This is a custom job for a happy repeat customer. We have lots of time to work on it, so every detail is being studied and recreated….it looks simple, but is more time consuming and fickle than even the Leia gold bikini!!
My customer, Megan, is making the brooch herself along with the draped pearls, so all I have to do is make a loose dress that will fit a faux preggo lady, right? then attach her brooch? ….NOT SO EASY… this is the tutorial for the dress only…
MATERIALS:
10+ yards silk or silky satin with a good drape to be used on the bias
5+ packages of nude binding tape
several spools of matching or slightly different thread for embroidery
sewing machine thread to match fabric
binding tape to match dress fabric
dress form stuffed to be pregnant and at your measurements
Matching zipper
elastic
snaps and or hook eyes (not sure how it is all going to come together yet….)
MONTHS
This outfit is so detailed that each seam took me about 2 hours to finish. …
STEP 1: Build out your mannequins belly with a pillow..stuffing, anything under a tight wrapping. Panty hose work great. A tiny tank top is what I used. This is doable without a mannequin, but is hard to get the drape right on yourself with a belly.
STEP 2: Pattern using muslin or large scraps. I use the padawans guide as a reference for almost all of my SW costumes. There you find that there is a center seam with 4 panels radiating out and then the side seams. The back panels have a zipper which is hidden by the waterfall cape. Here are most of my front panels on the mannequin. I really wanted a full look, like the original, which I had not really seen redone.). I used large triangles of muslin, then draped and pinned them till I was satisfied.
How to make padme amidala’s steel lavender nightgown
Step 3: Cut your panels. On the bias, this took me the full 10 yards of fabric I had ordered! To get this great drape, you have to place each pattern piece not up and down, but at a 45 degree angle. Leave extra at the back piece …this is where you can alter easily.
Step 4. Cut the waterfall cape. I chose to do it double sided. 60″ crepe satin and 60″ long. This should be altered for the height of the wearer. It was the max of their wrist to wrist….
Step 5: Begin to assemble the front pieces. Make sure your patterns are correct because you have 7 full length seams to either join together by pressing seams and hand faggotting a loose hand stitched seam or pressing seams and spending only a few less hours doing it by a machine that will do it for you …but you have to feed it perfectly correctly….sometimes I might rather spend that hour sewing by hand…..What I did was press the seams, then sew the nude binding to one side, then to the other, then went down with the blue embroidery over, giving the look of a nude undergarment with the overlaying embroidery. I have heard that to do the separate nude lining and do a true faggoting hand stitch on the exterior results in alot of unwanted movement, so I avoided this.
faggoting stitch by pfatt
Step 6: Once it was pieced together, I draped it again on the stuffed mannequin to make the back zip and strap placement. The back zip was easy, but with the straps, the padawan’s guide REALLY helped. Here is a pic of mine, based on the diagram on the site:
Step 7: From here, it was fit, so all I needed to do was face the top, hem the bottom and attach the brooch and pearl strands.
Step 8: Then the final piece was the cape. I tried hook and loops, but ended up using snaps to attach it to the neck piece. To make the waterfall drape with hanging beads, I pulled it together at around or below the hip, and attached matching silverish pearls, then again near the calf. With the shape I started from and this combo, I think I got pretty close to the original…
Sorry it won’t let me turn my images right now.
Finally, here it is …I still have to tack up the pearls along the breast, but for this blog, it’s done!!!
I will try to get back to this and fix the pictures, but really mean this to be an aid for people wanting to make it themselves. For anyone interested in purchasing one, please email me directly at miala.net ( at) gmail.com, it is available by custom order and will run 350-400$.
Happy sewing and hope I was a help!!!!!
Here is the update, with the customer wearing it!
Custom made Blue Pregnant Nightgown by miala.net
MiaLa costuming blog 