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Thursday, 18 February 2016

Star Wars TFA Rey costume master list

I'm not planning on doing a Rey costume for myself, so I haven't researched it. I have seen a lot of questions asked about the costume though, so I figured I could make a master list of resources that I can link to.

First of all this is aobut the Rey main Rey costume, not the one she wears in the end scene. Secondly I'm sure that there are great tutorials out there, and builds that show how to make a decent Rey costume, I'm going to focus on the research and threads from The Replica Prop Forum and Rebel Legion.

As of now there are no finished standards for the costume in  Rebel Legion, it can be submitted and accepted for membership though. It's just no clear instruction on what parts are the minimum requirements.

Links

Rebel Legion Image Reference and standards discussion - This is the best thread for reference images. It has a lot of very detailed photos in the first posts. These are the photos you should use for references when doing the costume. Also a good tutorial for the wrist leather strap.

Rey tutorial - Dawn had the first RL approved Rey, and in this thread she and Lisa has a lot of discussions on choice of fabric and construction. Lisa is a great source, since she actually worked with the effects for the films and had access to images long before they were public.

Rey WIP thread - Puck who made this thread is from the Netherlands, so she's using materials that you can get hold of in Europe. In this thread you can also at least find patterns for the headwrap and the belt.

Rey at RPF.com - The Replica Prop Forum has a monster thread about Rey, it's 76 pages long as of today. There is a lot of information there, but some of it is wrong. Make sure that you read all of the thread, as well as the other ones in order to make correct choices.

Materials

The costume was exhibited at Celebration Anaheim and at the display there was a list of materials used

Wrap dress - viscose
Head wrap - cotton
Top - hemp and cotton jersey
Trousers - silk
Backpack - leather
Wrist cuff and belt - leather
Pouch - canvas
Arm wraps - cotton
Gloves - leather
Boots - wool and leather
Staff - 3D print

The boots have been identified and are: the "Piper V Dark Brown" boots by Po-Zu. (a UK Company)

Sunday, 14 February 2016

Birthday celebration Downton Abbey style

One of my sisters and I are born 12 years apart, but our birthdays fall one week from each other. Since we both like to do fun things in the kitchen we usually combine our birthday celebrations with the family. This year we decided to go with a Downton Abbey theme, since the two of us are rewatching the whole series now. I posted a teaser about us sewing last weekend and here are the results.

I added sleeves and an underskirt to an existing gown.
My sister used the old curtains from one of my nieces' bedroom and paired it with a bought lace top. The really nice thing she is wearing can't be seen though. She is actually wearing a shift from our great grandmother, so that's an original piece that's from the time period.

Our guest had also dressed up, here is our mother in a more 1920's style than 1910. She felt more like a jazz girl than an English lady. It's basically a straight skirt and a tunic and then we pinned the scarf in place to hide the edge between the tunic and skirt and emphasize the 20's silhouette.

The most handsome of the men was my nephew though, but I promised not to post pictures of him. He was wearing my grandfather's old tailcoat, with white bow and everything. It was a bit big, but he still looked good in it.

The main focus was the food though. We had sat down read up on menues, Escoffier and watched the Supersizers go Edweardian and 20's. 

First course was a very clear consommé.
My sister got seriosuly excited about learning how to clear a broth with eggshells and eggwhites, and it was really crystal clear.

Second course was a chicken aspic
This was the main surprise. I was quite hesitant about it, but it really tasted good.

The it was Sole Alice (in a simpler version)

The main course was a roast beef with yorkshire pudding and gravy.

For pudding it was ginger and lemon puddings with custard.

This was so good, both fresh from the lemon, sweet from the sugar and a bit spicy from the ginger. I had the recipe in a book, but I'm pretty sure that there must be some translation errors in it, because it didn't look or behave anything like it should in the book. It still tasted yummy though.

And finally we ended the night with a Peche Melba


The only downside to this was that I've been down with a bad cold for the last week, so I basically went straight from the dinner and curled up in the sofa and fell asleep, but the dinner was definitely a success. I'm definitely going to make the ginger puddings more in the future.

Tuesday, 9 February 2016

Me as a mine spirit

At work right now I'm managing a project that involves making a film about the mine, now for the last few shots we needed to film the Lady of the Mine, the spirit that is said to watch over the mine.

I of course didn't say now when I got the chance to dress up and be in front of a camera for a day. At work we have a white dress that we use for dramatizations, and I also brought with me my worst Leia wig, so I could get a long, dark hair.

Photo: Björn Larsson

Photo: Björn Larsson

Photo: Björn Larsson


Photo: Björn Larsson


Sunday, 7 February 2016

Sewing day with my sister

Me and my oldest sister have our birthdays just one week apart, and since we both like to plan and cook food we usually celebrate them together, in the weekend between, with the family. This year we have decided for quite a grand theme, and we have made a seven course menu to go with it.

Of course if we are going to have a big dinner, we want to dress the part as well, so yesterday we sat down to create what we are going to wear. It's still just a family thing so we didn't want to spend money or too much time on it, so everything was taken from our stashes.

My sister has a smaller sewing space than I, but unlike me it's possible to use both her regular machine and her serger at the same time. So will she sewed on the regular I alternated between handsewing and serging.

I'm not going to spoil what we did yet, but I basically chose to add some sleeves and a new edge of the bodice, instead of the black wide ribbon to this old gown.

The only thing I had to work with was a chiffon scarf that I decided to sacrifice, it was 3 m long so I never used it, but it gave me some material to work with.

We have asked the rest of the family to dress up as well, so it will be interesting to see what they come up with. Theme parties are so much fun!

Thursday, 4 February 2016

Nordic Base Info Video

There has been quite an interest in Star Wars cosplay since December, and the Nordic Base decided to make a information video to show that we are there to help anyone to make the Star Wars costume of their Dreams.



Great job by Jenny, who made it.

Monday, 1 February 2016

Look at my tiny hem!

Hem's are not my favorite part of sewing, especially since I got allergic towards machine sewn hem. Until I learn how to make an invisible hem on the machine I will do them by hand. The first step on my journey towards a 16th century gown is to start with the shirt. I want to make a smocked shift, with smocking both at the neckline and the end of the sleeves. For the neckline I could use a selvage from the fabric, but for the sleeves I wanted to make a tiny hem so it wouldn't be too heavy when it's time to gather and smock it.

I haven't made hems that are particularly small, but then I decided to make a roll hem, and what a difference that was! There are a lot of tutorials for rolled hems out there, both by machine and by hand. I used the tutorial from this blog. This the result.

I actually thought it was easier to make a roll hem, compared to a double folded hem, I didn't even have to pin it. I just fingerpressed a crease in the linen and used that as a guide.

Now I just need to do the other sleeve, and then it's time to learn smocking.