Padmé's Dune Dress

8.7.04
As of today, almost all of my materials for this last minute Dragon*Con costume. I ordered six yards of knit fabric from Dharma Trading and bought silver fabric paint to make the designs on the cape. The only things I have left to purchase are rhinestones for the decoration on the front of the skirt.

8.15.04
I worked on my costume for most of the day today and got a lot done! All of the costume pieces are cut out. The only thing I'm using a pattern for is the shirt (McCalls 4384, view E). The only thing that really bothers me about this are the ties. They are really abnormally long for a wrap top. It's okay though - they'll be covered by the cape. Here's a picture of the shirt all sewn together (except for the sleeves):

I did hit a few snags today. First, I ran out of thread. Basically, I was using my "Coats and Clark" thread on my new machine, but it kept snagging, getting caught, and breaking. I found half a spool of Gutterman, which worked beautifully, but now I'm all out. Next time I go to the fabric store I need to buy: thread, rhinestones for the belt piece, another bottle of silver paint (maybe). I also took another picture of all of the costume pieces pinned to my dress form:

8.21.04
Last night and today I have finished everything except the designs on the cape and the beaded decoration on the skirt. The hardest thing was probably the neckline of the shirt - I had to gather the hood, then get it, the neck facing, the cape, and the actual shirt lined up and pinned so that when sewn together, the raw edges would all be on the inside in between the facing and the shirt. The belt and sash on the skirt are pretty neat, in my opinion. I gathered both the belt and the sash and sewed it so the raw edges were on the inside inbetween the belt and the skirt. The gathering makes it look a lot like the original. Earlier I started painting the designs on the cape with a stencil I made. Here's a picture:

8.25.04
It's finally finished!! I was going to hold out until I got some beads for the front decoration, but I ended up just making some beaded fringe out of silver beads I already had. I doubt I'll be able to get to a fabric store to buy more stuff before Dragon*Con. Just a note: my dress fits me better than it fits the dress form.