Will Turner

Character: Will Turner
From: Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
Made: 2003

During my sixth viewing of the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, it occurred to me that my friend Dan would really make an excellent Will Turner-- he was tall, had the right build, and his hair was quite long as the result of a bet with a co-worker. One day in September 2003, while we were over at his house, I floated the idea of his dressing as Will for Halloween. He wasn't opposed, so I dove right in, and when I presented him with the costume in late October, he liked it so much he wore it home, and then wore it to work on Halloween!

This costume actually does double duty-- with the addition of different pants, and the removal of the stockings and shoes, it becomes a passable hobbit outfit.

Halloween 2003

Trying on the completed costume, October 2003

As a hobbit, headed to Trilogy Tuesday, December 2003
(socks and shoes because it was cold!)

Construction

Girl Hobbit

Character: Girl hobbit
From: Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Made: 2003

This one was for my friend Debby! I'd already made her husband a Will Turner costume that doubled as a hobbit costume, so she was totally up for being a hobbit lady. Like me, she loves the color blue, so we used Rosie Cotton's party dress from Fellowship as a jumping-off point.

Release of Return of the King (Trilogy Tuesday), December 2003

Star Wars: Musical Edition

Several years ago, at a college many miles away...

...two friends had been challenging each other to write increasingly complex Star Wars song parodies, or "filks." And after they had written a number of these parodies, they looked back at what they had done, and said, "Wow, we've actually put a pretty big chunk of the movies to song. I wonder if we could do the rest?"

And so the Musical was born. For years, it sat in a big fat binder, occasionally oohed and ahhhed over by fellow Star Wars fans, and while a few of the songs were sung individually, in informal performances, the Musical as a whole had never been performed.

Then one of the friends moved to Boston to be near his girlfriend, who was a student at MIT and a member of their Musical Theatre Guild. And as he got to know the members of MTG, he thought, "Wow, these people are pretty weird. ...They might just be weird enough to think that putting on the Musical is a good idea!"

And lo and behold, the good people of MTG did think it was a good idea, and so they set about making it happen. One member took it upon himself to compose the entire score, since it seemed like more fun than writing his doctoral thesis. Others worked on designing the set, the lighting, the sound effects. And one member-- the aforementioned girlfriend, in fact-- said, "Well, I love Star Wars and I love costuming! I'll costume design-- how hard can it be?"

Two months, 75 costumes, and $6000 later, she'd found out. Luckily, she had an amazing costume crew of about a dozen, as well as an experienced makeup and prosthetics designer, who did a huge amount of work and helped her keep what was left of her sanity throughout the ordeal. She owes them everything.

And the Musical? Well, it was a huge success-- it ran for eight performances in January-February 2003, five of them sellouts, and people had to be turned away on closing night. Some of the costumes were sold on Ebay to recoup costs, but the rest were boxed up and stored, awaiting the day when the Musical might be performed again, someday in the future...which it was! In 2005, A New Hope was re-staged at Star Wars Celebration III in May, and the entire trilogy was performed at MIT in the fall.

Here are a few pictures from the original 2003 performance; more are available on my website. Many photos from the 2005 Trilogy production can be found on MTG's website.

Padme's Tatooine Midriff Dress

Character: Padme Amidala
Costume: Tatooine Midriff Dress/Lars Homestead Dress
From: Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Made: 2003
Awards: 2nd place, Sci-Fi category (2003 GenConSoCal costume contest)

This is probably my second favorite Padme dress from Episode II. I love the wrapped top, the cape, the skirt-- and of course, the fact that it's blue! (And it's such a relief now to know that it *is* blue! Or at least blue-ish. Oh, the arguments we had over whether this outfit was blue or white...) Anyway, I made this dress in the summer of 2003 to wear to San Diego Comic-Con, but since the skirt was stretchy and I hadn't constructed it with a waistband, it just kept slipping down and down, and there was no way I was going to be able to wear it and still be decent! Hey, mistakes are how we learn, right? So that fall I added a wide stabilizing waistband inside the top of the skirt, and I wore it to GenConSoCal 2003.

I made this dress in a serious hurry, so I really didn't document how I made it, and in any case we've since learned quite a bit more about the actual construction of the real costume. Thus, I have no real construction information for this costume. I can tell you it's made of cotton jersey, which I don't recommend at all!

In May 2005, I sold this costume on Ebay. The girl who bought it was very sweet and sent me some pictures of her wearing the dress!

GenConSoCal 2003 & GenCon Indy 2004

Lisa, the new owner, wearing the headpiece she made

Padme's Rainbow Dress

Character: Padme Amidala
Costume: Rainbow Dress/Lake Retreat Gown
From: Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Completed: 2003
Awards: Honorable Mention for "Best Back" & Best First-Time Entry (2003 San Diego Comic-Con Masquerade)

This is the dress that started it all-- the first movie costume that made me say, "I have no idea how, but I must make that dress." The first planned, but not the first finished, this dress was a nine-month odyssey of draping, sewing, fitting, and dyeing.

After many years, I've finally finished documenting my construction of this dress, along with my notes on what I'd do differently if I were to make it again. I've also done a short costume study using the pictures that BenaeQuee took at the NYC fashion show in 2005.

Photoshoot, June 2010
(gorgeous photos by Rachel!)

Rebel Legion Photoshoot, Dragon*Con 2007

(thanks to Blue and Kathy for the pics!)

California Science Center Discovery Ball, February 2007

(thanks to Kathy for the pics!)

MIT Senior Ball, May 2003

Construction

Padme's Rainbow Dress: Costume Study

I had some time on my hands recently, so I started doing a more detailed analysis of Kristin's pictures of the rainbow dress from the NYC runway show back in 2005. My observations pertain mostly to the underdress, and I welcome comments, corrections, or thoughts. I would especially love to hear from people with good draping/construction knowledge-- the fabric is definitely hanging in some interesting ways near the seams, and I know it's saying something about the grain and angle, but I don't know enough to decipher it.