Padme Travel Headdress

Hi Everyone!

My favorite Star Wars character ever is Padme Amidala. 
She is so cool.
...And I love her outfits...
As I often tell people; when I watch a movie, half of the time I pay attention to what is going on and the other half I focus on the costumes.  I guess that explains why I can watch Star Wars over and over and over again and it never gets old.   



Here is Padme in her Travel Costume from
Star Wars: Episode 2, Attack of the Clones.

I LOVE this costume!  It is so pretty.  And the Headdress is awesome!
I decided to try making a replica, and I love how it turned out!

Front of the headdress

A close-up of the side

Back of the headdress


I made the base using my usual method:  A plastic bag and duct tape.  I put a plastic bag over my styrofoam head and duct taped over it until it was fairly solid.  Next I cut out the back and front into the correct shape.  The large fan-like part is craft foam.  Have I mentioned how much I love that stuff?!  I also used craft foam on the sides, as you can see in picture 2.  The only part that was not so enjoyable was when I had to paper mache over everything.  That can be SO time consuming!
The raised design was done with hot glue.  And yes, that WAS extremely difficult.  You have absolutely no idea how many times I burned my fingertips! ;)

The paint I used is Folk Art Gold Enamel paint.  I love the way it looks!  And I tried really hard to weather the headdress, so that it would be darker like the original, but it didn't work out very well.  I am going to have to get some new shoe polish. 

This was SO much fun to make! 

I would love it if you leave a comment letting me know what you think!

Have a fabulous week!


 

Witch King of Angmar Glove

Hi Everyone!

I finally got some pictures of the Witch King of Angmar glove I made a few months ago.  It is made after the gloves the Nazgul, The Witch King of Angmar, wears in Lord of the Rings.   
I haven't made a match for it yet, but I plan to do so in the near future. 

This is one of my favorite projects yet!  And it is actually one of the easiest things I've ever made!  All I did was get a glove, cut shapes out of craft foam to fit over it and hot glued them on.  Then it was just a matter of painting and weathering the foam. 

What do you guys think?

The Hobbit--1, 2, AND now 3 movies!

Hi Everyone!

Some of you may have heard already, but I'll do a post on it anyway ;)

Peter Jackson announced today that he is splitting The Hobbit up into 3 movies instead of 2! 
 I have to admit, I'm excited there will be a third, if anything just so that I'll have something to look forward to.  I really just can't wait for the first part to come out.

I'm guessing the movies are going to have to be relatively short in comparison to the LOTR. But honestly, I have no idea how he is going to drag the story out for 3 movies.  It isn't nearly as complex as the trilogy.    
But Peter Jackson did do an amazing job on the Lord of the Rings movies, so I'll have faith that he won't stretch The Hobbit too far from how Tolkien wrote it!   

What do you guys think?

Take My Life And Let It Be

Hey Everyone!

I wanted to share the lyrics to one of the hymns we sung in church today--it is a really pretty one :)

The song is "Take My Life and Let it Be" and I found the lyrics to it here. 

This is my favorite part:

"Take my will, and make it Thine,
It shall be no longer mine;
Take my heart, it is Thine own,
It shall be Thy royal throne."

I also really liked singing Amazing Grace.  What is your favorite hymn?

Have a great Sunday!

Dove Grey

Hey Everyone!

Sorry it has been a while!

Today I'm taking the color "Dove Grey" from the Arwen Chase Costume and I'm going to share some inspiration photos.  I really like the color Dove Grey.  And I think I like the name even better--"Grey" always makes me think "Grey Havens."   

 Found here.

 Found here.

 Found here.

 Found here.

Found here.

Found here.

I couldn't do a post on "Dove Grey" without including a picture of a grey dove ;)

I really like this color!  And I really want some of those boots! :)

Have a lovely day!



Arwen Chase Costume: Bodice

Hey Everyone!

I hope you are all having a great Friday! :) 
Today I'm going to take a look at the bodice on the Arwen Chase dress.
If you want a really in depth look at this costume, you can see this page at Alley Cat Scratch, which is personally one of my favorite websites ever!   

As mentioned before, the dress/overcoat is made of a dove grey suede. 

The bodice is princess seamed, and the princess seams have the baseball stitch done over them.  (Yeah, I know, "baseball stitch" does not sound nearly as pretty as "princess seam", but the stitch DOES look lovely!)  It you aren't aware of what princess seams are or how to make them, you may want to check out this great tutorial from The Blog for Better Sewing. 

Pic found here.

You can see the baseball stitch on the princess seam in the lower left hand corner of the above picture.  If you don't know how to do a baseball stitch yet, Star Dust Shoes has a GREAT picture tutorial here.  I highly recommend using this tutorial is you would like to learn the stitch.    

As you can also see in this picture, the collar has some lovely lace sewn onto it.  I really love how it adds some texture to the costume!  If you are looking to re-create this costume I will again redirect you to Alley Cat Scratch!  The collar has proved to be a challenge for almost everyone who has made this costume.  Alley Cat Scratch has a great pages on making the collar, here, here and here. 

From the pictures I've seen, it looks like the thread used for the baseball stitch may be something like embroidery floss and it appears to be white. 

Moving on the the front lacing!

Pic found here. 

Ok, the front lacing is not actually doing any shaping.  It is just there for decoration, and I have to say, it looks amazing!  The sash looks like a purple-ish/grey/blue and it made from light silk.  I extends pretty far down, about 2/3 of the way down the skirt part of the dress.  There are 3 little loops on each side that the sash is laced through.  It then laces through the pretty silver "buckle" on the front.  

Phew!  This has been a LOT to think about! :)  I'll save the sleeves and buckle for my next post, because they have quite a few things to make note of. 

Have a wonderful day!

Arwen's Chase Costume: Overview

Hi Everyone!

Woohoo!  July is here! :)

So, today I'm going to start out with an overview of the Arwen Chase Costume, which I'll be posting about this month. 

(Picture found here)

• The main dress piece is made of dove-grey suede
• Undersleeves are made of cream/silver crinkled silk
• Underskirt is a light-grey silk
• Silver Buckle is laced onto front
• The sashes are made of a grey/purple silk

This month I'll be looking into some of the interesting details about the Arwen Chase Costume--This should be FUN! :)

Have an amazing day!