How to Make Star Wars Costumes

Learning how to make Star Wars costumes may be less difficult than you might think, depending upon which character you want to represent. Because the costumes remain some of the most popular movie costumes to replicate, there are no end of patterns and advice available online and in costume shops.

From the first Halloween after the release of the first Star Wars movie in 1977, children of all ages wanted to dress as their favorite character. The lived-in, rough and tumble quality of the first movie made costumes easy for non-sewing professionals to put together, because you mostly just needed some ingenuity.

That's the lesson that still holds for making Star Wars costumes – ingenuity. That combined with patience, is most of what you need to be able to make most of the costumes in which you're interested.

Whether you are a professional sewer or have never touched a needle, the first thing you need are a series of quality images from the film where the costume appears. This being the Star Wars galaxy, finding images is absurdly easy. You can start with Google Images, but there are fan sites galore with all the pictures you want, in addition to an array of books – never mind the abundance of DVDs.

You'll make the search for images a lot easier if you already know more or less what costume you're interested in. There are hundreds of sites devoted to Princess Leia's gold bikini, for example, so that narrows things down. The Cosplay universe also got very excited about Padma's costumes, particularly in the first two movies in which she appears, and there are many sites devoted to them.

While it's fun to know how to make Star Wars costumes that are elaborate, sometimes the simplest costumes are the most effective. By far, the costumes that require much less time and effort, as well as sewing ability, are found in the original films, especially the first. Storm Troopers and Darth Vader can be tricky, and C-3PO and R2-D2 are virtually impossible to replicate without being able to weld, but you can create a nice group costume consisting of:

• Luke
• Leia
• Han Solo
• Obi-Wan Kenobi

Chewbacca should be a part of this group as well, although there again, this is a slightly more difficult costume to manage if you don't sew professionally. The basic elements of the human costumes can be found in thrift shops or made out of old sheets and muslin. Leia's dress through most of the first movie is one of the easiest to replicate and preferred by parents of younger girls, as its modesty renders it child-appropriate. Her famous "fuzzy earmuffs" can be contrived with hair extensions or a long wig. Han Solo only needs black trousers, boots, a long-sleeved white open-neck T-shirt and a black vest to be recognizable. Luke can wear white trousers, boots, and a white belted tunic. Obi-Wan's costume is most recognizable if he has a long brown cloak.

If you want to know how to make Star Wars costumes that are a bit more exact, it helps to have good patterns. Vintage patterns can be found on eBay, and Simplicity put out a new set of patterns that comprise costumes from the original films and the prequels. You can find some individual patterns on blogs such as Wookiee Hut and if you are all about the costumes in the prequels, you can find everything you need and more at Padawans Guide.

Props are a crucial element of good Star Wars costumes – Han Solo just isn't himself without his blaster by his side, neither can Obi-Wan or Luke in the later films be without a light saber. You can buy props that look more or less authentic, but if you are making your costume, you should make the props as well. For all the help you need, visit TK409…and may the force be with you!

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