help with Jedi Costume

[Obi-Dar Ke-Gnomie]

I just uploaded these pictures.

Here's what they looked like before:


And here's the after shot:


I got the leather from the thrift shop where I work. It was a black leather jacket that had one sleeve that was all torn up. It was going to be thrown out, so I grabbed it.

I just cut the leather to size and hot glued it on to the neoprene. Again, not "canon", but pretty good anyway. I could have put snap domes on them for looks, but I didn't feel like it, and the velcro was adequate.

One held my little radio that I used to keep in touch with my wife at the convention. The other held one of these neat little plastic boxes that I have. It held a spare thumb screw, a couple of different colored filters for my P4, and a spare kill key for my CF.

[Ari-Jaq Xulden]

well here is a link for a authentic movie jedi female, and a creative remake. the cut is somewhat different, and if your decent with a needle and thread, you can get the look with more room for your arms. hope this helps

[Donnovan Sunrider]

Since she used a costume karate gi, I'm betting that the sleeves are sent to where they point downward at about a 45 degree angle when the garment is just laying flat. When you raise your arms, there isn't any give at the armpit, pulling the sides up.
It sounds like you need a gusset added to the armpits to compensate for when you raise your arms. All that would take is ripping the stitches along bottom of the sleeve and adding a diamond shaped piece to give some extra distance where the arm can go up.
I'm just guessing though, as I have some experience sewing but no training as a tailor.

[duncan29793]

yes that is correct. We thought about the gusset idea. For future reference, should the arms be straight out to the side?

[Donnovan Sunrider]

For the widest range of movement, I think that seems to work best. It still might pull a little, but it will be much less noticeable than if they're at a downward angle.
Note that the seam along the top of the sleeve may not be as neat as that now has an odd fold when your arm is down at your side. I doubt that it would be a huge problem though. The standard layers that come with Jedi garb take care of things like that.

[duncan29793]

ok here is an update on my costume. really there are 3 costumes, my son's, wife's and mine.

Mine is the generic jedi costume. My son's is a sith costume and my wife's is a dark jedi. I started out with her's thinking about a Bariss Offee type look. Then I saw a cool drawing of Assaj Ventress and started mixing them up a bit until I came up with the finished look. Overall I was very pleased with what my mother-in-law was able to do.

The last pic is with a gentleman we met at California Adventures Halloween night. I think his name was Gary (I am really bad with names). Talked to him for a little bit, very nice guy.

[Matt Thorn]

Great costumes! Your son wins first prize, though. Very cute, very cool. It looks like you got the same boots I did. (I made mine slimmer and added Qui-Gon-style strips to the front face.) The vinyl around the Achilles tendon area starting cracking after just one day of wear. Oh, well. You get what you pay for.

[duncan29793]

thanks Matt, we had a great time for Holloween and my son loved his sith costume. I am still trying to get him to come to the light side but he won't have it.... he says "the dark side had cookies"

As for the boots, yes you get what you pay for. But since I am not going to do any trooping or costume clubs this was fine for me. I really wanted to decorate them with spats and such but there wasn't any time for it. I will probably wear the costume a couple more times here and there at conventions or something so I will add to them at a later date. So far I have worn them twice with no cracking, but I know it is only a matter of time. The real secret I found was some Doc Sholls, lol. Made walking in them very comfy.