Now witness the firepower of this fully ARMED and OPERATIONAL battle station!

Sorry about the delays between posts, working 9-5 leaves me only now and then to work on commissions, but I'll still talk about them!

So where are we on this Jedi costume?  Well I made the changes to the pattern I had planned and then mocked it up in muslin and fit my client.  I was very glad to see that few changes needed to be made, I just bumped the hems on the bottom and sleeves up a little higher and took it in an inch at the bottom of the side seams.

The next step was to get out my fabric and start cutting out patterns.  Once that was done I surged all my edges to prevent fraying.

Which left me with pieces looking like this (and in much need of a good ironing).  This is the sleeve, front and back of half the brown top.  It's just a matter of sewing these up and then I'll have a more finished garment

And using the magic learned after years of cooking and craft shows, I have here a more finished garment. (Which hopefully I have the fronts folded right so the "wearer" is not dead).

Now I thought to myself these are pretty simple garments, how can I make them a little more fancy or special, so I thought to myself that I would do the finish that most jean and pant seams have, which is called a flat-fell.  There are two kinds, the flat-fell which involves leaving one seam allowance longer then the other and then folding it over and sewing it down (which, had I not already surged my edges I would have done), and another called the Fake-Flat-Fell. Which is what I did here, it is mostly just top-stitching down your seam allowances.  Still better then nothing.

I also did this because I knew the white later would be showing in the sleeves and I didn't want loose seams flapping about ruining the look.  Another option is for the wearer to just wear the white shirt inside out under the brown shirt, which he may still do, but at least he wouldn't have  flappy seams rubbing up against his skin.

So the next step is to sew up the brown shirt, add the bindings along the front/collar of the shirts and then hem the bottom and sleeves.  After that it's just a matter of making the robe, belt, sash and pants and we will have a full Jedi.

Edit: Now with 100% more pins.

So what were these anyway?

They are Mason's goggles (as in the Free Masons). 

Apparently, you were not allowed to know the identity of the other masons until you were a full member of their Secret Society. So they blind-folded you with these until you were made a member.

History is weird and fun. (I say history, but the Masons are still around, I'm not sure if they still use these though).

I plan on fixing the broken strap and maybe putting in some lenses (with friction, I don't actually want to mod an antique) and using them for Steampunk costumes.

“What a piece of junk!” - Luke Skywalker

This right here is why I absolutely hate commercial patterns.  Well, this and the fact that the instructions they make for them make absolutely no sense and the pattern is always way bigger then it says it will be.

 What is this? Well in order to get the sleeve to fit in the armhole, and to match up the notches that the pattern came with I might add, I had to take the sleeve in that much.  Geez, talk about cheap!  Thank goodness I am making this sucker better!

These aren't the patterns you are looking for, move along.

Oh I'm gonna have fun with titles for this project.

So here is what I have done so far to my simplicity pattern:

This is the front, I've just lengthened the bottom and angled out the side a bit.  The original pattern was just too tight fitting for the Kimono-styled look the Jedi wear.  I am aware actual Kimonos are rather tight fitting, but these Jedi's need more freedom of movement for light-saber battles and  foiling the blasted Empire.

Mostly the same on the back here.  The original pattern cuts off just below the crotch and Mace Windu's is just above his knees.

And as for the sleeve, it seems really short, but the pattern is for a Raglyn styled sleeve (wide, and off the shoulder, like a baceball t-shirt).  All I did was lengthen the hem and widen the sides to make the sleeves looser looking.

And as for  how much fabric does it take to make a Jedi? The answer is  A LOT.  3-5m for the top(s), 2m for the pants and 5-6m for the robe.

The dark brown is the robe, the white is the pants and the off-white and light brown are for the tops/ waist belt obi.

The force is strong with this one, but he is no Jedi yet.

I  have been commissioned for a Jedi costume, due to time constraints and other commissions I will be using a  couple simplicity patterns as bases and then improving/ changing  the design:

I'll be using Simplicity #5840 (project D) for my base. Its not bad, but it could use some work, because when it is done it is supposed to look similar to Nick Fury's...er Mace Windu's costume below:

And to accomplish that I want, I need to make the shirts fuller and longer and make the obi band styled belt not a tie on (which the pattern is). I also have a basic pattern for a Kimono, which after I make the sleeves on the robe more bell shaped and fuller and attach a hood, should end up looking like his outer robe.

I've finished working on the top and plan on mocking it up and fitting my client later this week!  Stay tuned for progress shots of this costume!

It's time to play!

The Guess what these are game!!!

 If you just said neat old goggles you are partly right.  But what would they be used for!?

The Black (opaque) lenses flip up by a spring. There is no pinhole for light to get in.

They are lined in red velvet, but have no lenses.

What could they be?

Start guessing!  The winner wins the awesome prize of KNOWLEDGE!

 If you are one of the 3 people who were with me when the guy I bought them from told us, you don't get to play, you already know.

Challenge Excepted!

So now that all the cons are mostly over for the year, I am of course thinking of  what to wear next year already!

 I was leaning towards Penello from Final Fantasy 12. I do have all the materials for it already (minus a wig). But between other commissions, work, the Heart Truth Red Dress campaign 2013, the budding Fredericton Fashion council, the annual NBCCD fashion show AND two weddings next year I wasn't sure I could devote enough time to do it.

But then I had a brainstorm!
I've loved Comics since I was a kid/young teen, and thanks to the Adam West Batman series from the 60's and The 1990's Batman Animated series, I especially loved Batgirl.

I'd never done a group Cosplay before, and then Lauren Faust's (she's responsible for Power Puff Girls, My little pony: FiM, and Milky Way and the Galexy girls to name a few)  Super Best Friends Forever shorts started to air on Cartoon Networks DC Nation Block.

Well, after a brief conversation with MY two super best friends forever, we are planning doing the super trio, and even if life gets in the way, I'll still be doing Batgirl.

Not one to waste time, I've already begun collecting the materials for my costume.  So far I have the lining for the cape and 3 meters of lavender spandex for the Batgirl suit.  The jury is still out if I will be adding a pink power ranger style skirt over  it or not, depends on how brave I am feeling in the skin tight suit.

Also, I am definetly going to try is this:

Which is to say, I have a vintage pair of lace up roller skates, and if I can manage to learn to actually maneuver in them without falling on my behind / face (I am very accident prone :o) I will be adding them to my costume.

And yes, I'll still be doing Penelo at some point, it depends on when I can devote the time to it.