A More Elegant Wedding For A More Civilized Age: Jedi Minipost

Star Wars, though an amazing series, wasn't necessarily my favorite movie franchise (plenty of internet points to you if you can guess which one is my favorite!), although I was a fan of the Extended Universe Comics. I hadn't given much thought to my costume: I knew I wanted to do a Jedi, but not what style or kind of Jedi (I also learned there are types of Jedi!). I roughly based my costume off of Jocasta Nu, the Jedi Librarian from Star Wars Episode II: Attack of The Clones. 

(Image Courtesy Rebel Legion)

Why? Because I love librarians, I love skirts, and I wanted to carry a bag in case I didn't get time to (or forgot to) put pockets in my costume. 

(Left: my costume pieces hanging, including my cloak. Right: my final outfit for the wedding. The cloak was left out so I could move and help out more easily.)

The most remarkable thing about this outfit? After making it, I want to make a Jedi. I want to design a character. My research made me more interested in the movies, as well as getting back into the comic books. Hopefully I will be updating this outfit in the future.

Special thanks goes out to Aubrey Holte of Hustle and Bustle Cosplay and Melissa Meza of The Penguin Knight for help on this project!

Other Star Wars Posts:

Throne Room Princess Leia

Motee the Handmaiden

Mon Mothma

Images courtesy me unless otherwise noted.

A More Elegant Wedding For A More Civilized Age: Princess Leia, The Bride

Finally! The piece de resistance, the grand finale! The Wedding Dress From A Galaxy Far, Far Away! When Liza approached me, I was uncertain if I wanted to take on this project with my school and work schedule: I could not be more happy that I did! 

(Image Courtesy Google)

We made a dress inspired by Princess Leia's Throne Room Dress from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. This is the dress she gives Luke and Han Solo the Medals of Yavin.

The first step was to determine what pieces we wanted to include: a corset was decided to be a must, as well as the dress and the belt. However, we also wished to add some form of a train, something to look wonderfully regal as she went down the aisle.

The first option we considered was a belt that attached to a sheer train, so that she could keep her arms free and to make it easy to change out of (all she would have to do is swap belts). On the right is the only picture I could find of another idea we had: an exterior underbust corset. This was scrapped to preserve the line of the dress, and make it more similar to the movie version.

 

The next solution we came up with was a more traditional veil that would pin into her bun. We were worried that this would be hard to add/remove without messing up her hair, and that it wasn't "Star Wars" enough. 

The solution we chose  was a cape, sheer with Jedi symbols to decorate the hem. Initially, we wanted to put a larger symbol constructed of lace in the center of the cape, but we later scrapped this for a cleaner line and to make the dress more visible.

The dress itself was a wonder to work on; the fabric was gorgeous and light. 

The belt was a lot of fun to do too, and slightly outside of my usual works. Two belts were made, one that was plain, and then this one on the right, with a blinged out Millennium Falcon (decorated by the amazing Joanna, one of the bridesmaids from the Motee the Handmaiden post).

(Photos Courtesy Liza Rios)

The cape with the Jedi symbols looked absolutely fantastic on her, as did the dress! Even R2D2 agrees!

(Left Photo Courtesy Liza Rios)

On the left is Liza and her groom, Tom! Absolutely the best wedding I have helped on!

Special thanks goes out to Aubrey Holte of Hustle and Bustle Cosplay and Melissa Meza of The Penguin Knight for help on this project!

Other Star Wars Wedding Costumes:
Motee The Handmaiden
Mon Mothma

All photos are mine unless otherwise stated.

A More Elegant Wedding For A More Civilized Age: Motee the Handmaiden

Who is Motee, you ask? She is Padme's assistant and handmaiden from Star Wars Episode 

III: The Revenge of the Sith. She is present at the Imperial Senate meeting, and has an absolutely gorgeous outfit! I made two of these: One for the lovely Kristina, and another for the wonderful Joanna.

(Images above from Star Wars: Costumes From A Galaxy Far, Far Away)

To start with, I supplied the bride with a breakdown. We wanted to alter Motee's dress slightly; we added a waistline seam, and changed the length of Kristina's dress. Originally, we were going to give Joanna the option to bustle up her dress, but we ended up changing our minds.

The outfits consisted of three pieces each: A blouse, a velvet dress, and a neckpiece made of chiffon strips, neatly beaded, with a flower on the back. These were, by far, one of my favorite pieces to make. The strips are mounted on a wire half collar, and then hand beaded and flowered.

 

Here are Kristina and Joanna backstage before the wedding! Kristina is on the left, Joanna is on the right. 

 (Photos courtesy Liza Rios)

The dresses in action! I loved the way they looked in the lighting, especially up on stage during the ceremony. You can see a bit of the constructed flower in the rightmost picture, right at the point all the strips connect.

Special thanks goes out to Aubrey Holte of Hustle and Bustle Cosplay and Melissa Meza of The Penguin Knight for help on this project!

Other Star Wars Posts: 

Mon Mothma

All images are mine unless otherwise stated.

A More Elegant Wedding For A More Civilized Age: Mom Mothma

Though initially I had only intended to make the bridesmaids dresses (Motee The Handmaiden) and the wedding dress (Leia's Throne Room Dress), the bride approached me to also make an outfit for her mother, who had very little experience with the Star Wars franchise.

(Image from Star Wars: Costumes From a Galaxy Far Far Away)

 We settled on making her Mon Mothma's outfit from Return of the Jedi, also known as the lady who informs us that "Many Bothans died to bring us this information. Over time, I began to affectionately refer to the costume as Mom Mothma. 

I had never seen or met her mother, and I had very little information on her as far as her measurements. But in the end, we only needed to make two minor adjustments.

 

  

One of my favorite parts of this costume was pleating the outer sleeves. The costume consists of two pieces: the skirt and the tunic. The undersleeve is attached to the tunic, as well as the cords.

 My second favorite part of the project was draping the cord around the neckline. I had exactly the right amount of cord for it to hand neatly around the top.

 In the end, I really love how this costume turned out. Hopefully I will eventually be able to post an update with her in the costume; she looked absolutely fantastic!

Special thanks goes out to Aubrey Holte of Hustle and Bustle Cosplay and Melissa Meza of The Penguin Knight for help on this project!

All images are mine, unless otherwise noted.

The Taming of Drisella's Wig: The Process

This last weekend I got to wear Drisella with Hustle and Bustle Cosplay and Ginger Lass Cosplay to Disney's D23 expo! It was a lot of fun: I am still hunting down pictures of us, so if you find any, let us know on Facebook! 

One of the most frequent questions I was asked (besides "can I take your picture?" and "did you make that?!") was "How did you do your hair?" I actually thought far enough ahead to take progress pictures this time, so here is how I managed her hair.

Drisella's hair (left) from Disney's Cinderella (2015).

This is what the wig looked like to start: I got it second hand from one of my teachers, and thought the color and curl would be just right for Drisella. The wig hadn't been used in years, so I decided to give it a bath.

 

I used a gentle dish soap and warm water to wash it, being careful not to agitate it too much: not sure if this applies to all wigs, but this one in particular loved to tangle on itself. I hung it in the shower to drip dry a bit before transferring it to a towel on a wig head.

Oh, and a friendly reminder: don't forget to put a strainer in your drain before you wash your wig. This is the aftermath of Drisella's bath.

Here is the wig after it had dried the rest of the way. My brother said it looked like a dead rat: he wasn't too far off.

This is the wig after "brushing". I use that word lightly: the wig itself didn't want to be combed or brushed with any sort of comb or brush. I ended up finger combing it, which the wig was much more receptive to. It ended up having a lot more volume than I expected.

First, I pinned down the wig. I like to pin twice in the back, once on each side in front of where the ear will be, and once at the center of the forehead. This usually keeps the wig from moving while styling.

Next I pulled up the bangs of the wig, separating them from the rest of the hair. The front of her hair forms waves that go up towards her left, so I wanted to do that section last.

Next, I wadded the hair behind the front of the left side, spraying it and pinning it in place to create a bump. Then I pulled the front hair over the bump, twisting slightly to give it dimension. 

Next, I pulled up the hair on the right and teased it in, spraying and pinning as I went. Again, I kept the forward section free to use for covering.

I pulled it over the bump, making sure to tuck in the ends. There are probably more bobby pins and hairspray in this wig than in most bathrooms. I made sure to tuck up the back hair as well, smoothing as I went.

Finally, I arranged the bangs on the top of the wig and along the right bump. Lots of hairspray was used to smooth and set this wig.

All in all, I think it was worth it to style the old wig rather than buy a new one: the curl and frizziness made it easier to tease and style, as it would not heat curl. Hopefully my next wig will be easier!!