Costume MAKING Guide

[Jabari]

As there's been some discussion lately about making your own costumes, I thought I'd start a thread for help with sewing / creating a costume from scratch.  Please feel free to add suggestions or helpful comments.

Star Wars Specific:
Rebel Legion (costuming club)- many tutorials and forum for Jedi, pilots, aliens, etc - http://www.rebellegion.com/costuming.php
Self-Scrunching Obi tutorial - http://www.rebellegion.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26587
Granny-Wan - Jedi undertunic and several female characters - http://grannys-costumes.blogspot.com/2008/01/how-to-make-jedi-undertunic.html
Dreycon Dell's Jedi Garb Tutorial - http://jeditutorial.blogspot.com/
Crazy Old Wizards focuses on Obi-Wan - http://www.crazyoldwizards.com.ar/default.asp
Jedi-Kai Tutorials - http://home.comcast.net/~jedikai/
Flagship Eclipse forum - the Sith Lord division of the 501st Legion - http://www.theflagshipeclipse.com/forum/index.php
501st Legion - (costuming club) -good reference - http://www.501st.com/icostumes.php
Wookieepedia - Star Wars Wiki - http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Wookieepedia
Padme's Closet - a costumer's personal blog, focusing on Padme/Leia costumes - http://padme-skywalker77.blogspot.com/

Armor
http://amethyst-angel.com/armormaking.html

Leather Work / Supplies
Tandy Leather - http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/en-usd/home/home.aspx

Altering Patterns
This is aimed at changing patterns to fit dolls, but is useful for creating your own human-size patterns too - http://www.dalerae.com/Enlargepattern06.htm

Fabrics
Dharma Trading - plain fabrics and dyes (Raw Silk and  'Handwoven Natural Fabric' in particular)- http://www.dharmatrading.com/
Joann Fabrics and patterns- http://www.joann.com/
Hancock Fabrics and patterns - http://www.hancockfabrics.com/
Hobby Lobby and some Wal-Marts also have limited fabric selections.

What fabrics to look for:
Crinkle cotton / gauze crinkle cotton - tends to be a spring/summer only fabric in stores- for Jedi/Sith tunics  (think prequel Obi-Wan)
Raw Silk / Silk Noil - for Jedi/Sith tunics (think Qui-Gon)
Wool for Robes - Lightweight /summer weight /suiting /bottom weight (like dress pants) - generally fall/winter only in stores
Osnaburg Cotton - rough-textured cotton that is cheap, looks good, available year round, may be in the quilting section
Linen - will wrinkle easily, but has a nice texture
Fusible interfacing - the lightest weight is fine for giving tabards some shape.  This stuff irons onto the back of the good fabric.
Vinyl / pleather - use for cheap boot toppers or Anakin-style tabards

DO NOT GET most polyesters, synthetic felt, or cotton broadcloth if you want a movie-looking Jedi costume.  You need fabric with texture.  Polyester just gets hot.  Cotton broadcloth is cheap and comes in every color, but it is too smooth and wrinkles easily.  However, it's a good fabric to start with if you're a complete beginner at sewing, or want a really cheap costume.

Weathering Costumes
http://www.studiocreations.com/howto/distressing/
http://www.therpf.com/f24/how-give-costume-permanent-dirty-weathered-battle-worn-look-157898/

Costuming in General
The Costumer's Manifesto has links to pretty much any costuming/ clothing history topic you'd ever want to know. http://www.andrewkahn.me/manifesto/

Historical Influences
Mongolian jacket pattern - http://www.thescorre.org/literature/Mongol_Garb.htm
Corset supplies (not for the beginner sewer!) - http://farthingalesla.com/index.html
Drafting a Hakama pattern - http://imadeitbyhand.blogspot.com/2010/05/drafting-hakama-pattern.html
Folkwear - historic/ethnic patterns - http://www.folkwear.com/

Helpful topics for online searches:
Cosplay / costuming sites - sometimes a search for another fandom's costuming tutorials may help - Lord of the Rings armor making, for example
SCA (Society for Creative Anacronism) sites - Medieval cosplay/reenactment
Japanese / Mongolian / medieval Europe / Asian / Middle Eastern historical clothing


Costuming with Found Items:
This can be a cheap and rewarding way to assemble a costume, particularly if you're not doing a traditional Jedi.  Check out thrift shops, rummage sales, second hand stores, clearance warehouses, antique shops, discount stores... it may take a long time, but you can come up with some fantastic and unique items this way, including cheap boots and belts.  TJ Maxx, Ragstock, Goodwill, Salvation Army, St. Vincent de Paul, dollar stores...

[Kaiden Shardsbane]

Wow.  That's a LOT of info.  I'll be very busy digging through all of this.

Ah.  I also see that the Obi is actually supposed to scrunch and stuff.  And here I was, spending large amounts of time fiddling so that it stayed flat.     Silly Kaiden.

[B1ondeange1]

Very good guide!

I will add that while polyesters are hot, they also wrinkle less. Cottons are more ideal, but I've used poly/ cotton blends- we just don't have access to a decent range of materials here in west oz, there's no such thing as crinkle cotton, or osnaburg- unless its something that comes thru intermittently
also, I've had poly/ cotton blend Taekwondo uniforms, I've trained in them in the heat fine. Course that's without layering much, but our summers here are pretty hot.
cotton would be preferable however, but sometimes you are limited to what you have access to
just my two cents. Thank you for putting this up

[ed_ification]

If you are in the deep South U.S. or similar climate, you might also think about linen.  Linen breathes well, and naturally wicks sweat away from the body.  Can be very good for an undertunic when you are putting on a jacket or other body costuming, and then putting that under a heavy cloak...

[Jabari]

Yes, linen is good - pretty much any natural fabric is good and should breathe well.  Even wool is not that bad in the summer - so long as you have a lighter weight and aren't doing anything too strenuous/stay hydrated, and get used to it.  In my experience doing historical reenacting, natural fabrics are more comfortable when wearing lots of layers.

That said, my own Jedi costume is actually completely synthetic - I wanted crinkle silk, but it was way too expensive, and I could only afford the cheap polyester version for now.  It's pretty sheer, and not that warm (though I've never worn it in the summer yet).  If you're not wearing anything tight or heavily layered, synthetic fabrics might be fine.

Glad you all enjoyed the info.  And definitely, add more suggestions if you have them!

[Volund Starfire]

If you are going for breathable, go for silk noir (raw silk).  My wife and I make Jedi and Sith costumes out of it and they breathe like you wouldn't believe.  In my Darth Nihilus, I have no problems during winter or summer troops.

[B1ondeange1]

since this is a costume making guide, perhaps people could post which patterns they used, maybe with a picture so others can get an idea? I know hunting down what pattern you want (and hoping itll do the job!) can sometimes be a hassle

[Jabari]

Yeah, sometimes you have to look past what the pattern says it's for and choose it for the parts.  I've been thinking of doing an Instructable on that topic; I'll post a link here when I do.

Couldn't figure out how to edit the original post, but here's a few more links I found:

Armor Making:
Volpin Props' Instructable on how to make fantastic armor out of Wonderflex (a plastic).  Also includes weathering. http://www.instructables.com/id/Creating-Costume-Armor-with-Wonderflex/
CosplaySupplies - costuming materials and tutorials - http://www.cosplaysupplies.com/tutorials.php


Mods, would it be possible to get this thread stickied?

[B1ondeange1]

The Hero Tutorials is a you tube channel on making foam armor (namely iron man and war machine, but it can be adapted to any pepakura armor). I'm thinking of doing some armor that way