Padme's Family Gown

Character: Padme Amidala
Costume: Family Gown
From: Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Made: 2004

This lovely (and quite revealing!) dress was cut from the theatrical version of Episode II, but it can be seen on the DVD, in the scene where Padme returns to Naboo and visits her family. I hadn't planned on making this dress quite so soon, but then the fabric I'd bought for the underskirt of my Arwen chase dress magically accordioned up in the wash and turned into the perfect fabric for the family gown!

Unfortunately, that fabric absolutely refused to dye the correct color, but the dress was already stuck in my head and I still just *had* to make it. Luckily, the marvelous Ferd came to my rescue with an even better fabric! I didn't have great dyeing karma with this fabric, so it didn't turn out quite as dark as I wanted, but I still really like it.

I debuted this dress at San Diego Comic-Con 2004 after staying up all night to finish it! You can actually see me wearing this dress in the DVD version of Star Wars Trivial Pursuit-- they held auditions at SDCC that year and I was chosen to read one of the questions! Sadly, the fabric suffered some damage around the neckline a couple years ago, and I had to retire the dress.

I didn't document my construction of this dress, but Kay Dee has a stunning recreation that you can see on her website, complete with construction details.

San Diego Comic-Con 2004
(thanks to Eurobeat King for the first pic!)

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.