So I decided that NOT a long and boring explanation was in order, but that he should actually experience it himself – by wearing a costume at a convention.

A weekend of discussion with my son (and without my dad, because he has seen NONE of the Star Wars movies!) provided various options; only few of which were actually desirable. See, my dad is growing old. He likes comfy clothing. So face masks (like for Boss Nass, which would have been fabulous!) were totally out of question. Also, a too heavy, movement restricting and / or warm costume was out of question as well. I still wanted it to be a recognizable costume; and one that would make a few heads turn for that matter.
My dad had opted in for “something as comfy as a bathrobe, at best”.
Bathrobe? Oh dad, you have no idea how close that actually comes to one of the costumes…
So we finally agreed on this Episode 3 costume of Senator Palpatine / The Emperor / Darth Sidious (hey, that’s three characters in one!):

The Emperor’s bathrobe Red Robe

I know, it looks rather heavy. But if I make it from wafer cotton fabric (something likely to that – at least texture-wise – seems to have been used on the original costume as well – in case you’re looking for THE original fabric, google “basketweave wool”!) and silk velvet, it won’t be that heavy; and also not too hot.
About the face makeup… my dad doesn’t know about that yet; I will have to break the news of the makeup to him last minute before the convention.
Also, I will be using Kryolan makeup, which will cling to his skin even if he starts to sweat (which usually happens pretty soon).
But… robes making first.

The greatest “problem”, if there is any, that I saw with this costume is the fold on top of the sleeve, near the elbow. That fold or pleat isn’t just draped; it’s sewn in. And instead of going for the draping method, I went for the grid method to see what the actual pattern piece of the sleeve would have to look like.
What the heck is the grid method, I hear you ask?
That’s very simple. Instead of the robes being made from regular, non-patterned fabric, imagine it being from regularly checkered fabric. If it WERE made of checkered fabric, you would be able to – more or less – draw the pattern from just thoroughly examining the checkered pattern and all seams and drawing it down on grid paper.
But the robes aren’t made of checkered fabric, I hear you say!
Oh, wrong! To some extend they are. That’s what wafer cotton is about Here’s a smaller crop of the fabric from the exhibit pictures:

That’s almost as good as checkered fabric!

This, by the way, is the wafer piqué cotton fabric that I have selected for my reproduction (still white; need to dye it red):

Nevertheless, before I can sew and dye that fabric, I need a pattern – a sleeve pattern in particular.
So I spent an evening drawing digital lines over one of the exhibit pictures; using about every fifth ‘thread’ as a base for my lines. This is what I came up with:

Here you go: checkered sleeve, perfect to take a pattern from – you just need to be willing and able to count the lines from the bottom upwards and draw it out!

There’s just one smaller ‘mystery spot’ – the part of the sleeve that is actually COVERED by that pleat – of which I didn’t get a clear checker pattern; but that part can be draped out when actually making the sleeve.
Also, the sleeve consists of two parts: The outer part – checkered here – going from mid front sleeve hole over the shoulder to mid back armhole, and the inner part – going from mid back armhole along the underarm and back to the front.
I only have drafted the checkered pattern for that outer sleeve part; but that doesn’t matter – since the front and back seam of that outer sleeve part have to match the very same seam line on the inner sleeve part, I can draft the inner sleeve part by basically just changing the armhole shape from ‘shoulder covering’ to ‘going along the lower part of the armhole’.
There’s another thing that should be kept in mind:
The picture I overlaid with the grid only basically shows most of the FRONT of the sleeve. The side and back part are, if at all (side), only partially visible. Here’s a comparison between that front/side view and the actual side view of that sleeve:

From that picture I can conclude that the width of the sleeve (from “hand to back of the sleeve”, that is) is a bit more than half as wide as from ‘bottom of hand opening’ to ‘bottom of the sleeve’.
Also you can see very clearly how the ‘front/side’ exhibit view shows just about half the width of the sleeve, compared to the side view.

Here’s the pattern that I concluded from my grid overlay and the width study of the sleeve shown above:

Green lines: The sleeve pattern I concluded from my grid overlay
Red lines: Corrections to that pattern – at the hand opening (top to center side left of picture) my grid overlay apparently became a bit wonky;
then there’s the “mystery spot” on top of the sleeve (above); the blue arrow showing how that part has to be tacked down to produce the pleat;
and the long bottom red line shows the concluded pattern to produce the width of the sleeve.
Blue dotted line: Approximate shoulder part for what goes under the small cape, outside pattern piece of sleeve;
Orange dotted like: Approximate underarm part for the inside part of the sleeve.

Of course, this is just an approximate pattern. As you can clearly see I had to ‘guess’ about half of that pattern piece. But it’s an extremely helpful base to start for draping the sleeve pattern.

“But wait!” I hear you say. “That’s a scaled pattern. How will you make that fit your dad without doing a gazillion, gradually enlarged mockups?”
Folks… stay calm… again, that is very simple. If you didn’t read my “enlarging patterns” tutorial, I suggest you do so immediately
But there’s another method: I call it the ‘proportional enlarging’ method; and it goes like this:

First, you take a picture (as in, with a camera) of the person in question – here’s my dad, and as per his request, his face is pixellized. Note that next to him, there’s a measurement tape with centimeters. The colors indicate ’10 centimeters each’. That measurement tape in the picture is important and comes in handy in the process of creating a proportional costume:

My dad with the measurement tape. The hand at the top of the tape belongs to my son by the way.

Now, using any image editing software you want, you copy and paste a good picture of the costume in question over the picture of the person. Like this – note that an animated *.gif file is neither required or even helpful when actually creating this (it’s much simpler and more helpful to just create a layer that can be opacity changed); but it’s a good illustration of what I’m trying to show you:

And this is my dad gradually morphing into Palpatine.

Now you can see that I have:
a) a measurement tape (which I can cut out and move around in the picture to determine exact lengths or rotate by 90 degrees and even have the width of things that I need to create!)
b) my dad’s exact proportions, compared to the original costume and, conclusively,
c) I can exactly see (by basically combining a and b) how long and wide, for example, the embroidered tabard (and even the single embroidered symbols!) has to be for my dad’s costume.
Also, I can see how long the distance between, for example, the bottom of the hand opening to the bottom of the sleeve has to be; and can conclude from that (and other) measurements the exact size at which I have to draft the sleeve pattern out in real life size. It’s just a bit of math, really.

That, my dearest readers, is the ‘proportional’ method. I used it for many of the costumes I created (a good example is my son’s Darth Vader costume – particularly the chest- and belt boxes; a few pictures of which you can see on this page – and also the proportional enlarging of my Jamillia sleeves and collar and the proportional sizig of the embroideries of the underdress was done like this. Also, of course, it helps in creating an exact sized headpiece for my Apailana costume, and so on, and so on – once you got used to that method, the possibilities are endless.)
I kept this method a more or less well guarded secret for a long time; but I don’t see a point any more in keeping secrets; I want to share my knowledge so that once I’m gone others can profit from it and think of me when they put to good use what they learned from me. Having suffered a (mild) stroke DOES give you a different perspective on life; that much I can tell you.

Then, of course, there are the embroideries; but if you have, for example, seen my Queen Jamillia underdress or my Padmé Tattooine Poncho, you’ll know that the five times repeated symbol on the silk velvet tabard isn’t exactly a problem for me

The Sith Symbol embroidery / appliqué.
The shiny lighter red parts are appliqués of the same leather that was used for the stripes on the hood and short mantle.

Here’s a preview of the symbol in my embroidery software – of course, the appliquéd leather parts of it are missing; but you get an impression:

The pattern for the mantle (which is actually more like a short cape, made from many pieces) and the hood looks (IMHO) like this, laid out on my living room floor:

Hood is left (obviously), cape is right.
Center front of cape is “upside”, center back is at the very right. Yes, it’s complicated, sort of
The part of the hood that’s gathered and sewn to the cape is at the bottom; the part that goes over / behind the head is at top / left, and the face opening is at the right side of the hood pattern piece.

My dad, by the way, was funny when he tried the pinned cape (made from lightweight cotton, which will end up being the lining for the cape).
Him: “So many pieces! Why don’t you just make it as a circle with a hole in it?”
(Hey, apparently the man somehow knows how sewing patterns work! I had no idea about that and it surprises me greatly…)
Me: “Because that would end up being too wide at the bottom, and the curved shoulders wouldn’t work that way either.”
Him: “Good lord! You’re doing way too much work.”
Me: “I’m just trying to make a good replica…”
Him: “You think anyone would notice the difference if it WERE just a circle?”
Me: (After a short thought on basically miles-long threads I read on the boards of the 501st which were just about single SCREWS on armor!): “YES!”

And here’s the sleeve pattern, drawn out and the shoulder / underarm area is adjusted to fit my dad:

Shoulder part is towards the right, bottom of sleeve towards the left side of the picture. Hand opening is at the bottom; center back seam of the sleeve at the top.

I had a few problems over the last weekend when cutting out my fabric pieces and sewing them together – or rather, trying to do so.
First, I ran out of black thread (when sewing the silk velvet pieces down to their stabilizing cotton base).
Well, I thought, I might as well continue with the coat; after all, I had pre-washed the wafer cotton and it was ready to be sewn.
Guess what… First – on Saturday – I made a mistake (the sewn-in pleats on the front? I sewed them down in the wrong direction on one side of the coat AND noticed that after I had finished the ENTIRE piece… so it was all about watching TV while ripping seams). Then… when trying to sew them down the correct way… I ran out of RED thread. That was Sunday, and therefore no chance to run and buy more thread quickly.
Then I thought, well hell, why not start to embroider the front tabard. Oh wait a minute, I don’t have red polyester thread left (which I would have needed in case I would embroider something that needs to be dyed AFTERWARDS).
Also… on close inspection… the pleather I wanted to use for the ‘stripes’ on the hood and cape and the appliqués of the embroideries was a tad too light; and of course pleather can’t be dyed so I have to find pleather that’s a tad darker.
So that was my mostly unsuccessful weekend: ripping seams and running out of thread. I think a thorough pleather- and sewing / embroidery threads shopping spree is in order now that it’s Monday.
Yet and still I now have the impression that Palpatine doesn’t WANT to be sewn by me. Or maybe it’s just my depression kicking in again, who knows.

But wait, there is something I discovered while having nothing to do.

Look at this picture:

A composition of the pictures which actually SHOW what I mean

That copperish / reddish golden ‘thing’ there, right on top front of the hood. It seems to ‘come’ from the inside of the hood and then bends ‘outwards’. Best seen in the bottom right picture (where the green arrow points to), but it can also be seen in the other pictures. It almost looks like an interestingly bent fork, with the handle INSIDE the hood, and the, well, fork bent towards the OUTSIDE.

What the heck is this?

My best idea is that it’s something that keeps preventing the hood border from flapping down on the forehead (which it definitely would if it weren’t for that thing); but I have no idea WHAT it actually is; nor do I seem to be able to find even just ONE picture that shows it clearly. Which seriously gives me a sad.

Funny enough – while the ‘fork’ (Fork. Not ‘force’. Oh how I love playing with words…) is there on a) the exhibit pictures of the costume and b) also on the promotional pictures of the movie, it’s apparently absent in the movie itself.
See these pics (much lightened to make that part visible) – the hood in the movie almost looks as if the front edge of the hood was padded. It’s definitely way more ’rounded’ than it is on the exhibit- and promotional pictures (where said edge is absolutely flat):

Before I get to showing pictures of the dyed fabrics (YES! I bought thread. And pleather, for that matter – in dark red!), I’d like to get back to studying a detail on the costume again – the leather strips that are sewn to the cloak (and the edge of the hood for that matter).

Take a close look at this picture – and yes, of course you can enlarge it by clicking it, just like all the pictures on this page:

That is an extremely helpful pic from the FIDM exhibit, showing said strips.

What you can see is that…

1. The strips aren’t just strips, but their edges are folded over. You can see that best on the strip to the very right, of which you basically see the side view.
2. The strips aren’t sewn down visibly. There SEEMS to be some sort of puckered line along their centers (best seen on the center strip!), but that puckering does NOT come from a seam that is running OVER the strip; as you can also clearly see. In case of doubt, look at the glossy part at the bottom, where the strip curves towards the inside of the cape. Nope, no visible seam there.
3. The very right strip shows something else, and that’s that you can almost ‘see’ beneath it. So the strips aren’t glued on either.

My conclusion from these observations is that those strips are basically ‘flat piping’.
You know what piping is, don’t you? That’s basically a cord sewn into a strip of fabric, which is then sewn into a seam so only the ’rounded’, cord-filled part of the piping remains visible.
This here seems to be the same – just without the cord inside the strip. Instead the strip has been flattened down – if you look at it from a cut side, it basically looks like a ‘T’.
The puckering, in my opinion, comes from handstitching from the backside of that flat piping; just catching the backing of the pleather that was used for these strips. This handstitching is necessary because without it – and this is something I, too, experienced when sewing my piping! – the piping wouldn’t remain flat; it would try and become rounded again, even without a cord filling, since the pleather is pretty much non-flexible.

Here are pics to illustrate what I wrote:

The profile of the flat piping. As you can probably see, it looks more or less like a ‘T’.

Piping “sandwiched” in the seam between two of the cloak pattern pieces.
Note: The velvet looks like panne velvet, but of course it’s silk velvet. I just didn’t tumble it yet so it will become ‘fluffy’ again after the dyeing process.
What you can also see is that the top portion of the piping tends to take up a rounded shape.

Piping ‘tacked down’ from the ‘seam’ side, just catching the surface of the pleather backing, so it stays flat. You can see the puckering like on the original costume… but you can’t see what causes it (also like on the original costume ).

Here’s some embroidery progress for a change; or rather, how I did the embroideries:

First, the fabric is put into the embroidery hoop. I’m using sticky stabilizer in the hoop and just stick the fabric on top of that.
Then I place a piece of pleather on top of the fabric, and (because I digitized it so ) the parts of the pleather appliqué are tacked down first.

After that, I cut the appliqué shapes down to those seams:

And after that I just let the embroidery machine with my digitized pattern do the rest (and yes, it STILL looks like godawful panne velvet. It’s still silk velvet; but in this case, I’ve ironed the pile down to keep it flat while embroidering over it. A thorough tumbling when the embroidery is finished will restore the fluffy silk velvet look).

…until, eventually, one of the five embroidered shapes is finished. At the very top of the picture, there’s a crease in the fabric on the left part of the embroidery; it’s not like the embroidery was shear, just a question of bad layout of the fabric in this pic. Just thought I should mention that.

Let’s compare that to the original embroidery…:

Original embroidery on Palpatine’s movie costume

…yes, I’d say it looks pretty good

After embroidering two more symbols, I draped the sewn coat, the embroidered tabard and the front portion of the cape on my dress mannequin, just to get an impression what they look like together.
Note that my dress mannequin is, well, female. Also, compared to my dad’s shape, it’s really tiny even if I adjust it to its largest possible size. So it didn’t exactly look ‘fitting’, but you get an impression:

Also, digital cameras HATE red. The overall coloring in this photo is way too bright red, compared to the color the fabrics actually have. Oh well.

…still saying it looks pretty good. Tomorrow I can do a test fitting on my dad, to determine if it really fits as good as I think it does. And yes, I wish dress mannequins were infinitely resizeable.

Here are some better pics of the very same combination (just that I had finished the tabard embroideries) which I took outside when the sun was shining:

Front of coat. Sorry, didn’t iron it yet.

Back of the coat. Again, not ironed yet.

Front with partially sewn cape and completely embroidered tabard.

Closeup on tabard. THIS is actually the only photo that shows the correct colors!

Stay tuned for updates

In case you happened upon this page while searching for a sewing pattern to make one of these dresses yourself instead of having a seamstress do it – while I don’t sell patterns (as I make my own), you could try the Historical Pattern Company.
While I haven’t used any of their patterns, I find the idea of buying E-patterns and printing them out at home (instead of buying printed patterns and having to wait until they arrive!) very interesting. As far as I can see, most of their patterns only need few work (if any) to be adjusted for Titanic dresses that come pretty close to the original ones!

Here are some pictures of a few of the reproductions I’ve made (click the pictures to enlarge them!):

Rose’s Flying Dress
Rose’s Deck Dress
Rose’s Breakfast gown
Rose’s Boarding costume
Rose’s Jump dress
Version 1: Completely beaded, like in the movie
Since the other pictures above don’t really show the details, here is a pic that does: A scan of the full beading.	A picture of my customer, the author Margaret George, wearing the dress I made.
Version 2: Pre-beaded lace and a few Swarovski rhinestones instead of full beading
Version 3: Chinese Brocade and hotfixed Swarovski Rhinestones (no beading except on skirt hem)
Rose’s pink Sinking Coat
Rose’s Sash (or Sinking)-Dress
Rose’s Tea Dress
Rose’s Dinner Dress

I took considerably few pictures, and most of them are of my son; but nevertheless, I thought I should share them:

I think Yftach Katzur took at least one pic of me (which seriously gave me goosebumps; after all, ‘Lemon Popsicle’ was one of the movies I sneaked into with my friends when we weren’t even old enough to legally see it (I think I was 11 or 12 at that time!).
In other news, I had some great talks with members of the 501st and of the Star Wars Club Nuremberg and, of course, with lots of visitors.

Here’s a picture that was taken of me and Corra Sha’Atul in her Padmé Tattooine Disguise costume, which looks fabulous in person:

Me as Queen Jamillia and Corra Sha’Atul as Padmé at the Movie Days 2012

Another picture, showing the top of my costume – including the hairdo and headdress – from side / back; this one was taken by Crosathorian:

I think this was when I explained how LARGE and HEAVY and WORK INTENSE the Jamillia costume is, and how George Lucas seems to have made fun of it by NOT showing much of the embroidered underdress in the movie.
And yes, the ‘back fans’ of the hair are fake (strands of fake hair which I’ve sewn and glued to a base of craft foam). Just the braided parts at the very back of the head are my own, natural, waist-length hair. Also, I know that Jamillia’s hair in the movie is black wit brown streaks, while mine is more like completely dark strawberry blonde. After dyeing my hair black ONCE for a costume (and taking three years to grow that dye out again…), I don’t want to dye it again, so I went for my own hair color for the entire hairdo.

In case you took pictures of me and / or my son, it would be very nice if you could email them to me (or point me to the website where I can find them) – my email address is given at the bottom of each page of this website

No, this is not a period Elizabethan costume.
Yes, I most definitely fell in love with it.

Even if Queen Jamillia was only visible for a very short time in Star Wars, Episode II, she most definitely made a great impression on me. I just love her slightly arrogant and snarling look.
The costume is also a plus because *if* I go to costume meetings I prefer some kind of makeup which makes it practically impossible for other people to recognize my real life face
Even more a plus: I think Jamillia, and please don’t laugh, looks a bit like a stylized art deco sunflower with her headdress. I like sunflowers, so…
And she is slightly overweight (or at least seems so with her rounded face), and I am currently also overweight. That was most definitely the last plus I needed to finally decide that I wanted this gown – as in “very much and right now”.

Think about it:
A snarling, arrogant, overweight and stylized black and white sunflower
- I mean, who on earth could resist something like that?
(Yes, I’m totally nuts.)

Let’s analyze the costume. It consists of several parts:

The white (or light cream, rather) underdress – which, by the way, would be called a “kirtle” in Elizabethan terms – is made of short-piled velvet; decorated with embroideries in cream and a slightly glittering black thread;

The overdress is made of crushed black taffeta;

The front middle piece is made of black netting fabric which has circle-shaped sequins all over it, and then was beaded with cut jet beads;

The collar is made of black velvet, edged with embroidered white/cream velvet;

and the headdress seems to be made of wood or horn combined with mother of pearl slices plus an elaborate arrangement of Jamillia’s (own?) hair on the backside.

At first looking simple, the costume is a very demanding task to reproduce.
That task sounds funny and impossible? Well… let’s see.

This costume diary starts with the Planning. Navigation for this part
of the page:

• Queen Jamillia, StarWars
• Planning
• Beading the front piece
• Overdress, sleeves & collar
• Embroidered underdress
• Finished costume

Star Wars Episode 2 – Naboo’s Queen Jamillia

Some observations and thoughts on the original gown considering the task at hand – I have written them down over a considerable amount of time, so some of the information may seem doubled, but actually they all contain some new information.
I always do this sort of brainstorming before I start working on a gown while I just stare at various pictures and, if given the chance that it’s a movie costume, I watch the scene several times and write down notes over a time span of several days or even weeks, the time depending on me being satisfied with my musings.

Such a brainstorming would read like this:

• The white ‘underdress’ – or kirtle – goes up far over the waist, can therefore not simply be substituted with an Elizabethan petticoat. My first thought was to make a petticoat plus bodice, but that wouldn’t work. Therefore, I’ve decided to make a kirtle; which makes sense – after all, the complete look of the costume strongly resembles an Elizabethan loose gown plus kirtle.
• The sleeves of the black overdress of the Jamillia gown are so *not* period Elizabethan. Though at first sight they look like a crossover between hanging and Spanish sleeves, closer examination shows that they have a completely different shape. Also, it seems as if the sleeves and the black overdress are separate pieces – the sleeves seem to be connected, and are worn like a shrug over the black overdress.
• The hanging, beaded, center front piece could be connected to the large, non-period black velvet collar.
• …so could the sleeves. In theory, at least.
• The back of the overdress looks much like a kirtle or loose gown with a gore at the complete center back, starting from about mid-back (the gore, that is). Unfortunately there only seems to be ONE picture available that shows the gown from the backside.
  
• The outer shape of the whole gown, if I leave off the collar, middle piece and sleeves in my mind, much resembles two gowns described in Janet Arnold’s “Patterns of Fashion – The cut and construction of clothes for men and women c. 1560-1620″:
  namely the kirtle and the loose gown from the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, 1570/90 on pages 109 – 112 (this combination is also to be seen on the left side of the cover of this PoF book).
  Compare (I have flipped the illustration from PoF here to make it better comparable to Jamillia’s gown):
  
  Looks quite similar, doesn’t it?
  I think I should use those two gowns as basic patterns for the under- and overdress, then construct a separate, detachable collar with the ‘Jamillia’ sleeves.
• To determine the exact size of hoopskirt I need, I just need to apply basic math knowledge about how to calculate circles (and, yes, thank you – I know why I paid attention in my maths class):
  Assuming Jamillia is as tall as I am, which would be 178cm with shoes – then I can say by looking at the picture that shows the complete Jamillia that her skirt is about 1/2.5 of that size wide; which would be about 71.2cm.
  By multiplying this with Pi (3,14159265358979) I can now calculate that the hem circumference of her skirt must be about 224cm. The closest size of a finished bridal hoopskirt to that (because I don’t want to construct an own hoopskirt for that gown – *sometimes*, buying is easier!) is 220cm – this is why I have decided for that size.
• To construct the skirt of the kirtle, which lies quite flat over the hoopskirt, I think I would be safe by making the skirt bottom circumference 10 cm wider than the hoop circumference is – meaning that it will have to be about 230cm wide.
• (Note: This part is something I’ve had to revise. There are no diamond shapes on the front piece. You can clearly see it in larger exhibit pictures at Padawansguide. I’ve also revised this planning when I beaded my triangular piece; but just for the sake of having the brainstorming complete, I’ll leave my initial thoughts here.)
  I think (though I may be wrong) that the front middle piece is basically beaded with black and dark golden sequins (which would make it easy for me – I’d just go and buy a yard or so of sequined fabric and use that as the basic material), and over those black sequins they have pinned diamond shapes made of black jet cut pearls. These diamond shapes are bigger at the top and smaller at the bottom; plus they overlap at the top. Here’s what I mean:
  
  Left = unedited version; right = marked version.
  The red diamonds, in my opinion, mark the diamond shapes of pearls, overlapping at the top, at the bottom they are smaller. They also have either a rhinestone or clear crystal pearl in their centers.
  The blue circle at the top marks the top shape which seems to be round (plus has something likely to a wing- or heart symbol in silver beads in it).
  The green arrows mark the loose strands hanging down from the top piece.
  Well, that’s at least what I *think* I can see here. The diamond shapes should be simple to construct with wire and pearls, but it will probably be quite time consuming… well… as I have no particular date to which I would like to wear that gown, I can take myself time…
• After enlarging the kirtle pattern I came to a skirt circumference for the original kirtle in my size of c. 260cm – quite close to what I first calculated; 40cm are not much when it comes to the circumference of a skirt hem….
  However, now I know that I have to look for a 250-cm-hoopskirt instead of a 220-cm-one.
  I should also look out for one that has at least three stable hoops. If I indeed should make the loose gown turn-able with a velvet in- or outside (depending on which side I’m wearing out…), then there will be a considerable amount of weight on the hoops. To avoid them starting to “escape” through the front gap of the loose gown, I’d better choose some strong ones that will carry the weight without ‘complaining’….
  (and here, too, a revision of my initial thoughts took place in the end. I’ve used the farthingale of my Pelican gown for this dress; which happens to have just the right size )
• I have to find a solution for the mother of pearl elements of the headpiece.
  Mother of pearl elements are so expensive that I could cry, and I have not seen *one* yet that *has* the size of just one of the original elements.
  It took me from 2005 to the end of 2011 to actually come up with a useable idea for that substitute, by the way. Google “Drum Wrap”; or look at my Drum Wrap tutorial
• Pattern wise, there is some kind of ‘giant forepart’ on the kirtle from Patterns of Fashion.
  Well, it’s of course not a real forepart, but a piece of “soft ivory silk with fine silver threads in the weft (…), embroidered with couched black silk thread resembling buttonhole twist and 3mm (1/8) spangles in bluish grey metal”¹, sewn to the front portion of the gown. This is the part of the kirtle that would show below the loose gown.

Planning finished:

After the above written brainstorming, I came to this finished plan:

• Construction of a kirtle and loose gown from the above mentioned “Patterns of Fashion” patterns.
• Sleeves will be made as a “shrug” to be worn over the loose gown.
• The underdress will be made from the PoF-kirtle-pattern. I will make it of the white jacquard I still have. If I should still have the nerve to do so, I will embroider the center front and the trims on sleeves and collar (which have to be embroidered on short-piled cotton velvet, like the original!) in a likely way to how Jamillia’s gown is decorated.
  Jamillia wears narrow crushed taffeta sleeves under the wider ones:
  
  So I will make a pair in crushed taffeta, the other of more period “Elizabethan” material. I can exchange them by the lacings which are also on the original gown, in case I ever want to wear the kirtle with a more period loose gown.
  I am not certain yet about the “full gown forepart” described in the brainstorming – I guess I will see what I make here during the making process.
• For the gown I will use my ‘Pelican’ gown farthingale. Yes, it’s red, but that’s just decadence
• The collar, ‘Jamillia’ sleeves and the ‘Jamillia’ front middle pieces will be made as single pieces.
• The Jamillia headdress will be made… somehow. I honestly don’t have many ideas yet how to make it, but I will. Thanks to the person who has invented Fimo, I will also complete that particular task, I guess

After this planning stage is finished, I can now construct the kirtle as soon as I find time to do so and have the nerve *sigh*….

After the latest exhibit pictures it became clear that the white underskirt is not decorated with lace, as I had thought, but that it is indeed embroidered.
Not that I would want to do that… really, no… however, just to keep myself entertained, I have programmed the embroidery from the exhibit swatch pictures.
In the embroidery software, the preview looks like this:

I think it’s a quite close match.
And as I’m currently in an awfully good mood – you can download the zipped embroidery file here.
You’ll need a Brother embroidery machine to use that file, though; or any other high end embroidery machine and/or software that can convert a *.pes file. The file is made for the larger embroidery hoop – 18x13cm (about 7×5 inch). If you don’t have that larger hoop, you’ll have to resize the embroidery with your software; but be aware that this CAN lead to undesirable results (just like upsizing it, by the way).
The skirt itself has variations of that swatch pattern.

Since much of the embroidery is covered by the black, triangular beaded piece and by the overdress, I had to basically “piece” the embroidery together from various exhibit photos (because some that were taken from certain angles show parts of the embroidery which are hidden by the overdress and / or the triangular piece when seen from the front).

Here’s what my pieced-up collage of the embroideries looks like. Note that the images, if you click them to see the full size, are HUGE – they’re basically lifesize:

Center front, complete – red line indicates the center; note that I only pieced up HALF of the embroideries (left side) because the other side is symmetrically mirrored:

Front side (left side, to be precise) turned straight – again, the red line indicates the center front (which, since I turned the embroideries, is at an angle)

Bottom center front:

And here’s the preview of the embroideries that I’ve digitized from that collage. Again, the images are huge, but not as large as the ones above. Red lines indicate a) the center front and b), in some cases, where I have to change the hoop for the embroideries (remember, those are MACHINE embroideries!). Of course you’re free to compare those previews to the original, pieced collages above; and, in case you find apparently huge mistakes, I hope you’ll point them out to me.

Front side:

Center front:

Also, I have digitized the embroidered sleeves trim as well.
I’ve digitized a repeat of 26cm (about 10 inches), which fits into the hoop four times. The space between the trim strips is just so that I have a selvage (and the red lines indicate where I can cut it). I’ll embroider this on the bias of the fabric, so I have the possibility to slightly curve the trim where I need to when it’s done:

Of course I’ve also digitized the collar. That was, in my opinion, the hardest part to digitize, since the pictures don’t show the top of the collar; so that’s where I had to guess the embroidery.
The preview pic is probably a bit confusing. The back of the collar is on the left side, the center front is towards the right. The red lines indicate the outline of the collar trim; the one long red line is indicating the grain of the fabric. There are also tiny notches in the red outline, those indicate matching notches on the black velvet (to which I have to attach the white velvet collar trim); as well as some lines which indicate the brooch placement at the center front. I don’t need the latter to attach the brooch, I needed those lines when I digitized the embroideries from photos.

And just for the statistics, as usual… here’s the raw embroidery data, which I got from my embroidery software’s statistics (I use Brother’s PE-Design 6, by the way, to digitize my embroideries; and the machine that I can use can take frames up to 10×6 (16x26cm)) for the single embroidery files.

Embroidery piece	Stitches	Has to be embroidered…	Results in … stitches
Front side	222,956	twice (x2) – left and right side	445,912
Center front	44,587	once (1x)	44,587
Trim for sleeves	44,039	four times (since each frame gives me a bit more than a yard of trim to work with, and each sleeve will take approximately 2 yards)	176,156
Trim for collar	40,210	twice (2x) – left and right side	80,420
Result			747,075 (Yes, that’s almost eight hundred thousand stitches!)
Also, just for the statistics:It took me about 14 days to digitize all these embroideries. I will have to change the position of the fabric on the hoop (20x for sides + 2x for center front + 4x for trim + 10x for collar (the latter is just a rough estimate!)) = 36 times. That’s 36 times for things to go awfully wrong Also, in case you have no idea about the time frame: Each frame takes approximately an hour to to 90 minutes to embroider; but I can’t concentrate on watching the embroidery for more than 2 frames per day (just because it’s something you have to concentrate on HARD, to catch the machine in case the thread breaks, or the lower bobbin is empty, or the needle breaks, or, or, or. You just have to sit and WATCH that thing – which makes as much noise as a starting jet! – and do nothing else!). That basically means that IF I embroider two frames per day, it will STILL take me more than TWO WEEKS to finish the entire embroidery, IF I don’t take a single day of break. And that’s JUST the embroidery; no sewing done yet!

Besides the white velvet (~2.5 meters, 150cm // 60 inch wide) and the embroidery threads, by the way, this particular embroidery project will also “swallow” approximately 3 meters of 1 meter wide sticky interfacing (which I need to be able to exactly position the fabric on the hoop when changing it) and the same amount of clear, water-soluble “topping” (which has to be put OVER the velvet while embroidering it, so it basically crushes the velvet pile down beneath the embroidery).
Concerning embroidery threads, which are a HUGE factor in this project:
My calculations, done with an embroidery digitizing software which is able to estimate thread usage, I calculated that I will need approximately 5,500 yards of white / cream thread and approximately 2,750 yards of black metallic thread, which, by the way, is most likely to have been Madeira’s “Super Twist 30″ in “Black Pearl”, color #264 on the original gown, plus approximately 7,000 yards of bobbinfill thread).
Plus, because metallic thread tends to wear needles out faster than other thread, I think I will need two packages of Schmetz TopStitch needles (there are five needles in each package).
Just the threads and needles alone are worth approximately $110, if bought on large bulk spools!

Just good that it takes some time to have those bulk spools and needles delivered to me; so the first actual thing I did on the Jamillia gown is to bead the triangular front piece; so that’s how this dress diary continues

¹: from Janet Arnold’s “Patterns of Fashion c. 1560-1620″, page 110 Navigation for this part
of the page:

• Queen Jamillia, StarWars
• Planning
• Beading the front piece
• Overdress, sleeves & collar
• Embroidered underdress
• Finished costume

Queen Jamillia:
The beaded front piece of a Naboo Queen

For the triangular, hanging front piece I bought 10 inches (25cm) of 60 inches (150cm) wide sequin fabric.

Since that fabric was pretty flimsy and thin, I flat lined it with a layer of velvet, just to give it more stability.

Then I started using beads and nylon thread to imitate the ’8′ shaped beading of the original front piece.

Yes, well, the beading is pretty hard to see in this picture (at least on the sequin fabric – you can see the ’8′ shapes very well on the printout, though).

Here’s another, enhanced picture – the colors are much lighter than in reality; but at least you can see the shapes (which are just pinned, not sewn down yet):

At the point when I took these pictures, I had already used approximately 9,000 (nine thousand!) 2mm beads. Just thought I should mention it. As you can probably see, those 9.000 beads (which I at first ESTIMATED to be enough for the entire front piece!) roughly cover HALF of what has to be beaded.

Here is a picture of the finished beading; though it’s VERY difficult to photograph.
There are now approximately 20,000 black bugle beads, about 300 faceted black iridescent (AB coated) beads (which I randomly used just to add some extra sparkle), and about 300 beads of two types of gold beads (round and faceted – the latter in two sizes) on it. It weights approximately four pounds now.
Just so you can compare, there’s an exhibit picture of the original beaded piece on the left side, and my beaded piece is on the right side. Of course you can click to enlarge it:

As for the top of this front piece, there’s a beaded shape with a stylized ‘Naboo flower’ on it; here’s an exhibit picture of the original piece:

I beaded that on an extra piece of velvet.
To do this, I started by digitizing the rough outline for my embroidery machine; then, with the velvet covered with water-soluble stabilizer (just so the embroidery threads won’t sink into the velvet pile; the stabilizer can be washed out when the entire beading is finished!), I embroidered those outlines on my machine:

Then I took some REAL Edwardian, jet-beaded trim (of which the silk netting backing has practically dissolved over time; so it’s no more usable) from my collection…

….and just started beading. All the black beads are taken from the Edwardian jet-beaded trim; the golden beads (which are actually ‘old gold’) are new:

Almost complete:

Finished, with the stabilizer backing washed away. Now I need to hem it and add the shorter fringe to the bottom of it:

I’ve finished the entire front piece by now; and Mother Nature was gentle, because the sun was shining so I could take pictures outside!

Here are the pictures of the finished beaded front piece. Of course the pictures can’t really capture the sparkle that comes from all the beads and the sequin backing. I’m totally in love with this thing – and during the time when I don’t wear it as a dress, it will become a decorative wall hanging piece. I can easily push a rod through the top to make that happen!

The complete beaded piece. (Obviously, I pinned it over the top of my Apailana kimono!		The beaded tassel that’s at the lower end of the beaded piece.	The top of the beading, with the hanging down fringes .

After finishing the beaded front piece, I can now go on to making the overdress, sleeves and collar.

  Navigation for this part
of the page:

• Queen Jamillia, StarWars
• Planning
• Beading the front piece
• Overdress, sleeves & collar
• Embroidered underdress
• Finished costume

Queen Jamillia – the crushed taffeta overdress, sleeves and collar

The overdress

I’ve started to make the overdress by using the Patterns of Fashion Loose gown.
I cut the pieces for front, side gores, back and an additional gore for the center back out from sturdy cotton fabric.
Then I laid those pattern pieces of cotton fabric out on crushed black taffeta, pinned them to it, and basted the black taffeta to it by sewing it down on the cotton along the length-wise crush.

After I had basted all the cotton pieces to the taffeta, I cut the pieces out and just assembled the overdress. Surprisingly the only thing I had to change compared to the original gown was to tuck approximately 2-3 inches of fabric under at the front opening; other than that, it immediately looked like the Jamillia overdress. To “overcome” the “back-pulling effect” of the large back gore which I added to make it look more like the real Jamillia costume, I added a waistband on the inside of the gown, which I tacked down on the side seams. That way the sides of the gown lie smooth along the body while the back with the gore can flare out.

Here are some pictures taken outside in the sun. Note that I had to lighten them a bit since the black crushed taffeta is SO black that, well, otherwise the crush effect wouldn’t have been visible. The overdress is worn over my Pelican gown farthingale; the triangular beaded piece is just pinned to the dress mannequin:

Now I need to hand stitch the front edge and the hem, which are just pinned in these pictures.

Here’s what it looks like when finished; worn over the finished, embroidered underdress:

Front of overdress	Side of overdress	Back of overdress
Overdress closure. There’s a snap hidden behind the embroidered strip.	I’ve sewn pins to the sides of the overdress front, to be able to attach them to the underdress (the places where I have to attach those pins are marked with black thread on the underdress). This is to prevent the overdress from slipping backwards when I walk (which it does because the back is lying on the ground and pulling on the front).

The sleeves

The sleeves, and that part I’ve studied pretty closely in the exhibit pictures, seem to be more like some kind of ‘cape’. That means I’m not sure if the wing-like sleeves are attached to the overdress or not.

I’ve started on them by drafting a pattern, then cut that out in a sturdy cotton fabric, and lay those cotton fabric pieces of the cape / sleeves out on the crushed taffeta.

The original sleeves do have a certain direction into which the crushed taffeta runs; so I tried to imitate that the best I could by laying them out in precisely that manner:

Sturdy cotton fabric sleeves / cape pieces laid out on the crushed taffeta.
And yes, the cotton fabric has a pattern on it. I bought it years ago and made something else from it; so these are basically just remnants. I need the cotton fabric to stabilize the sleeve ‘wings’, so they won’t collapse.

 After pinning the cotton pieces to the taffeta, then sewing along all edges and basting the taffeta to the cotton fabric, I assembled the sleeves / cape. Here’s a first test fitting of that cape-like winged sleeves over the overdress:

There’s still no lining in the sleeves. Also, of course, the embroidered trim is still missing; and so is the collar. But I have the impression that this is the correct shape for the sleeves / cape.

A picture of the sleeve trim embroidery in progress:

The first of four frames of sleeve trim being embroidered. The fabric is on the bias (at a 45 degree angle from the weft direction) so I can basically use it like bias trim on the curved sleeve.

Here is another pic of all the almost-finished pieces pinned to the dress mannequin. The trim on the sleeves isn’t sewn down yet:

You can see where the embroidery basically ‘stops’ at approximately mid front.
Also, collar turtleneck on the collar still missing; and the trims on the sleeves aren’t basted down yet, just pinned.
As I said – just to see what it looks like so far… and I like it

More pics of the finished sleeves, worn over the embroidered underdress and the overdress:

The sleeves “cape” closes with two snaps a the front.	I think this is one of the few pics that shows the velvet piping along the sleeves trim really well.

The Collar

Collar embroidery in progress. You can see the connector stitches (black thread), which I have to cut manually – while embroidering. For that I have to pause the machine 10 times per frame, on average.

Cutting the aforementioned connector stitches.
Most people prefer small scissors for that job, I like to do it with large scissors simply because they allow me to reach farther on the embroidery hoop.
Why DO I have to cut the connectors while embroidering and not afterwards, when everything is finished?
Because otherwise, the machine might embroider over them again, making it more difficult to cut them in the end.

Here’s the first half of the collar trim. It still needs to be sewn to a velvet base and I still need to cut some of the connector stitches that the embroidery machine leaves behind but I guess you get an impression. Since the collar trim has to be embroidered in a curve, it’s pretty difficult:

First glimpse at the first embroidered half of the embroidered Jamillia collar trim

And here’s the finished collar embroidery (still not attached to the velvet; or the stiff interfacing base. I am using ‘Decovil’, an interfacing often used to create stiffer handbags, by the way. This will be sandwiched between the layers of velvet / trim and satin lining of the collar.

To make the comparison between my reproduction and the original easier, I’ve prepared pics that show both. Note that the pictures of my embroidery were taken outside, in the sun; so they’re more beige-ish and not as bright as the original embroideries (of which the pictures were taken inside, with a flash – in case of the back view, obviously from a greater distance).
In the picture of the original collar from the front, you can see the satin lining that’s inside the collar very well (right side of picture; collar towards the back of the shoulder).

The embroideries aren’t 100% in the places where they are on the original collar; but other than that I think I got the pattern pretty well nailed on.

Here’s the collar with the trims and the black velvet base sewn down to the stabilizer. Also, the satin lining is in place, too – just that you can’t see it. The collar doesn’t sit so well since it’s just pinned. The trim on the sleeves isn’t sewn down yet, which is why it looks weird:

Some more pics of the finished collar:

Collar front	Collar side	Collar back
The collar attaches to the sleeves cape in the back with a snap.	The turtleneck is closed with velcro at the back.	I’ve made the brooch with polymer clay, a real piece of abalone shell and black and golden paint. Also, I’ve attached a safety pin to the back so I can pin it to the collar.

Continue reading the dress diary by going to the embroidered underdress.

• Queen Jamillia, StarWars
• Planning
• Beading the front piece
• Overdress, sleeves & collar
• Embroidered underdress
• Finished costume

Queen Jamillia – the embroidered underdress

I’ll repeat some of the things I wrote on the planning page:

I had to basically “piece” the embroidery together from various exhibit photos (because some that were taken from certain angles show parts of the embroidery which are hidden by the overdress and / or the triangular piece when seen from the front).

Here’s what my pieced-up collage of the embroideries looks like. Note that the images, if you click them to see the full size, are HUGE – they’re basically lifesize:

Center front, complete – red line indicates the center; note that I only pieced up HALF of the embroideries (left side) because the other side is symmetrically mirrored:

Front side (left side, to be precise) turned straight – again, the red line indicates the center front (which, since I turned the embroideries, is at an angle):

Bottom center front:

And here’s the preview of the embroideries that I’ve digitized from that collage. Again, the images are huge, but not as large as the ones above. Red lines indicate a) the center front and b), in some cases, where I have to change the hoop for the embroideries (remember, those are MACHINE embroideries!). Of course you’re free to compare those previews to the original, pieced collages above; and, in case you find apparently huge mistakes, I hope you’ll point them out to me.

Front side:

Center front:

And now on to actually embroidering that monster.

I’ll just post progress pictures that I took every few frames that I’ve embroidered:

Center front and parts of first side embroidered (fifth frame / 8 hours of work so far in this pic)

Second side being embroidered (eighth frame / 11 hours of work so far in this pic)

When I had embroidered 15 frames (which took 28 hours…) on the center front piece, I pinned the fabric to the dress mannequin with all the other pieces of the costume, just to see what it looks like… here’s the result:

You can see where the embroidery basically ‘stops’ at approximately mid front.
Also, collar turtleneck still missing; and the trims on the sleeves aren’t basted down yet, just pinned.
As I said – just to see what it looks like so far… and I like it

Here’s a closeup on the center front bottom embroidery up to that point (left); compared to an exhibit pic of the original Queen Jamillia gown (right) – click to see a larger version of the image:

There are a few spots where my embroidery isn’t precisely like the original embroideries, but I think I can live with that

And now… on to embroidering the last 8 frames of that front piece!

Embroidery FINISHED! And yes, I cried when the last stitch was made.

The panel of embroidered velvet draped on the dress mannequin

Note that I’ve edited the top of the embroideries last minute. I thought it would be nice to have the typical Naboo symbol in the embroideries, too; so I digitized that and included it in the design. Also, I added a ‘Queen Jamillia’, my name and the current year – 2012 – on top of the embroidered panel – in a Naboo font.
No one will ever see the Naboo symbol or the text. They’re both hidden by the beaded triangular piece. The symbol and text are just there for me; to “know” that they are there. Also, since it’s a Naboo font, probably no one would ever be able to read it anyway.

Spot the Naboo symbol! Hint: It’s almost at the center of this picture.
The text I mentioned is on top, to left and right of the center ‘heart’; embroidered in beige thread.

Here are some more pics of the completely finished embroidered underdress:

Front of the underdress. You can see the narrow undersleeves, made from crushed black taffeta, too.	Back of the underdress.

And now… on to the finished costume. Navigation for this part
of the page:

• Queen Jamillia, StarWars
• Planning
• Beading the front piece
• Overdress, sleeves & collar
• Embroidered underdress
• Finished costume

Queen Jamillia – the completed costume

I finished the Jamillia costume in two steps:

The first was a test run, taking place at the local Carnival (Karneval) in Recklinghausen, Germany. It wasn’t a planned test run. My son is a great fan of the 501st German Garrison and always wanted to see them in person. When I found out that they would have a place in the “Karnevalsumzug” (which is the German term for the carnival’s parade), I secretly decided that he should see them; particularly he had been working hard at school lately and improved all his grades.
Unfortunately, I only found out about them being there a few days before the carnival; so I only had very few time to finish the Jamillia dress and to make a remotely acceptable Darth Vader costume for my son.

In the end, neither the Jamillia nor the Vader costume were completely finished for the parade. My Jamillia had so many pins in it that I was scared that someone would hug me and kill him- or herself. The Vader costume was missing the chest armor, the codpiece, proper boots and the lining for the cloak; and the backside of the top suit was pretty crudely closed.

Yet and still, that first test run was more successful than I would ever have expected. We stopped counting the numbers of “Oh, Darth Vader!”, “Look, Star Wars!”, “AMIDALA!!!” (wtf?), “Luke, I’m your father!” and people humming the Star Wars anthem when we passed them by; also, we were photographed by approximately 200 people. My son almost broke into tears when I spotted the 501st and asked him, “Lord Vader, ready to meet your troops? There’s the 501st coming.” And we got some very positive “Thumbs up” by the 501st people; and one of them even left the parade for a minute or two and talked to me and my son.

The test run also showed me some things that I have to change / improve on the gown. For example, the black overdress has a tendency of slipping ‘backwards’, revealing way more of the white underdress than it should; so I have to add velcro or snaps to keep it in place. And my beaded front piece was constantly slipping to left or right on the dress, so I have to fix that in place, too. Also, the mother of pearl slices at the very top of the headdress are too high, I have to cut them down (and seriously didn’t notice this when making the headdress!)

Here are some pictures of what my son and me looked like. These were taken after the parade. My lipstick has started to run over my lower lip during the parade (that’s something I’ll have to fix somehow, too!). The “glow” on my collar isn’t photoshopped; it’s a raindrop on the camera lens – it started raining just in time after the parade. Also, in the side view, note my very dirty hem. My son managed to constantly step on that hem during the parade.

And just for the records… here’s my son’s Darth Vader costume. I made everything except the front of the face mask and the boots – he helped a lot, of course:

Step two was my son’s and my visit to the Movie Days 2012 in Mülheim, Germany (more pictures at this link); which happened to be just a week after the carnival.
During that week I made the announced changes; I tacked down the front of the black overdress to the white underdress so it won’t slip back all the time; I cut down the drum wrap parts of the headdress so the shape is correct and corrected the ‘too white’ color of the drum wrap by basically overpainting the pieces with transparent nail polish; I made a hairpiece so even THAT is correct now – and of course I washed the hems of over- and underdress because they were so dirty. Also, I made a matching handbag – and of course I finished my son’s Darth Vader costume

There is now just one thing left that I would like to change, and that’s the strings of pearls which hang down from the front sides of the headdress. The pearls are MUCH larger on the original headdress. I just need to hunt down properly sized and shaped pearls to do that (which isn’t as simple as it sounds!).

I only got to have one picture of myself taken with my own camera, but here it is:

Queen Jamillia – the finished costume

Here is the same picture, but with the lightning enhanced so you can see the details better:

Queen Jamillia – the finished costume; enhanced photo

Here’s a picture that was taken of me and Corra Sha’Atul in her Padmé Tattooine Disguise costume, which looks fabulous in person:

Me as Queen Jamillia and Corra Sha’Atul as Padmé at the Movie Days 2012

Another picture, showing the top of my costume – including the hairdo and headdress – from side / back; this one was taken by Crosathorian:

I think this was when I explained how LARGE and HEAVY and WORK INTENSE the Jamillia costume is, and how George Lucas seems to have made fun of it by NOT showing much of the embroidered underdress in the movie.
And yes, the ‘back fans’ of the hair are fake (strands of fake hair which I’ve sewn and glued to a base of craft foam). Just the braided parts at the very back of the head are my own, natural, waist-length hair. Also, I know that Jamillia’s hair in the movie is black wit brown streaks, while mine is more like completely dark strawberry blonde. After dyeing my hair black ONCE for a costume (and taking three years to grow that dye out again…), I don’t want to dye it again, so I went for my own hair color for the entire hairdo.

And here’s a funny one – taken by DangerDogs Tierfotografie – which I seriously consider the greatest pic taken at that convention – me and my son having fun:

The Empire strikes back! Just differently than you’d expect it to strike…

Hopefully, some of the other nice people who photographed me will send me some more so I can publish those, too (or at least link to them).

Here are some more pics of the completely finished costume:

I’ve also made a handbag to go with the dress
	The bag closes with a beaded frog closure.	In case you’re wondering what’s in the handbag: Besides my car keys, cigarettes, money, makeup I of course carry reference pictures with me, in case someone doesn’t know my costume so they can take a look and compare.
Then of course there’s the headdress, which I made from thick wire, covered with polymer clay and, in addition, drum wrap, then first painted black and after that wiped with metallic golden paint. Also, as already mentioned, I toned down the white drum wrap with nail polish:
	And yes, the single pieces DO fan out on the original headdress too.	Backside of the headdress.
Also, there’s the hairpiece. As also already described, I’ve sewn and glued strands of fake hair down on a base of craft foam, then sewn all of it together. You can also see the two hair clips which I’ve sewn to the hairpiece, which I use to attach it to my own hair.

Last not least, some links to other people who have reproduced the Queen Jamillia costume:

• Adrelia’s Jamillia; more pics here and here
• Lightning Count’s Jamillia 
• Reproductions listed on Padawansguide

If you, too, have made a Jamillia costume and want to be included in this list, please don’t hesitate to comment on this entry with a link to your website and I will surely add you!

In case you came here over a different link, please consider reading the entire dress diary starting here.

• Queen Jamillia, StarWars
• Planning
• Beading the front piece
• Overdress, sleeves & collar
• Embroidered underdress
• Finished costume

Like, for example, when I was planning my Jamillia costume, the one thing that kept me from even starting on it for a considerable time (from 2005 to 2012, to be precise!) was the considerable cost of abalone shells, which are required for the headdress and which are really, really expensive:

Any substitute I could think of didn’t work. Painting didn’t achieve the correct appearance. And anything else, well, I couldn’t THINK of anything else.

Until, at the very end of 2011, I happened upon a material called drum wrap. That’s what you see on fancy drums – you know – the glittering, shiny stuff drummers use to make their drum sets look extra fancy. Here’s a Google link to some images, in case you’re not familiar with it – you should REALLY have a look at that link since it shows a large variety of drum wrap designs.

Still reluctant if that stuff was even remotely suitable for my project, I ordered a strip of it that would be enough for the headdress and some tests.
I was positively surprised when it arrived!

Drum Wrap by Delmar in “White Ripple” – I ordered mine from STdrums, they offer pre-cut sizes so I was able to order just what I needed

That strip of drum wrap cost me just over $20, by the way.

I was a bit worried about how bendable it would be, if I would be able to cut it, and so on. No need to worry!

It’s about as thick as the the plastic that’s used for plastic yoghurt cups.

One of the people I talked to about the material when discovering it suspected that ‘it probably couldn’t be bent more than a foot or it would break’. Well, Dirk, I don’t know how thick your fingers are, but…..

Drum wrap bending – well, I can bend it around my finger.
That, by the way, is as much as it can be bent before getting a permanent crease.
And while my hands are large and my fingers are thick, they’re definitely not “a foot” thick, Dirk

But here’s the coolest thing…

...if using a strong needle and a slow speed, you can even SEW THROUGH the drum wrap.
(I only did four stitches to see if it would work, but yes, it DOES work!)

In other words, I’m totally sold on drum wrap, and am very much looking forward to make my Jamillia headdress using it.
I plan to do more tests – like, for example, how bendable / manipulable it becomes when heated up – and will publish the results here when I’m finished with them.

But for the moment, I can definitely say that drum wrap will be my future choice of material when looking for unusual material surfaces