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[Leira]

Hey y'all! Got a start on my soft pieces. I have a limited time before the next con so I'm trying to reduce time spent making where I can. Plan is to make the vest and armor removeable as one piece. I'm making a vest that uses Velcro around the belly and goes over the head like a poncho. I used my military armor vest as a guide to make the pattern.



I then cut out some iron on interfacing to give the fabric some strength to hold the armor.



I'm also going to order a long sleeve turtle neck for the under shirt. I was looking at these boots and pants on Amazon. I know the pockets need to be modified on the pants. The reason why I like these pants is because the rear pockets are interior and will look better than removing an exterior pocket. Any input would be welcomed!

[Veris Bralor]

I would maybe post those exact pants in the mandalorian Q&A. Can't tell you if they work because of the large front pocket opening and the side thigh pockets. Side thigh pockets like that are a grey area. The worry is that some side cargo pockets may not be very star warszy, or their placement might get in the way of thighs and knees.
Interested to see how the vest turns out, mine goes over my head and closes up both sides.

[Leira]

Side thigh pockets like that are a grey area. The worry is that some side cargo pockets may not be very star warszy, or their placement might get in the way of thighs and knees.

Thank you greatly for the feedback. I was looking at the 501st costume reference library and the Boba's all seem to have thigh pockets, although more on the front of the thigh than the side. I will certainly bring this up for clarification.

https://databank.501st.com/databank/Costuming:BH_Boba_Fett-RotJ

[Sabine]

Also important to keep in mind - to be approved your lightsuit has to give the appearance of being one piece. So you minimum need a short sleeve top to go over the turtleneck that matches the pants in fabric and color. Some people have the sewing knowledge to be able to make one from a couple pairs of pants, but I am not one.

[Leira]

Would I need an actual full shirt? I was thinking of cutting layers by adding short sleeves to the turtle neck in a similar fabric to the pants. When the kit is on, you wouldn't be able to tell there isn't a complete shirt.

[Veris Bralor]

Yes, Boba has thigh pockets... but they are distinctly on the front of his legs. That why I would ask about these specific side pockets.
It doesn't matter what your soft parts look like under the vest, waist items etc as long as things lie correctly and give the elusion of a full flightsuit.

[Sabine]

That style pocket has been rejected in the past I believe, but you can always double check with the ask the app team section. 

You technically wouldn't need a full shirt as it's covered by the flak vest - but similar fabric may not be enough. Certain judges look at both color, texture, how it lays... highly recommend you buy a second pair of pants and use those to add the sleeves to make sure.

Also consider your climate. If tote in the north like me, there's 6-8 month's where we want alllll the layers. Closer to the tropics it's probably a non issue.

[Leira]

After consideration, I'm changing the pants to scrubs. Walmart sells Scrubstar scrub sets that come in an acceptable fabric strength for attaching my armor. The pants pockets were sewn on top of the pant so removal looks like I'll just have to use a stitch removal tool.

As for the scrub shirt sleeves, I'm going to sew them onto my long sleeve shirt. It's the same fabric as the pants so it follows the rules without me having to wear an additional layer.

As for climate, I live in South Florida. If I could afford a liquid cooled suit like in Nascar, I would use it every day!

I found a clearance thin pleather material for my Kama and Twi'lek head band, and a fabric I could not pass up for a cape.

My vest is 90% done. I just need to attach the quarter sleeves and do some darting over the chest. Once I get this finished I will start on the chest armor.

Looks like all my weekends until Orlando MegaCon are busy!

[Leira]

Got another couple steps forward! I found Walmart sells Scrubstar scrubs and ordered a uniform. I picked up the pants this weekend and started ripping out pockets. As stated before, the pockets are just sewn on top of the base pant and were easy to remove and did not leave a huge mess.





I sewed the two halves of the vest together and had to dart the front for my chest. I sewed on the quarter sleeves that are required. I also put interfacing in the quarter sleeves to help hold up the weight of the metal armor. The vest comes off in one piece and I'll be adding an elastic belly band to hold the back in place and add Velcro to attach the front side to the back.





I decided I was not keeping the whole scrub shirt and cut it down after these photos. Please ignore the chalk marks and magnet clips.





I cut off as much shirt as I thought I could get away with. I did not want the turtle neck shirt to be visible from the vest sleeve cut out.

[Leira]

Small update. I got my pants tailored. I made my Kama and loin cloth. The Kama material is a pleather I'll be using to make my headpiece covering and possibly the belt. I ordered a holster and when I get that I'll make a decision on that. The loincloth is scraps from my cape, it should hang nicely. Took pictures of the longsleeve shirt, scrubs, and my vest on. I also got in my boots and gloves. Any advice is welcomed!

[Kol Varek]

Looks like you're making great progress so far!

[Leira]

Update on my soft parts. I've slowed down the progression since MegaCon Orlando was pushed back twice. As always an optimist, I'm excited it's Halloween weekend so that gives me time to fix some things I was not happy with. I have been working on 5 costume projects at once and between glue drying, Rage filler sanding, and waiting for Amazon, it looks like I'm not getting much done but everything's moving forward. I sewed my Kama onto my belt which was more of a project trying to get someone over to help make sure they were level and even. The big part was mounting my armor to my flak vest! I'm stoked for this!

I used packing tape to line up and chalk the out line where everything goes. It may be rudimentary but this is how I figured it out. I had already glued magnets to the back side of the armor so I cut out a bunch of small pocket squares to put on the vest. I sewed 3 of the 4 sides and left the pockets big enough for the magnets to move around during adjustment. After I got the placement chalked, I left the armor on and flipped it inside out and marked where the magnets were. I hand stitched the magnets to stay in that place so they don't move any more.




I also sewed the Kama onto my belt. When it's on me you don't see the loincloth peeking up over the top edge. I think I'll be making a different belt. I'm going to be checking out other designs on the site today to get some inspiration. The loin cloth is the same material as my cape so there's some consistency across pieces. The Kama are the same pleather as my Twi'lek head cover for the same reason.



As always, input is appreciated!

[Kol Varek]

Solid looking belt! Just remember, you'll need a second belt as well for approval!

[Leira]

Hey y'all!

I've been working on my Twi'lek head cover and finally got it together and put on my helmet. This the first time I put it all together. The helmets not finished but you can check out the thread on my stainless steel kit.

I started out using my old head piece as a template. I decided to add some more straps to it to apparently make my life harder  Seriously though, Twi'lek like to decorate their Lekku so I wanted to add some character.

I used foam to give the pleather some thickness. This is the same pleather I used for my kama for consistency across pieces.




I then wrapped the foam in the pleather and hot glued it on. That was not a good idea as it turns out. The pleather crinkled and did not make for smooth pieces. I added doorbell wire to the edges before hot gluing.



You can see the difference the most in the loops around the Lekku. The piece on the left did not have doorbell wire.





I got the Lekku wrap and front cover finished first.



I went through a few iterations for the crossed straps before I committed to the design. It took some finagling. The doorbell wire was not a good choice for the straps that go to the Lekku wrap, so I remade them. Eventually, I figured out a way to do it with velcro. I can wear the front cover alone if I choose to and all the straps are separate so I can redesign easier.






Now, to see if it all fits under my helmet! Super excited about it. There's something special, I'm sure a lot of you know, when you put on your bucket and it wears like a helmet and not a 5 gallon bobble bucket 






The only thing I can see that definitely needs changing are the 2 Lekku wraps. There is a gap in the top so I'm going to re-do those.

[Kol Varek]

Very nice!