ok so as i promised, a new thread with the start of my new costume! keep in mind, this costume (along with others i have planned) are works in progress- if people want ill be happy to post pictures as i go with each new piece i get around to doing (as i have the time and spare money to do it). comments are welcomed, if you have ideas for improvements please share them! I wont go into too much detail tonight, im tired and have had a long day at work.
so, i was watching one of my sisters belly dance performances a few weeks ago, and i decided that part of her costume with some changes would be a nice addition to my jedi costume- prompting me to create yet another jedi costume design
its called a ghawazee coat and was made from simplicity pattern 2159
http://www.simplicity.com/p-6171-misses-costumes.aspx .
Here she is, modelling said coat (the silver coat) at said performance (yes, thats a sword balanced on her head. Sword dances are her specialty).
i borrowed my sisters pattern, used style ‘A’ but without sleeves, did a great deal of adjusting to make it fit me (im not exactly skinny after all, and most misses patterns are designed to fit a muchly smaller person. my sisters also much shorter, coming to my shoulder height, and im not exactly tall), added a hood that i got from a cloak pattern i had lying around, and tada!
With the hood up (it sticks up funny at the back coz i had chopstick style hair pins in my hair)
The tunic and pants are from my old costume (see
http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=12939.0)
The belt is just some belt i found in the cupboard. The bracers i quickly chucked together with some vinyl leatherette and some interfacing (and proved the world wrong in that you CAN iron fusible interfacing onto vinyl haha. I think its called determination and running out of options, you are willing to try something dumb) with good ol’ sticky back Velcro. They were a bit long, note to self to cut them down before wearing them again.
The hood i ran into issues with, i decided for some unknown reason itd be a better idea not to line it- lining hoods makes them sit better but at the time it seemed like unnecessary extra work. NOT lining the hood actually proved more time consuming as i had to make a nice hem along the front, then cover up the messy seam. And it didn’t sit as well, prompting some inventiveness to make it sit better. Second note to self- always line the hood!
And as big hoods do, it had a habit of falling down- but i came up with the ingenious (and possibly not so original) idea of hand sewing a clear hair clip into the hood. Its not visible when the hood is down, but means the hood aint going anywhere when its up no matter how much you move around!
The ghawazee coat is only the first part of this new costume. I am planning a new tunic, new pants, a wide belt (kinda belly dance style though nowhere near as wide as my sisters in the above photo, not as stiff and minus all the beading) and much better bracers.
Im also considering running bronzey gold coloured braid or ribbon down the front (like on my sisters coat) and maybe along the bottom to really finish the coat off. The coat pulls apart a little at the front, couldn’t help that since i didn’t want to use a zip so i hand sewed on 10 hook and eye clasps, but braid might also help cover that up a bit. Atm not sure whether to go a geometric design braid (the supplier my sister uses has an amazing collection and can source just about anything you want) in gold, brown and black tones, or go a dull gold ribbon with aurebesh on it in black- this obviously requires much more work on my part as ill have to hand paint it on or something.
Any more comments i can think of will wait until tomorrow, and my apologies if some bits don’t make complete sense, im just about falling asleep at the keyboard
oh and please ignore the black sneakers- stupid me forgot to take my boots with me, and the party was in my original hometown where most of the family lives, 180km from where we live now. i felt like an idiot
