Methods For Drafting Star Wars Patterns Part – 1 Piece & Preexisting Patterns

There are no patterns as of yet that are available for the movie accurate Costumes of Star Wars. So where to start? Well it depends on what you want to costume for? Assuming that you want the costume for movie accurate costuming purposes then there are 3 basic options. In this post we’ll talk about the piece together preexisting patterns options.

Note: As to date none of the official or none official sold Star Wars costume patterns are accurate to the screen (that you can buy in stores such as Simplicity, Butterick or Jo-ann’s Fabric ect.).  This includes the patterns sold in the 1970’s and though they are good places to start if your interested in them, however, don’t drop a lot of money on them and expect your getting the real thing. We’ve seen them being resold by online sellers from $40 – $60+ and we really think this is not grate as they originally retail for much less and again are not accurate to the movie. So here are some other options.

Overview:

Maybe the lest intimidating piecing together or using already existing patterns can be a good place to start. You can find a pattern that already is similar to your needs and use it strait without any alteration. You can use a pattern that is similar and alter it to be more accurate. Or piece several existing pastern together to make a more accurate version of the pattern you need.

Maggie’s Costuming Site talks a little about this in her wright up of the making of her Padme Tatooine Pancho costume. Here she talks about what patterns she used that already where made by a pattern company. As you can see from her pictures she had very good results from this method of creating a pattern. KayDeealso has a grate example of using already existing patterns are a starting point for her costume making.

Pros:

• Similar for beginner sowers
• Easily accessible for almost everyone
• Saves time of pattern drafting

Cons:

• If buying knew can be expensive
• Lots of time looking for a pattern that is the right
• Having to alter patterns to be the right

TPM: Japor Snippet

The Japor Snippet is a small carved pendent that Anakin gave Padme on the ship while leaving Tatooine in The Phantom Menace. Padme is later buried with the Japor Snippet in Revenge Of the Sith.

(The Japor Snippet)

(An hour glass shape)

The Japor Snippet has a squared hour glass shape to it. The sides have a crescent shaped dip cut out of them to make this hour glass shape. Also Note: that all the corners are squared, even those by the crescent cut out on the sides.

(Japor Snippet: Size and Proportion)

For an Example of proportions: if the height of the Snippet is 1″ inch then the width of the base and widest part across would be 5/8th” and the smaller middle crescent part would be 3/4. The thickness of the snippet would be 1/4th”. This is not to say that these are the measurements but an example of ratio.

The Snippet in height is roughly the same length as Padme’s thumb from the knuckle to the tip. The width across the front is only slightly less then the height. Keep in mind that the front and back faces of the snippet are slightly curved.

(Circle Markings)

The circle markings on the Japor Snippet appear in 4 places on the front, note: that the largest outer circle is a crescent, the middle circle is within that and a small center dot is inside that. Also Note: that the small dot is slightly off center in all the circles except on the very bottom by Padme’s thumb.

(Image By” DIYTGOSW: Japor Snippet Circle Pattern Example)

(Star Marks)

The Japor Snippet has 2 or 4 cross hatch star marks, these four pointed star marks are cut deep into the snippet, the top one being a whole for the cord to go through. the bottom one is not all the way through the snippet but it is also very deep. on the sides at the thinnest point of the side dip there is either two more star marks or possible just two strait cuts. it’s hard to tell, we think it might be star marks slightly obscured by the groove cut into the side of the dipped section.

(Center Framing Markings)

The little picture frame/cross hatch markings on the middle of the snippet’s face are cut semi deep. deeper then the circles but not as deep as the star marks. Note: that the corners of these marks over lap making two little tails at every corner.

(The Wavy Lines)

The wavy lines on the face of the snippet are but only a little less deep then the square  hatched frame in the center. These lines are very, very, very soft ‘S’ shaped  curves. There are 4 of them and they end right before the corners of the snippet.

(Side Groove On Snippet)

On the side of the small inside dip of the center part of the snippet there is a shallow groove cut just within the crescent shaped dip.

• Here is a link to a way to make the Japor Snippet out of clay.
• YoutTube: By Ali: DIY Japor Snippet – polymer clay tutorial – Star Wars pendant

ROTS: Naboo Royal Makeup: Queen Apailana

Apailana is the Queen of Naboo during the time of Revenge of the Sith and is seen at Padme’s funeral. The makeup she wears is similar to that of other past Queen’s of Naboo, the face base is the same as Amidala and Jamillia. See Amidala’s makeup post for the face base details. In general it is an off white face base that’s applied to the face, ears and neck.

(Cheek Dots and Lines)

Like with Amidala’s cheek dots, Apailana’s cheek dots are roughly in line with the outer edge of the iris. Apailana’s cheek dots are blue, and above them a line is drawn that is same width as the dots.

(Cheek Dots In Line With Nose Tip)

The cheek dots are roughly in line with the tip of the nose, this is the same as Amidala and Jamillia.

(Lines End On Forhead)

The blue lines that go up to the lower lids and end at the lash line, the lines continue starting at the crease and going up over the brow bone and onto the forehead. These go above her eyebrows roughly the same height of an eye.

(Narrow Blue lip stripe)

The lips are painted blue the same color of blue as the cheek dots. the tip lip in filled in with blue in its natural shape, no over drawing. The bottom lip has a small rectangle in the center of it. The bottom lip blue strip is the same width as the lines above the cheek dots. The rest of the lips are white like the face base.

(Clear Jewels In Eye Corners)

In the corners of the eyes, just below the corners and tear ducks small round clear jewels are placed. They are the same shapes as rhinestones and very small.

(Thine Eyeliner And Light Mascara)

Apailana wears light mascara and also a very narrow strip of black eyeliner on the upper lid. There are no wing or thick or over drawn lines here. There also appears to be a setting powder on the lids.

(Filled In Eyebrows)

The eyebrows are also filled in with a dark liner, the shape is natural and not over drawn.

• Royal Makeup Amidala Part One
• Royal Makeup Amidala Part Two
• Images From: The Padawan’s Guide

AOTC: Naboo Royal Makeup: Queen Jamillia

The royal makeup worn by the Queens of Naboo though often similar, is in fact unique to each individual Queen. Jamillia is the Queen of Naboo during Episode II Attack of the Clones. Jamillia’s makeup is the closest in look to the makeup worn by Queen Amidala but it is not the same. There are differences between these two Queens makeup, however, some of the application techniques used in Amidala’s makeup will be helpful in applying Jamillia’s makeup.

Cheek Dots:

Enter a caption

Like with Amidala’s makeup the red cheek dots are placed under the eye with the center of the dots lines up roughly under the outer edge of the iris ring.

Enter a caption

The cheek dots center are roughly in line with the tip of the nose.

Lips:

Enter a caption

The lips are the same color as the cheek dots, the top lip in filled in naturally with no over drawing. the bottom lip is filled in white with the face base with a small rectangle of the red lip color in the center of the lip. This lower stripe of lip color is squared at the bottom, though some pictures show a slightly more pointed angle to it bottom lip, the majority of the images show it to be square. This lower lip stripe is also roughly the width of the philtrum.

Eyes:

Enter a caption

The eyeliner is one of the biggest differences between Amidala’s makeup and Jamillia. Jamillia has thick black eyeliner on the top lid that ends in a very small wig. she also has her water line filled in on the lower lid. Note: there may be a white colored eye shadow setting the white face base makeup on her eyelids. It also looks like there is black mascara worn on the lashes.

Eye-Brows:

Enter a caption

The eyebrows are filled in quite heavily but also naturally, no over drawing, this makes a simple darker more dramatic line.

• See link for Amidala’s makeup breakdown Part 1
• See link for Amidala’s makeup breakdown part 2
• Images From CapThat.Com

 

Aesthetic Influences Part-5: AOTC: Padme’s Travel Gown Disguise.

This post must really be credited to The Padawan’s Guide, as they are the one who really brought it to our attention. As with most of these posts for Aesthetic Influences there is nothing we have found so far that says for sure these are the influences. Padawan’s Guide says that Trisha Bigger said that this costume was based on a Russian ball gown, clearly from the way the gowns look this is likely the case. So far we have not been able to find the interview with Trisha Bigger so we can add quoted texted.

The general shape of the dress, the yoke that covers the top of the shoulders, the cowl and crown/headdress combo. The sleeves being tight around the wrists and the sleeves been puffed slightly, in general the dress that Padme wears is very similar to Russian ball gown. Please go check out The Padawan’s Guide look at these similarities.

The Phantom Menace: Queen Amidala Royal Makeup: Part – 2

Queen Amidala, and other queens of Naboo, have some very recognizable makeup, this post is about Queen Amidala’s makeup, which, while having similar makeup, other Queen’s of Neboo have slightly different makeup and will not be featured in this Amidala specific post. 

These are good videos the show the application technique for the Queen Amidala makeup.

(Note: That the makeup technique for applying is helpful, however, it it not movie accurate.)

(Note: These may also help with the application of makeup for other Queens from Naboo, however, other Queens of Naboo’s royal makeup is not the same as Amidala’s even though it is similar so there will be some differences.)

 

• A Certain Memini: Queen Amidala Makeup: (Video)
• Charisma Star: Queen Amidala Makeup: (Video)
  • (Note: the eyeliner is winged in this video which should not be done for a movie accurate makeup look, its great for inspired though 🙂 .)
• Laura Laqu: Queen Amidala Makeup (Video)
• Agathe Diary: Queen Amidala Makeup (Video)
• Alithiell: Queen Amidala Makeup (Video)

Makeup Application To Avoid For Movie Accurate Makeup:

• Winged Eyeliner
• Eye Shadow (of any kind, other then white for setting powder)
• Tight Lining Or Lining The Water Line
  
• Colors Other Then White For The Setting Powder
  • (Note: using setting powder other then true no color or if you can’t get that white will change the color of the cream base)
• Forgetting To Use Red Setting Powder For The Lips And Dots, which can result in smearing
  
• Colors Other Than White For The Base
  • (Note: the makeup used in the movie was a porciline white, it is a warmer softer white not as harsh as clown white.)
  • (When its suggest that colors other then white should not be used, this means that even the lightest shade of regular foundation is not going to be light enough for Queen Amidala’s face base makeup, the makeup used in the film was a specific movie foundation.)
    

(TPM: Queen Amidala: Royal Naboo Makeup Chart) (Images From: Fit For A Queen)

• Link Here, To Image Of Natalie Postman In Makeup Chair As Padmé
• Line Here, To Parade Padmé Getting Her Makeup Touched Up
• The Force.Net: Discussion Forum About Queen Amidala Makeup
  • (Note: That when the makeup says Ivory, they do not mean Ivory skin tone in foundation, they mean Ivory off white)

A Transcript Of The Queen Amidala’s Makeup Chart Is Below:

(Note: Underlined words are words that can not be clearly deciphered)

“PORCELAIN ‘WHITE’  BASE COLOUR: RCMA IVORY. CHANNEL 01 EAVB, PONDER LUMERE PRESSE

SCULPT EYES, BROWS: (BROWN/BLACK)

EYE LINER (BROWN/BLACK) + MASCARA: GIVENCHY PRIZM TOME

*PILLAR BOX* OR BRIGHT RED

DOTS EITHER SIDE OF CHEEKS

‘LIKE’ LIP PEN

+ SAME COLOUR ON TOP LIP

+ SEMI-CIRCLE ON LOWER LIP.

NARS FIRE DOWN BELOW.

LANCOME EW?VCIL BLACK MAICAEA? OR MAICACA

WHITE BASE COLOUR

THE RESULT OF THIS MAKE UP GIVER A JAMNESE ‘KISUKI’ EFFERT, SO MUST BE EXECUTED WITH BOLDNESS FOR MAXIMUM EFFECT, “

Makeup Suggestions:

• When applying Queen Amidala makeup remember to color in the eyebrows and pay attention to the shape that is seen in the movie.
• Use brown/black instead of true black may help keep the dark color without having a harsh line. 
• RCMA has a no color powder that may be helpful for setting the base face makeup without changing the color and without using a white powder which may also change the color a little.

Makeup:

• RCMA: Porcelain Foundation: (Face Base)
  • RMCA: Porcelain Foundation: Sample Size
• Nars: Lipstick: Fire Down Red (Lip’s and Dots)
• RCMA: No Color Powder (Setting Powder)
• Part – 1 Amidala Makeup

The Phantom Menace: Queen Amidala Royal Makeup Part – 1

Queen Amidala’s Royal Naboo Makeup, though similar to other queens of Naboo, is unique to her. This is a breakdown of the approximation of Amidala’s makeup placement and techniques. We will be looking at both Padme and Sabe wearing the makeup because Sabe is wearing the Amidala makeup as her decoy. Colors and brands will be covered more in part – 2 of this post.

Breakdown:

Face Base:

Queen Amidala’s white face makeup is cream makeup base from RCMA. This was made special for the Star Wars movies by the company. An important note about this makeup is that though it is called Porcelain, other makeup’s with that name are not the same shade. In this case it means that it is a specific shade of white with a warm under tone to it which was special made for the Star Wars’s movies. The white base covers the entire face and is lightly applied over the ears and down the neck. Note that the white base is blended more with the skin on the ears and neck so make a less harsh white color.

 

Eyes & Eyebrows:

the royal Amidala makeup has a eyeliner and masquara as well, both are applied lightly, the liner applied above and blew the lashes, not at all on the water lines. The liner is also slightly smudgy so it is not a harsh line.

(Amidala eyeliner lightly applied)

(Sabe eyeliner lightly applied)

The eyebrows are filled in too lightly, the brow is filled in naturally, not over drawn, but simply to make a darker more dramatic line.

(Amidala eyebrows filled in, natural shape)

The image of Amidala in the makeup chair is very nice because it shows not only the application of the brow liner, but also shows the lid clearly, though this is in the middle of the makeup so we cannot know for sure, it is a good bet that only setting powder is applied to the lids, no real color. We do think that maybe it’s a white or pearl white possibly, however, a no color setting powder would also do very well.

(Amidala in makeup chair, filling in eyebrows)

Cheek Dots:

The cheek dots are the same color as the lips, which in this case is Nars Fire Down Red.

(Amidala cheek dots, center lines up with outer edge of eye ring)

(Amidala cheek dots, center lines up with outer edge of eye ring)

Looking at the placement of the cheek dots we can see that the center of the dots lines up roughly under the outer edge of the iris ring.

(Outer edge of cheek dot lines up with outer corner of eye)

(Outer edge of cheek dot lines up with outer corner of eye)

The outer edge of the cheek dots line up roughly with the outer corner of the eye.

(Center of cheek dots line up with center tip of nose)

The cheek dots center are roughly in line with the tip of Padme’s nose, as you can see in the images below for both Padme and Sabe the lines below and above the dots are more or less in line with the tip of their noses.

Lips:

The lips are the same color as the cheek dots, the top lip in filled in naturally with no over drawing. the bottom lip is filled in white with the face base with a small rectangle of the red lip color in the center of the lip. This lower stripe of lip color is squared at the bottom, though some pictures show a slightly more pointed angle to it bottom lip, the majority of the images show it to be square. This lower lip stripe is also roughly the width of the philtrum.

Images From:

• CapThat.com
• The Padawan’s Guide
• Amidala Makeup Chair Behind the Scenes Image
• Part – 2 Amidala Makeup

Aesthetic Influences Part-3: Attack of the Clones: Padme Lake Dress

The Lake dress that Padme wears in Attack of the Clones is one of light flowing material, notably the beauty of the multi color ombre dyeing makes the gown even more stunning. Though like most of the posts in this series there is no proof that this gown was influential in the designing of Padme’s lake Dress, however, the pink and yellow light fabric seems to share a similar aesthetic.

The Valantino Gown is a vintage gown which we have not been able to find much on, however, it dose share similarities in fabric and color, light fabric has a flouting quality in both dresses. the gradient pink and yellow also are shared, however, the order is in reversed, Padme’s dress has yellow on top and pink on the bottom fading into other colors.

Aesthetic Influences Part-2: Star Wars: Fortuny Pleating

Mock-Fortuny pleating is featured in several Star Wars Costumes, all of them from Naboo. It seems to be a Naboo easthetic in the Galaxy Far Far Away. Unfortunately Fortuny Pleating is a lost wonder of the fashion world, in a nutshell the means to create the pleating died with Mariano Fortuny the man who invented it and as of yet has not fully been recovered. The Padawan’s Guide has already touched on the similarities between many of the Naboo clothing and Fortuny Pleating.

The Fortuny Dresses are sometimes refereed to as The Delphos Gown, and where very created to be a house dress and later a tea gown worn by wealthy woman at the turn of the 19th’s century. The wonderful thing about these original gowns is that they must be twisted into a small ball for storage, which means they take up very little room.

In Star Wars, Padme and her Handmaidens wear gowns with a similar pleating. Though it is not stated anywhere we have found yet that this was that the Delphos Gowns where an influence on the Naboo aesthetic, the light silks and unique pleating of the gowns makes a good case that they where.

Fortuny Pleating Replica loop

Aesthetic Influences Part-1: Revenge of the Sith: Padme Green Velvet Gown

Star Wars has many known and unknown inspirations and influences, this series will be focusing on similarities, possible influences and possible inspiration that helped shape the look of the Galaxy. Silhouettes, fabrics, and color palette among many, many other factors will all be looked at and explored.

Though there is no evidence we have come across to support this as fact, nevertheless, it is undeniable that Padme’s Green Velvet Gown that she wears in Revenge of the Sith shares many similarities to the The Arnolfini Portrait. Because of of these similarities we are looking at the possibility of this painting being the partial inspiration for the esthetic of Padme Green Velvet Robe.

 

 

The similarities between the gowns can be seen in

• the color, dark greens,
• the weight of the fabric, the paintings is a heavy wool and Padme’s is a heavy velvet.
• long sleeves,
• special linings, the Portraits is fur, Padme’s is patterned and purple
• purple belts, though it is a little harder to tell if the paintings belt is purple for sure, never the less the belt placement is the same
• a hood (Padme) and hood silhouette to the veil (Mrs. Arnolfini).
• Special decorations on the sleeves,
• long flowing gown that comes out from under the bust.

According to A Stitch In Time Episode 2, for a very long time people believed that the woman in the Arnolfini Portrait was pregnant. Though this is not the case, it is very easy to see why that would be assumed, she dose look pregnant, without a particular knowledge of the fashion and time period it is essay to assume. The woman in the painting has a silhouette that is similar to Padme’s, who is pregnant.

This is one of the few garments that we think is a spastic influence on a particular dress instead of simply sharing a more common aesthetic.

Images From:

• See A Stick In Time Episode 2 for a history and construction of the Arnolfini portrait dress.
• The Arnolfini Portrait
• The Padawans Guide: Padme’s Green Velvet Robe