 

Ok, question about the fiberglass, does it come the color you used, or did you have to pain it, and if so, what with?

 

Nah, we don't bother with decorating for Halloween. We live out in the country, and I can't remember the last time we had trick-or-treaters stop by. It's been years...

 

Fiberglass resin comes in a tan color that has to be painted. You can buy black gel coat, but that's more expensive, and you still end up painting it anyway to improve the finish, so it's not really worth using.

 

Pam

[Guest Anonymous]

We used to live way out in the country. I mostly enjoyed it, and I know my German Shepard did, so many acres to run around on, but Halloween was always a little bit sad. Never any trick-or-treaters and so no real reason to decorate.

 

 

Alright, I did some more searching on the shin guards. Now, at the moment I have a pair of boots that may work depending on the shin guards and where exactly the straps sit (there is a very small buckle on them, but otherwise they're pretty much perfect, so I figure that if the shin guard or the straps on them cover it with good consistency, then they'll work nicely) but since I know I'll eventually need another pair, I stopped trying to cater to that. This is what I found:

 

http://www.mxdirtrider.com/h-products/p ... raptor.htm

 

They still have the vents that resemble the decipher photos, so that's good. They do not have a sewn-on appearance, and look to be much more substantial, the only "decoration" on them is the little fox (which I personally think is adorable, even if slightly out of canon, although, the clone troopers int he cartoon have random fox/wolf things on their helmets....), and it also says "removable liner allows for easy cleaning" which I figure means that the red bit behind it comes out, and then I can either just not wear that part, or cover it with a black material, and if it doesn't, then I can just paint it.

 

Thoughts?

[Guest Anonymous]

Updates! With Pictures!

 

Ok, I said I was going to try to get a picture of the fabric, and now I have one. I think I'm going to have to take it outside at noon or something to get a really good picture of it, though. It's kind of hard to see it just right. It has a leather feel to it. It's also very stretchy, and it doesn't do the cracking thing that PVC likes to do when you stretch it; it goes back to how it originally looked. I do think that the picture shows the sheen level on it really well. It's kinda shiny, but not blindingly so.

 

 

 

 

Also, I went ahead and ordered the shin guards that I linked in the previous post. Here's a picture so no one has to click links to see.

 

I'm quite happy with them. The red that you see is actually a removable padding, which I'm in the process of covering with black. The actual knee part of it, I detached, so that now it's just the shin bit. I then bought a set of skating pads. The knee pads look too big and bulky, but the elbow pad looks good. Since my legs are bigger around than my arms, I'm making some small alterations. I'm covering the pads (all except the plastic part) with the same black material I'm using on the pad for the shin guard (they look a lot better with the pad than without). And I'm also using that to lengthen the sides a bit so that I'll be able to feel my toes when they're on.

 

Here's kind of a rough picture of how it'll look. I took it when I hadn't decided on knee or elbow pad, and hadn't started covering the pad yet, but this at least gives an idea of how it'll look.

 

[Guest Anonymous]

I keep getting side-tracked with a dozen and two other things, but I am still working on this project. After finally convincing my family that we needed a new sewing machine instead of continuing to use 30-year-old hand-me-downs things started going considerably more smoothly. I finished a preliminary mockup that I made with cheap muslin, which I did for a couple reasons, one of which being that I needed practice sewing, and the other I want to get it sized so that it can stretch, but isn't stretched out every time I put it on.

 

Once that was finished I started my mock up 2.0 which was made of a stretch cotton similar to my final fabric, but considerably cheaper.

 

 

 

For the most part it came out ok, but there are a couple of small problems.

 

First, I cannot seem to figure out how to move the inseam back farther to where it should be. It sounds as simple as "just cut it bigger" but I swear I cut this an inch wider than the pattern and it's still too far forward, so I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to cut the pattern with the legs even wider since the pattern for the front is "place this edge on fold."

 

My second problem is the piping. It looks alright until I put it on, and then I have little bubbles where it sticks out and won't lay flat against my body. Since I have no idea what's causing that I have no idea how to fix it. My mother suggested that it's too big and needs to be taken in near where it bubbles. My only concern with that is that I am shaped in such a way that taking it in where the bubbles are may result in me not being able to get it over my butt.

 

Advice? Suggestions? I'm planning to do at least one more mockup before I start cutting into my actual fabric because I want more practice and to get it just perfect.

[Twi'lek Pam]

My second problem is the piping. It looks alright until I put it on, and then I have little bubbles where it sticks out and won't lay flat against my body. Since I have no idea what's causing that I have no idea how to fix it. My mother suggested that it's too big and needs to be taken in near where it bubbles. My only concern with that is that I am shaped in such a way that taking it in where the bubbles are may result in me not being able to get it over my butt.

 

 

My guess would be that the cording you are using is too stiff. It is stronger than the fabric that is trying to hold it close, so it gets to curve however it wants to.. and it takes the fabric along with it. Try using a cord that is more flexible, and that will probably solve things for you.

 

Pam

[Guest Anonymous]

What I used as an elastic rope, and it is pretty stiff. I got it because it looked to be about the size I had in mind for the piping and I didn't want to lose any flexibility like I might with regular cording. I'll try a smaller size and see if that doesn't help.

[Guest mdb]

First, I cannot seem to figure out how to move the inseam back farther to where it should be. It sounds as simple as "just cut it bigger" but I swear I cut this an inch wider than the pattern and it's still too far forward, so I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to cut the pattern with the legs even wider since the pattern for the front is "place this edge on fold."

 

So I take it the entire front is cut in one piece? I cut mine in multiple panels for a few reasons and one of them was to keep the inseam in the normal position. It is a little more fiddly to sew, but it does mean you can get a great fit through the seat and legs.

 

 

My second problem is the piping. It looks alright until I put it on, and then I have little bubbles where it sticks out and won't lay flat against my body. Since I have no idea what's causing that I have no idea how to fix it. My mother suggested that it's too big and needs to be taken in near where it bubbles. My only concern with that is that I am shaped in such a way that taking it in where the bubbles are may result in me not being able to get it over my butt.

 

As Pam says you could try for a more stretchy cording, elastic does come in different widths as well as different degrees of stretch. I just bought some gold elastic for instance as it was a better width and stretch than what I have used previously.

 

I did find that my two bodysuits deal with the elastic differently. So you may find the real fabric moves with the cording better than the test fabric. Try a test piece that is long enough to get a really good idea for how the two work together.

 

Good luck!

[Guest Anonymous]

I got a couple of better pictures of my fabric.

 

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb18 ... 130006.jpg

 

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb18 ... 130005.jpg

 

The exciting news however is that I have a piece 100% finished! It took several tries before I was content with what I had, but I am now completely satisfied with my cowl.

 

 

[Guest Anonymous]

Ok, this is going to be an image heavy update!

 

For now the plan with the gloves is to go buy a pattern (I was using a cheap pair I ripped the seams out of) and see if that doesn't help any. I have a pair I bought that are decent, but I'm not content with them, I want them made of the same material as my cowl.

 

After deciding the I didn't like the color of my belt and shoulder harness, I began again, this time knowing more about leather working and with a solid idea in mind of how to do the back piece for the shoulder harness. I sculpted a new version of it and cast a mold, then cast it in resin, with a little help from the family, it was sanded for hours until now it looks like this.

 

 

 

The groves in the back are where the leather straps will set, and tomorrow we are going to drill holes for Chicago screws that will be used to rivet the leather straps into place. It's also still got a coat of painting to go to get the color right. The color you see is the primer.

 

The belt and holster are also finished.

 

 

 

 

I think the floating strap might connect a little farther back than it should ideally, but given that I have good range of motion with my arms, I can still very easily reach the blaster. The holster has a strap on the back and there is a small piece of velcro glued to the inside of the belt that holds the holster in place so it doesn't slide around. I actually sewed it together on my machine as this particular leather was fairly thin.

 

The pouches I tried sewing but I wasn't happy with how they came out, more because the size of the pattern I made didn't allow for sewing, so I've now returned to my original plan of gluing leather to empty soap boxes. It's working much better, though very slow because after each side I glue I have to wait two hours for it to dry before I can move on.

 

These are the pieces that I cut out and used to make the holster, and am now using to make the pouches.

 

The goal for this weekend is to finish up the pouches and the shoulder harness, and start on jumpsuit mockup version 3.0. Hoping to have the final jumpsuit finished by around my birthday (April 17) and that will give me a week before the event I'm shooting for to sew gloves over and over again until I get it right.

[Guest Anonymous]

I was advised to go ahead and seal my leather and condition it, which I did and am very glad I did. Now not only will my leather be more durable, but it looks better. Here is a side by side of leather before and after the sealant.

 

 

And here is a before and after of the holster.

 

 

 

And here is the belt with the holster.

 

 

My only issue with it is that I think the floating strap attaches too far back and thus the holster sits too far to the left side. I can easily reach it still, I'm just not sure I like where it sets. I may do it so that it sits on the other side of the attachment and I think that will make it look a little better. I just want to maintain the ability to remove it for events where we are not allowed to have weapons. I think it would look better to not have an empty holster.

 

The pouches are coming along nicely after returning to my original and less-sturdy-professional method of gluing leather to a box. I am sure that I will eventually come back to it and sew them properly, but the box-gluing is actually coming out to look quite nice, and will certainly get me by for several troops.

 

The back piece has been getting some paint, and I like the color, but I do think it will need weathered a bit more. I will also need to paint the rivets that will be holding the leather to it.

 

 

A little less reflection from the flash.

 

]

 

I looked over my previous mockup of my jumpsuit and I think I've pin-pointed all the problems and how to fix them.

 

1. The torso is too long, I can fix that at the shoulders.

2. The piping needs to be moved about an inch farther in, it sits much too far over.

3. Use a less stiff cord for my piping so that it won't ruffle. I have some that is about the same size, which I think I like the size of the piping, but it is much more flexible, and still has a little stretch to it.

4. I've decided that I'm going to leave off the diamond detailing on the stomach. After going back and reading through Pam's website, I settled and picked an image that I was going to work to recreate, and in that image she doesn't have it. I think that will be good though given my novelty with sewing.

5. Add padding to the thigh panels. I'm going to be putting that on first, and then sewing through the padding and the fabric to get the panels, rather than sewing them together after cutting them.

6. Move the inseam back 1-2 inches. I've decided the best way to do this will be to cut out the pattern like normal, open that piece up, and use it as a pattern making the needed changes to the legs, rather than trying to guess where I need to cut to fix the folded cloth into what I want.

 

Lastly! I received word today that my Mara Jade lightsaber is completed and will be going in the mail to make it's way to me tomorrow!

 

 

Don was kind enough to send me that picture today, and I am incredibly excited to get it. I did not have sound in it, but he said sound could easily be added in later if I want. I went for the just purple blade rather than white and use filters like I did on my other one, and it also has a rechargable battery with the port in the pommel.

 

Quick question, how do you all hang your lightsaber for Mara? And on which side of the belt?

 

Also, I've got a more comprehensive album of my progress here: http://s208.photobucket.com/albums/bb18 ... ra%20Jade/

[Guest Anonymous]

Pouches are finished! A couple strips of velcro on the belt so they won't slide, and a couple more tweeks to the holster so that I'm happy with how and where it hangs, and the belt will be done.

 

 

 

Plan for tomorrow is to put those finishing touches on the belt, assemble the shoulder harness, and start on my next jumpsuit mockup.

[Guest Anonymous]

Every time I finish I piece I find something else that needs tweaked on it. The backpiece is done, though I'm going to want to work the straps a bit more so they lay just right on my back.

 

 

 

It ended up getting a tad bit of weathering while I was putting it together. I decided I liked it.

 

 

The buckles on the front, which now sit a little bit high due to the bottom of the straps not hanging just how I wanted them too, but that is going to be easy to fix.

 

 

 

I went ahead and put some felt on the back of it, that way it won't end up sticking to my jumpsuit later on. The straps are held in place with chicago screws so that I can take them off if for any reason I need to.

 

Then just for fun I took my mockup of the jumpsuit and put it on with my accessories so far. That was when I realized I really need to tone the back of my arms!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whew, ok that was a lot of pictures. Gloves and the jumpsuit are all I lack (I am wearing the goggles in those pictures, they just got hidden under my cowl without my noticing).