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[Guest Anonymous]

So after a three year sabbatical which was prompted by getting engaged, then married, moving to Ohio, then moving across town, getting pregnant and having a baby girl, I am now at leisure once again to pull out my unfinished costume and resume work.

 

I've been lurking the forum for a few days to see if anything has changed requirement-wise, and all I've seen significantly is that if I include a lightsaber (correct me if I'm wrong, but no weapon is actually required), then it must conform to the stripey patterned standard.

 

So here are my initial pics. The first is the fabric I chose for the underdress. Flowy and lightweight, it was adaptable as a veil as well as breathable, as it should be to wear beneath leather.

 

 

 

 

Here is the veil. I used stitch witchery to completely hem the veil as I did not want any stitching to show, then used dots of hot glue to permanently hold the veil in the exact shape I wanted to lay over my face. Last, I used gold glitter tulip paint to copy a print-out of the veil Visas wears. Unfortunately, the little bits of glitter showing up in the photo are dried on to the fabric and the funky streaks are irrepairable. It looks like I'll have to find more fabric to make a whole new veil. I used the same pattern for her gloves, but have not yet put the grey bands on the gloves.

 

 

 

 

The next is as far as I have gotten--that is my gloves and veil together with the underdress and neckpiece. As I understand it, it is acceptable to attach the unpatterned neckpiece to the underdress?

 

 

 

 

This is where I'm at on the overdress. It's made of a softish leather-like material, but it's not as shiny. I've been using puff paint by hand to draw out the pinwheel.

 

 

 

The lighting, of course, is never what it should be, but you get a pretty decent idea.

 

It's taking some time, but the vest is finished. (My pattern has a bodice and skirt separate, but the seam should be well hidden by the red sash.) The puff paint gives it a little dimension, but not too much. And plus it turns the perfect shade of dark grey when it dries.

 

I sewed the skirt panels together ahead of time (it's fully lined) so the seams would not have to be matched up, but simply painted over.

Unfortunately, all this kills my wrist and it can only be done in short sections, each of which takes eight hours to dry.

 

Let me know what you think! Any criticisms welcome. I need to have a realistic idea of how much work is left before I can decide whether this is worth finishing.

[Guest Anonymous]

Also, the gloves I have are black satin. I noticed the requirement now is for leather? Has anyone tried to shorten leather gloves, and what would be the best way to go about that? Surely just cutting them would leave a fraying edge?

[Guest Aysel]

cutting them down is fine if you really have to, but you can have them up under the sleeve or your inner dress. and I've just got to say, wooo girl, hand painting the outer dress, that's quite and undertaking. Most of us use a stencil and spray paint it on with vinyl paint cause it'll give that nice soft edge instead of a hard edge to the pinwheels. I just hope that the paint won't flake off after a while.

 

Good luck with finishing this up!

 

Katie

[Guest Anonymous]

Thanks. The paint shouldn't flake; it's intended for fabric and the first half seems to held up in storage quite well.

 

I went with the puff paint for a raised texture. Personal preference I guess. Visas' armor seems organic to me, and I wanted to imitate that somehow while still remaining within the bounds of continuity.

[Guest Aysel]

that really depends on which art your looking at, in some it's an embossed lizard-ish type of look and in others it just the flat pinwheels. while puff paint is meant for fabric, sometimes it doesn't bond well, once you get to wearing it and moving in it you'll see if you'll need to do any upgrades, my hope for you is that you don't (cause upgrades a.k.a. remaking pieces sucks ) I look forward to more progress pics

 

Katie

[Twi'lek Pam]

Hi,

 

Welcome back to costuming... it sounds like you've had some good reasons to put Visas on hold a while! (And a belated congratulations, several times!)

 

For the veil, I recommend that you use something else for the gold trim when you remake it. The key to 501st costuming is giving the impression of professional work. While we DO make frequent use of supplies from crafts and hobby stores, the trick is to not let it LOOK like we used supplies from those places! Glitter paint is just a bit too "elementary artsy-craftsy" for a professional looking costume. It also gives a finished look that doesn't match the references well with the glittery look. I highly recommend using Jacquard paints; they bond very well with fabric, and have the right level of gloss. Also, since they're thin, they level well and don't look "goopy" on your veil.

 

This is what I used, Lumiere in Metallic Gold. I purchased it at Michaels:

 

http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/1 ... aints.html

 

 

Yes, the collar may be attached to the inner dress. No problems there. There has been some discussion about the pattern on the collar, and I believe the final decision is that it really should have the pattern on it, so that it matches the rest of the dress and looks like it belongs. It's debatable from looking at the reference, but is generally believed that it should be there, it's just not especially clear in such a small reference. I have the pattern on my collar, and you can barely tell it's there, since so little of the pattern is visible. But, it gives just enough hint to make it look like it matches the rest of the dress.

 

I just realized, I never posted up the CRL submission for that costume! (Too much too keep track of, not enough brain cells to keep track of it all.) I'll take care of that right now, so you'll be able to see the finalized version that was submitted to the legion. Sorry about that. With nearly 30 sets of standards to deal with, I sometimes forget what has been posted where!

 

Pam

[Guest Anonymous]

that really depends on which art your looking at, in some it's an embossed lizard-ish type of look and in others it just the flat pinwheels.

 

Yeah, I was looking at the gaming pics. Mostly, I rather like the lizardy look, but it seems more like an imprint than a woven or applied pattern. But I can see how that wold be practically impossible to achieve.

[Guest Anonymous]

For the veil, I recommend that you use something else for the gold trim when you remake it.

 

Yeah, I kinda realized that. Thinking cording would just work better. Plus that way I can attached the cording to a more sheer fabric which would allow better vision. And I think it would be easier to attached the trim to the sleeve cuffs rather than the glove edges.

 

I just realized, I never posted up the CRL submission for that costume! (Too much too keep track of, not enough brain cells to keep track of it all.) I'll take care of that right now, so you'll be able to see the finalized version that was submitted to the legion. Sorry about that. With nearly 30 sets of standards to deal with, I sometimes forget what has been posted where!

 

Thanks for that! This costume should look great by the time it's done. I'm getting excited!

[Guest Anonymous]

that really depends on which art your looking at, in some it's an embossed lizard-ish type of look and in others it just the flat pinwheels.

 

Yeah, I was looking at the gaming pics. Mostly, I rather like the lizardy look, but it seems more like an imprint than a woven or applied pattern. But I can see how that wold be practically impossible to achieve.

 

I dream of one day making the overdress in leather and actually embossing the pattern in. Might never happen, but wouldn't that be beautiful?

[Guest Anonymous]

I dream of one day making the overdress in leather and actually embossing the pattern in. Might never happen, but wouldn't that be beautiful?

 

It would be perfect. I think anybody who could somehow make yards and yards of it would have a great deal of business on their hands, since everyone else would wish to buy it from them.