Friday, April 13, 2012

L is for Leia

Just because I can, I'm going to start this post off with a little ditty I wrote last Christmas.

*clears throat* (set to the tune of "My Favorite Things" from Sound of Music)

Star Trek and Star Wars and X-Files and Buffy!
Scoundrelish space pirates that are so scruffy!
Fourteen straight hours of Lord of the Rings!
These are a few of my favorite things!

Twelve graphic t-shirts with Doctor Who's faces!
One Steampunk costume with corset and laces!
Three trips to Comic-Con ending in flings!
These are a few of my favorite things!

 Old NES games and new Harry Potter!
The general awesome of Darth Vader's daughter!
The moment I found out that Zac Levi sings!
These are a few of my favorite things!

When they cancel my TV show I get really mad!
But then I remember my favorite things, and then...

...well, you know the rest. I would hope. ;-)

But let's talk specifically about that 'general awesome of Darth Vader's daughter' part, shall we?

Again, I don't think I really need to do much in the way of introducing Princess Leia of Alderaan. Nor can it be contested that these babies constitute her most famous hairstyle:

 



My personal favorite, however, was always this one:




As such, if ever I decided to do a Princess Leia costume, I would go with the Bespin outfit from The Empire Strikes Back.




I know, I know. More embroidery.

I'm not going to do any exhaustive research or thought processes of how to make this, mostly because there are quite a number of existing sources already out there. Just Google "Princess Leia Bespin Costumes" and I see three links to write-ups people have already done on the subject on the first page alone. It's brown. It's grey. It's quilted in places. The biggest decision, in my opinion, is how accurate and exhaustive you want to be on the jacket detail, and then what method you'd like to use to capture it. In this case, I would probably go with fabric paint.

Which means I'd need to figure out how to use it first.

But look, I can already sort of do the hair!

 (This was my effort do do something for 'Star Wars Day' at Comic Con in 2010)

In lieu of actual pattern or fabric suggestions, I present a highly entertaining link to one of my favorite blog entries of all time: Mythbusting Princess Leia's Hair which says (with more eloquence and detail) everything I always wanted to express after people said "You have long hair! You can do Princess Leia buns!"

No, I really can't. Not screen-accurate ones, anyway. LOL

13 comments:

  1. You had me at Leia... I liked your song, but I didn't know how to sing it right...

    Liberating... to the challenge "L" is for Luxurious Post!
    Jeremy [Retro-Zombie]
    A to Z Co-Host
    My New Book:
    Retro-Zombie: Art and Words

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    1. It goes to the tune of "My Favorite Things" from the Sound of Music. It's pretty popular, but I'd believe you if you said you'd never heard it, too.

      Happy A-Z!

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  2. You had me at Rapunzel, and then everything else here was extra icing on the cake. I love Cosplay and anime, but my blog is mostly writing stuff though.

    I do have a website with a few of my projects because I do custom sewing when I'm not writing. (www.fantasyevolveddesigns.com most of the pictures are on the Gallery page)

    Star Wars costumes are my favorite. I'm currently working on another Amidala lake dress for Star Wars Weekend at Disney World in a few months--yeah, that's how long it takes me to work on my own personal projects.

    So excited to have found your blog!

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    1. Welcome! I find the number of writing blogs out there to be quite staggering, all saying the same helpful things in various, creative ways. I just couldn't think of a niche to do one of my own. Obviously, there are a plethora of sewing blogs out there too, but centering it around cosplay gives me a direction for blogging.

      I hear you on the "months" thing. That's my basic turnaround time right now, as well, though I think I've got a basic enough skill set that I can narrow that down to "weeks" for straightforward projects.

      I browsed your website. Your work is really beautiful. You've worked with a wider range of fabrics and techniques than I have, so far. Always something new to learn!

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  3. Bespin Leia >>>> ANH Leia. So much. I want to do this.

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    1. I always liked the costume for its believability yet "alien-ness" if that makes sense.

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  4. Your song is awesome! I actually sang along. Teehee. And I totally agree about that hairstyle. I never cared for those buns.

    I'm a new follower via the A to Z.

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    1. Welcome! I'm so glad you found me. And for the compliment--I am perhaps inordinately fond of that song.

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  5. I'm pretty sure Leia has socks stuffed on the side of her head--it's like the intergalactic version of that sock bun hairstyle that's so popular on Pinterest right now.

    There's a book that just came out called "Knits for Nerds". If I ever have a reason to make a Princess Leia costume, I'd go for the New Hope buns look (just because it's the most recognizable--after the Halloween party where no one knew I was Eowyn, I've learned my lesson). This book just happens to have a hat you can knit that has the buns on the side of the head, so that's how I'd get the look! My hair's pretty long, but it's also pretty fine, so I think I'd be able to manage a 3" nub on the side of my head at best with it. No good.

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    1. Hahaha, I saw a picture of knitted Leia buns when I was doing my image search! Too funny.

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  6. Since no one else pointed it out, you actually said "Doctor Who's daughter" in the song... Is that supposed to be right?

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