Sew Geeky Episode II: RETURN OF THE GEEKS! Star Wars Edition
Disclaimer: this post contains affiliate links. And while I did get the pattern for free, all the opinions are completely my own.
Imperial March by Star Wars on Grooveshark
(a little mood music)
THE TIME HAS COME AGAIN...
As the video informs, we have returned for our next installment of SEW GEEKY! What better day there is to celebrate than May the 4th? So away we go!
Max and I wanted to do something big for the Star Wars theme. We went to one who has sewn many Star Wars wearables like a "Bossk".
Seriously folks, if you love the Force and haven't checked out Girl Like the Sea then you are seriously looking for posts in Alderaan places! Tara is spaceballs, i mean, amazeballs. And each of her kids are, legit, cute enough to make you join the dark side.
Go see what she made!!!
So what did I make? Well, I wanted to pay homage to a lesser recreated character from the movies: the Imperial Royal Guards to Emperor Palpatine.
It was weird making my cheerful Azriella into a stoic evil guard.
Does she look foreboding enough?
I couldn't find the time to fashion a visor that would be breathable, so I used a bit of eyeshadow and Photoshop to give the effect I want ;-)
The fact that she has a smiley little doll face does not make it any easier to make her look sinister. But I think she looks pretty cool!
I drafted out what I thought the hood should look like. If you follow me on Instagram then you saw some questionable pics of me in my muslin making! I added in a seam here and a tack there and made sure it sloped and peaked accordingly.
The cape is fairly simple: gathered at the shoulders, open at the sides, and blind hems. I didn't have the time to make gloves either so I did a little something fun to simulate the look.
What's under the cape you ask? (Because I couldn't just stop there!)
A Saffron Dress (pattern by Paisley Roots) made by me but in red vinyl. I actually just had this realization that I do this all the time:
I love crossing things off my sewing bucket list. Other things crossed off: sewing a quilt, sewing lights in to a dress and sewing liquid in to a dress. Vinyl dress? Check! Now some may wonder how comfy is a vinyl dress? Well, since the bodice is fully lined and no seams are exposed, it's pretty comfy!
I made a little steampunk button for the back of the dress. Isn't it cute!?
One thing I have to say about it is that gathering vinyl is not for the faint of heart!
She loves the dress, as do I, and I can't wait for a fancy dress party or a ComicCon of some sort to come through Portland so I have an excuse to dress her up in it again! The vinyl gathers do make for a delightfully dense skirt poof. Not only does the red vinyl in and of itself make a bold statement, but it makes for a very poofy skirt that requires no pettiskirt! I seriously love it!
Some things that I changed up a little:
I slightly extended the button flap on the back since Azriella is 6 and a half and her chest measurements were in the size 3 chest range, I think she needed just a bit more width across her back.
I didn't do sashes, I did a sort of belt look front but at the same length dimensions as Karly suggests.
Because of the vinyl, I had to really stretch the 1/4" elastic in the back to make it look gathered, so I ended up chopping off about 2 inches of the elastic to make it look right.
What is my advice to those considering sewing a fully vinyl dress? Well, some people do the scotch tape under the pressure foot trick and some use special roller pressure feet too. But me? Besides of course using a vinyl/leather needle, I use this stuff called Sewing Aid. You can get it at any of the big box fabric stores. It's a light oil substance that looks like a bottle of Fray Check but it's for making hand and machine sewing go a lot smoother. You can use it on threads, needles, and you can use it on the bottom of pressure feet, which is what I did. Worked like a dream.
We got a fabulous lightsaber that made her so excited and giggly which was not the mood I was going for.
What the difference from with to without:
With lightsaber:
Without lightsaber:
She really started getting into it! When I tried to offer it back to her she refused because she knew it was helping her stay in character. So cute!
Does she look like she wants to steal your soul?
She's trying her hardest!
In the beginning she had such a hard time finding out how to be mean. Bless her little heart, she doesn't have a malicious bone in her body! It was either happiness or tears!
Can you all take it? A smattering of geeky sewing delights? A month of Star Wars puns and roundups?
photo from Max-California of Max-Californina
There will be more goodies on Max-California & Girl Like the Sea as well, so stay tuned to keep up with it all!
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via the hashtag #sewgeekyseries
We'd love to see what you make! We'd love it for everyone to tag all the geeky things they sew with the hashtag #sewgeeky !!!
Keep that geeky, nerdy, fandom fire ablaze! And thanks for stopping by!
Outtakes: