I'm so excited to share my pattern for Leia, Princess on Lothal! Please let me know if you notice any errors with the pattern as this was my first time digitizing with a new process!
Many of the designs from Star Wars Rebels draw from Ralph McQuarrie's concept art. (For more: https://www.starwars.com/news/original-trilogy-star-wars-rebels ) Above, you can see the concept art on the far left and Leia's ensemble in the Rebels episode, A Princess on Lothal (Season 2, Episode 12) in the middle.
I've found my new favorite legging pattern - Jalie 3887 Clara. To start, it doesn't have a seam center front! With the animated stuff not being limited by the reality of needing actual seams, it's always nice to find something that actually works in real life to limit seams! And its a really simple pattern. This is a high waisted legging pattern. I found that the grey showed through the off white fabric too much, so once the top was done I lowered the waist so it fell within the grey of the belt area. I will likely add a few snaps or hook and eyes to the back and sides to keep the pieces together if I end up bending over or kneeling a lot, although the belt helps keep everything in place.
I drew the pattern on a really close-fitting top, cut it apart (after adding tons of alignment marks for those curves) and traced it. I added 1/4 inch seam allowances. Initially, I tried to go without shoulder seams, as I thought I would rather have side seams than shoulder seams. However, I could not get the arm area to lie flat or fit closely, which was more distracting than a regular arm hold seam. I ended up with no side torso seam, but an armhole sleeve. I used the sleeve from the Jalie 3135 Skinsuit for my sleeve, so it is not included in the pattern. I HIGHLY recommend the pattern for all your bodysuit needs, however! I used it to make a jumpsuit to wear under my TK armor when I found that the leggings and shirt weren't staying in place to my satisfaction. I also added a pocket to keep my cell phone, which I use for my TK voice changer. If you're not able to purchase the pattern, you could try another tight-fitting sleeve meant for stretchy fabric, or possibly the sleeve from my Holdo pattern.
I got some secondhand boots off of eBay and painted them with leather paint. They were originally black so it took a lot of layers! The leather for the belt was left over from another project. I painted that with the same color leather paint as the boots. The overlapping parts enabled me to use a smaller piece of leather since I did not need one continuous strip to go all the way around my hips. I used plenty of velcro on the center front of the belt, behind the leather and on top of the leather attached to the center front belt piece to close the belt.
I used some of the brown paint from a set of
Leather paint supplies (I earn a small commission if you buy from these affiliate links, which helps partially fund the software and online hosting subscriptions that enable me to share my patterns and tutorials) :
I used a skinny black hair elastic fed through two small holes and secured with a safety pin to make my comlink float securely on the belt. The box was from a usb battery I had ordered to power my TK helmet fans. I painted it silver and used Chicago screws to attach it.
For the metal pieces, I used a sheet of aluminum I had left over from my senatorial belt. It cuts surprisingly easily. I sandwiched a piece of foam mat between two pieces of the aluminum for the chest box. I spray painted all the aluminum pieces with silver spray paint.
I used magnets from this set in a couple places, most importantly to hold the hair bun on to the back of my head. I found it was much easier to wig clip (I used clips similar to these) and bobby pin on a fabric base with embedded magnets than it was to try to secure the actual bun. Once the base is attached, the bun magnets into place. I also used two small magnets to hold the hair clip to a bobby pin. The hair was actually Kanekelon left over from my Fireside Padme build! I cut apart two big bun donuts as you can see in the photo tutorial I included at the end.
And here's a photo tutorial of how I did the hair -
https://jeneyrecosplay.smugmug.com/Star-Wars/Lothal-Leia/Lothal-Leia-Hair-tutorial/
Many of the designs from Star Wars Rebels draw from Ralph McQuarrie's concept art. (For more: https://www.starwars.com/news/original-trilogy-star-wars-rebels ) Above, you can see the concept art on the far left and Leia's ensemble in the Rebels episode, A Princess on Lothal (Season 2, Episode 12) in the middle.
I've found my new favorite legging pattern - Jalie 3887 Clara. To start, it doesn't have a seam center front! With the animated stuff not being limited by the reality of needing actual seams, it's always nice to find something that actually works in real life to limit seams! And its a really simple pattern. This is a high waisted legging pattern. I found that the grey showed through the off white fabric too much, so once the top was done I lowered the waist so it fell within the grey of the belt area. I will likely add a few snaps or hook and eyes to the back and sides to keep the pieces together if I end up bending over or kneeling a lot, although the belt helps keep everything in place.
I drew the pattern on a really close-fitting top, cut it apart (after adding tons of alignment marks for those curves) and traced it. I added 1/4 inch seam allowances. Initially, I tried to go without shoulder seams, as I thought I would rather have side seams than shoulder seams. However, I could not get the arm area to lie flat or fit closely, which was more distracting than a regular arm hold seam. I ended up with no side torso seam, but an armhole sleeve. I used the sleeve from the Jalie 3135 Skinsuit for my sleeve, so it is not included in the pattern. I HIGHLY recommend the pattern for all your bodysuit needs, however! I used it to make a jumpsuit to wear under my TK armor when I found that the leggings and shirt weren't staying in place to my satisfaction. I also added a pocket to keep my cell phone, which I use for my TK voice changer. If you're not able to purchase the pattern, you could try another tight-fitting sleeve meant for stretchy fabric, or possibly the sleeve from my Holdo pattern.
I got some secondhand boots off of eBay and painted them with leather paint. They were originally black so it took a lot of layers! The leather for the belt was left over from another project. I painted that with the same color leather paint as the boots. The overlapping parts enabled me to use a smaller piece of leather since I did not need one continuous strip to go all the way around my hips. I used plenty of velcro on the center front of the belt, behind the leather and on top of the leather attached to the center front belt piece to close the belt.
I used some of the brown paint from a set of
Leather paint supplies (I earn a small commission if you buy from these affiliate links, which helps partially fund the software and online hosting subscriptions that enable me to share my patterns and tutorials) :
- Angelus Leather Preparer & Deglazer 5 Oz
- Angelus Leather Paint Set of 12 1 Oz (I used the brown to tint the white off-white and the black for the toe lines on the boots. I also used this paint for my Hoth boots!)
- Angelus Leather Paint 4 Oz Flat White
- Angelus Brand Acrylic Leather Paint Matte Finisher
I used a skinny black hair elastic fed through two small holes and secured with a safety pin to make my comlink float securely on the belt. The box was from a usb battery I had ordered to power my TK helmet fans. I painted it silver and used Chicago screws to attach it.
For the metal pieces, I used a sheet of aluminum I had left over from my senatorial belt. It cuts surprisingly easily. I sandwiched a piece of foam mat between two pieces of the aluminum for the chest box. I spray painted all the aluminum pieces with silver spray paint.
I used magnets from this set in a couple places, most importantly to hold the hair bun on to the back of my head. I found it was much easier to wig clip (I used clips similar to these) and bobby pin on a fabric base with embedded magnets than it was to try to secure the actual bun. Once the base is attached, the bun magnets into place. I also used two small magnets to hold the hair clip to a bobby pin. The hair was actually Kanekelon left over from my Fireside Padme build! I cut apart two big bun donuts as you can see in the photo tutorial I included at the end.
And here's a photo tutorial of how I did the hair -
https://jeneyrecosplay.smugmug.com/Star-Wars/Lothal-Leia/Lothal-Leia-Hair-tutorial/