Princess Leia – Star Wars (Medieval-inspired variation)
Made for: Dragon Con 2017
Background: I thought this would be a fun mash-up.
Journal Entries: Read more at my MedievalLeia tag
Patterns Used: McCalls’s M5155 (dress portion), Simplicity 9891 (cowl neck and sleeves).
So this costume was a little idea I’d gotten while looking through houppelande images for a different costume (that I still haven’t done). I thought it would be a quick, fun little project for Dragon Con. Not trying to be historically accurate or anything!
Dress: I used a white cotton/linen blend fabric from Dharma Trading that I really liked; it was really great to work with (though it wrinkles like crazy, as you can imagine)! I had the two above patterns in my stash, and the cowl neck from 9891 fit easily onto 5155 – so I was able to tape the pattern pieces together to cut out the whole piece in one go.
I do wish that I’d been able to get a little more width in the body of the dress, and a little more fullness/length in the sleeves, but I ran out of fabric! (Nothing but scraps left of the 10 yds I bought!). At the very least – it ended up being much longer than I expected, but I always love a good train so no problems for me there š
For the fitted sleeves I added an outer layer of the white netting I’d bought for the bun covers, since I had enough leftover.
Headgear: I wanted to do a simple silver crown with a white veil attached at the back – I headed to the craft store to see if I could find something to use as a tiara base, and found a pack of 3 silver headbands. I joined these 3 together, sewing them to an interior headband to keep them steady in the back, and added some rectangular beads I had in my stash. I really like how it came out. The veil fabric was some I had leftover, I just hemmed the edges and then sewed it into place on the back of the crown.
The bun covers I made out of some white netting (with sequins!) – I used a dinner plate as a pattern to cut out the round shapes, then hemmed the edges and threaded some elastic through the channel left by the hem. Pretty quick and simple.
Etc: I bought this silver/white ribbon on etsy, and sewed it down to a scrap piece of belting so it would maintain its shape. It closes with a hook and eye at the back. Since I had so much of the ribbon leftover, I added some length draped down the back.
The necklace is the same necklace I used for my Disneybound Leia – I just put it on a different necklace and added some silver beads around it. I ended up using my “Ever After” shoes just because they’re sparkly and fun (and comfy).
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Please note that none of these costumes are for sale! This is my personal portfolio. Thanks!