So it's with that same hope that I'm embarking on a journey to create Jyn Erso's costume from Rogue One: A Story Wars Story. I've been lurking in the RPF thread about Jyn's costume, but I haven't really said much. Mostly I'm just information gathering and silently sending jealous waves of awe across the internet to people whose work I admire. I know that my time is now limited because every time I wanted to start costuming, something else in real life would happen. So now I'm sitting here with a little over a month to put something together and a lot of weekends which are filling up with family and friend stuff. I'm kind of to the point mentally where if I focus on just one thing beyond what it is I'm doing, it compounds into a hundred things, and I freak out.
So - since my hobby should be fun and not cause me too much stress - we're going with a goal of "good enough" accuracy. That being said, there are things I want to try to incorporate, and if I can, I will. I also decided that - with my time constraints - my best bet would be to create costume pieces from existing items found in the great Thrift Store of Awesome and the eBay Galaxy of Gloriousness. I'll run through what I have, where I am with it, and what my plan is. If you can call it a "plan".
Green Jacket
Located at the Thrift Store of Awesome. The first thing I bought and the first thing I started working one. Plus, it's probably one of my favorite parts of this entire costume. Jyn's green Rebellion jacket that she wears as part of her outfit on Jedha just really felt like "me". You don't even get to see this jacket at the end of the movie, but I absolutely love it. Not sure why because there's really nothing special about an army green jacket with blood stripes down the sleeves, but I'm weird like that.
I picked up a green military-esque jacket that was a little big for me, and I set to work ripping off the pockets, pinning up the back shoulders to bring it in a bit, and pinning the collar to get a stand-up effect. Finding thread to match this fabric was more difficult than it should have been, but I have thread now and things that need stitching back up. Once the stitching is complete on these items, I plan to figure out where to hem the length (if at all), add the decorative top-stitching to the collar and lower band, and maybe add a zipper - for kicks. Because I'm cruel to myself like that.
Lastly, I really want to put those stripes up the side. The actual garment appears to have stripes that are screen printed with puff paint. I know nothing of screen printing, and the only puff paint I have a history with is the kind that I used to make a fan t-shirt for a Backstreet Boys concert (yes, you can make fun of me; I won't cry). So after some research online and determining that I didn't really want to spend a lot of money on real screen printing stuff, I took my trusty coupons to JoAnn's and picked up three colors of acrylic paint and a big ol' tube of white "Puffy" paint. I have no idea what this will make. The correct answer is probably "a mess". The answer I'm hoping for is "awesome stripes".
Jacket: maybe $3.50
Thread: $1.07
Zippers: $6.90 (because I couldn't decide and bought 2 with the intention of using them in the future)
Paint: $6.83 (with definite re-usability on the acrylic colors, but maybe not so much on the $2 Puffy paint)
Pants
Located at the Thrift Store of Awesome. I picked up a slightly-too-large-in-the-waist pair of stretch twill black pants (with the widest legs you've ever seen). This might not have been my best choice because when I sat down with the intention on trying to figure out how to taper the legs, add front seams and back seams to both legs, and figure out how to add pin tuck details to the lower leg, I freaked out. I just kept pinning things and unpinning them and telling myself I was horrible and no good at this. Until finally, I ended up sitting in my basement with my legs out in front of me, donning the in-side out confusedly pinned pants, and thinking, "What the hell do I think I'm doing? And how do I get up off the floor now?"
In the meantime, I have given up on the pants, and I set those aside so I could think. I've watched some tutorials on tailoring pants now, and I have a rough sketch in mind of how I'd like to proceed. But I'm waiting for a better brain day so we don't have a repeat episode of last time.
I did pick up some "good enough" buckles when I was at Hobby Lobby this week because all of their sewing notions were half-off. Woohoo for sales!
Pants: maybe $2.50
Buckles: maybe $1.50
Gloves
I didn't want to spend $50+ on screen accurate gloves that would have required additional work and leather dyeing (things I haven't done before), so I took to the eBay Galaxy of Gloriousness. Considering I have what seem like grotesquely sized hands when you're shopping for women's gloves, I finally landed on a pair of vintage brown leather gloves, well-worn, made in Italy, size 8. Some stains on the gloves, but hey - that's what I want, right! They had a "best offer" deal going on, so I threw in an offer and was accepted by the seller.
These things are awesome. They fit, which is great. The leather is thin but definitely seems to hold up, so it won't feel as bulky to me as the screen accurate gloves. I felt awful at first about cutting up vintage Italian leather gloves, but I justified my actions to myself by saying that they were well-worn already and smelled of old lady perfume. So I started cutting off the finger tips, and then I took a seam ripper to rip out the vintage silk lining. It took some time and patient cutting to get the gloves down to the acceptable "height" in the fingers for me, and then I used one gloves as a pattern to match the other.
I'm currently in the process of restitching the seams so that they don't fall apart at the fingers. I have two fingers left to go, and then I can move on to shortening the gloves and using that extra leather to add the wrist strap. I'm so happy with these, and they aren't even done.
Gloves: $8.75
Vest
This is a hard one for me to count costs on because I bought material to make a vest. Jyn's vest is cotton in the back and nylon in the front, so I ended up with some quilting cotton and two different types of nylon. But then time started slipping away and the calendar started filling up, and I freaked out So I'm not going to include that cost in my analysis right now
After my freak out session, I took a trip to the eBay Galaxy of Gloriousness which made it all better once again. I ended up finding a vest that looked about right to me, not too puffy, and a "best offer" deal on it. It had some stitching that was coming undone, but the seller was honest about it. Otherwise, the thing looks pretty darned good. And since I'd like to replace the stitching, that's fine by me. Plus, I can pass it off as "battle damaged", so who cares about defects?! The only thing that might cause me issue is that it's listed as "tan". I didn't really realize that until after I put in my offers, so we'll see what happens. Apparently, you can dye nylon; I did some research on it at lunch today. But then again, I might decide "good enough" and just go with it.
I would like to add new pockets, webbing, and maybe some of the contrast stitching. Maybe even add the little floss tied quilting puffs in the back (which would be something new I've never done). But again, if this stuff doesn't get done, I'm not going to be sad.
Vest: $7.00
Belt
While it's no where near accurate, I'm actually thinking about using my gun belt from my Lara Croft costume. It has the same leg wrap, and it's brown. Good enough! If I have time or patience, maybe I'll dig into something else later.
Belt: free
Boots
I think I'm going to reuse the Lara Croft boots for this as well. They're the perfect height and color. I doubt that I'll have time or resources to make the boot cover patches, though. But in the meantime, I'm going to consider this one done.
Boots: free
Scarf
This is another one of those pieces that you don't see later on in the movie, but she does wear the item on Jedha. And honestly, I just love scarves, so I really want to make this piece. I've been searching for fabric for a couple of weeks now, though, with no luck. So this is still up in the air.
Shirt
I really would love to create the shirt with the little collar flap that Jyn wears, but again, I'm having a hard time color-matching fabric. I might end up going with a gray "good enough" 3/4 sleeve shirt, but I haven't located a possible one just yet.
Gun
This one I'm stuck on. I've done so much research that my head is spinning. I could build one, but I need a model Luger airsoft gun. Plus, it's a matter of "con safe", and I want to be as mindful of that as possible. I could buy a 3D printed one, but I'd more than likely have to paint it and assemble it. The next money step up is buying one that's printed, assembled, and painted. I'm weighing my options. Part of me kind of just wants to mix my fandoms and carry a banana.
As of right now, that's the big stuff I can come up with. There are other little pieces and parts (comlink, ID tag, etc.), but I'm not really in a mind to think of that right now. Plus now I'm just laughing because River Song is pointing a banana at the Doctor. Life is ridiculous like that.
Until next time, stay shiny!
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