A long time ago...

I finally decided that this was a good time to start documenting all my sewing and costuming. I've taken a page out of my best friend Audrey's book (or more accurately blog) and journal my projects as I go along. I have a few projects going and not all of them are Star Wars. The impending Estrella War is just around the corner and I've plenty of viking tunics and medieval garb to keep me busy for that.

My most recent project was an Episode III Obi Wan Kenobi for my husband which turned out amazingly well (first row far left). I used a heavy twill for the pants and an Indian gauze for the tunic which I lined. According to research, the lining is detached from the tunic and so I left it un attached for the most part. All in all the costume turned out spectacular and made it's debut at the PF Chang's Rock N Roll Marathon and the AZKids Rock portion sponsored by Phoenix Children's Hospital. I'm still waiting for pictures of it and will post them as soon as I get my grubby little hands on them. The pants pattern I used was one that was drawn up by my friend Joanne who is a wiz at patternmaking. I am going to make a second version of the pants because they weren't originally fitted for Klaus. I have to make adjustments in the waist so they don't quite threaten to fall at any moment as he specifically told me they were doing. Good thing the fabric only ran me 1.99 a yard. The color match seemed right so I should be able to pick up two more yards and re-do them at a more appropriate size for the hubby. For the tunic and obi's, I used Simplicity Pattern 4450 and had to do quite a bit of alterations. I completely eliminated the "shoulder armour" pattern and simply cut long rectangular strips of cloth and stitched together. The belt I also did the same way as the one in the pattern was way too small anyway. I also widened and lengthened the "collar" portion of the tunic and curved the ends of the tunic itself so they wouldn't be quite so angled and would hang a bit more naturally. I'm not completely satisfied with the way the inner tunic turned out, which in the original costume is nothing more than a dickey sewn onto some white fabric. I'm presuming the sleeves are also attached to the white fabric. In my version I sewed the sleeves which I free hand cut to an old t-shirt of Klaus's and simply pinned my version of the inner tunic dickey to it before layering the tunic and obi's over it. All in all the effect was fairly nice and he was definitely recognized as that dashing and wise of Jedi Master's by just about everyone (helps that he grew his beard and sort of resembles Ewan McGregor). More pictures to come soon!