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Art Post: Piper Designs (SunDowner)

Blog, my art, sundowner

Art Post: Piper Designs (SunDowner)

May 16, 2002 /

Piper’s various looks…

art old sundowner

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My Costume History Day 95: Princess Leia’s Boushh

My Costume History Day 95: Princess Leia’s Boushh disguise from Star Wars, for Dragoncon 2007

I was not planning to do Boushh in 2007. I figured it would be the last Leia I did. But Chase came across someone selling the stuff they’d collected to make a Boushh, basically an entire unfinished kit... and we decided why not. We bought it and got to work.

Chase did all of the “hard parts” - assembling the helmet, the shoulder armor, backpiece, assembling the bandolier. I focused on the soft parts. I made the tunic out of suede, the undershirt is built around t-shirt - I added the suede neck panel to it. Made the gauntlets out of suede with the spikes added. The gloves were vintage that I bought online and dyed. The boots I had, I covered them in some faux suede I culled from some pillow cases, and made the uppers out of the same faux suede with batting on the inside and cotton lining to get the quilted look.

The pants were a pain - the leather I got for them had the look I wanted, but it was SUPER thick. I broke so many needles getting these things made LOL. The knee section of the pants was my favourite part - I really wanted to get that part right, because I just really liked that texture.

I debuted it at Dragoncon 07, wore it in the parade, which was a CHOICE. I didn’t realize how sweaty I was until I took it off LOL And then I never wore it again. So serious. All that work and money to wear it once.

But part of the reason for that is that not long after, I traded my finished helmet for a Master Replicas thermal detonator. Chase wanted to upgrade my helmet anyway, so seemed like a good deal. So here I was for years with no helmet but I did have a cool thermal detonator LOL. I did do a white backdrop shoot of it in 2012/2013 with no helmet so I had some more pics.

In 2017 we finally bought a new helmet kit - which has sat unfinished in my closet ever since. But the helmet saga is not over, because in 2024 I got the RS Propmasters Boushh helmet. It is GORGEOUS. I finally got to do a proper white backdrop shoot WITH a helmet at long last - and now I need to start updating the rest of it. Got a lot to do and I’ll be doing it in bits and pieces as I can!

My Costume History Day 94: Princess Leia’s Endor G

My Costume History Day 94: Princess Leia’s Endor Gear from Star Wars, for Dragoncon 2007

Next in my mission to make all of Leia’s costumes, it was time to update my rebel briefing room Leia uniform to include the Endor Gear.

First thing I did was I wanted to update some of the uniform underneath. I hated the pants, so I replaced them with new, softer, better fitting pants I made out of a stretch knit. Also made a belt and Chase made a new holster and pouch for it for me.

The helmet was 2 parts - the “donut” section was from a run on the RL forums. Chase painted and weathered it for me. The interior fitted helmet is a vintage flying helmet - I made the quilted section for the top out of some khaki cotton, and made the bill out the same cotton with some interfacing.

The poncho was the drama. I bought some sort of heavy cotton canvas-y fabric for it at Hancock, came home, and got it made. It went together easily, and I was really happy with it! I took it outside and started throwing dye on it. Well, I wasn’t happy with the results of that, so I... don’t wag your fingers at me, I bleached it and started over. Redid the dye, was happy with it this time, hung it outside to dry, and when I went to get it, it shredded like tissue paper in my hands. OOPS.

So back to the store for more fabric - they didn’t have the exact same thing anymore, so I got something close and started over. Version 2 wasn’t as good because I rushed it, both making it and dyeing it. But I got it finished and debut it at Dragoncon 07.

I never really wore it anywhere else though, because the helmet made it hard to hear people and I wanted to redo parts. Namely I wanted to completely remake that uniform underneath, which we’ve already talked about, and I wanted to replace the rushed poncho. I did shoot it on the backdrop in 2012 so I had some better pics of it, and I’ve had it out for videos and other stuff in the last few years. But still haven’t gotten around to that remake - even though I’ve had EVERYTHING I need to remake the poncho and the uniform since 2019! Will I finally do it in 2027? Only time will tell...

My Costume History Day 93: Rogue’s movie suit from

My Costume History Day 93: Rogue’s movie suit from the X-Men movies, for Dragoncon 2007

There’s not a lot I can say about this costume — I should’ve really put it in the “casual” costume catch-all post a few days ago. Because I did not make this costume - it’s one of the few in my history I outright bought.

Friends were putting together an X-Men group for dragoncon, Chase was doing a movie-style Wolverine, so I decided I wanted to be Rogue. There was a seller on ebay who had a custom Jean Grey movie suit, so I messaged them and asked if they could do a Rogue. They said yes, I sent them my measurements, and a few weeks later it showed up on my doorstep. As much as I do love making costumes, there is something magical about a finished costume just showing up in the mail LOL

It was pretty good overall - except it didn’t fit great. From the waist up it was too big and baggy, but the hips were super tight. So I did what I could - I took it in through the torso, but I was hesitant about removing those sleeves (since this was black pleather and we all know how finicky that is if you have to undo something) to take them up. So I just left it, it was just for fun anyway. But you can see in the photos how the sleeves are too big!

For the hair, I bought a white wig and just cut the front off, added a clip to the inside, and just wore it with my own hair. Although I did end up adding a clip-on ponytail to it later on, which I thought was cute.

Had fun hanging around with X-Men buddies at Dragoncon and with Chase as Wolvy. Also took it to Adcon in 2008, and did the white backdrop shoot in 2012/2013. I shot it on the backdrop because I intended to sell it and wanted good photos. But I had no luck selling it, no takers. It hung around here for several more years - I considered donating it to an fundraiser auction at some point. And TBH - I don’t know whatever actually happened to it. Did I finally sell it? Did I donate it? I have no idea, but it’s not here anymore, so where-ever it is now... I hope it’s happy LOL

My Costume History Day 92: Marion Ravenwood from I

My Costume History Day 92: Marion Ravenwood from Indiana Jones/Raiders of the Lost Ark, made in summer 2007

A local theater was doing a summer movie series, and they did Raiders that year. I decided it would be fun to put together a Marion costume for it.

I bought the pants online and gathered the hem to give them the puffed look. Bought the heels on ebay. The waistband was my Powerpuff Girls waistband LOL

The shirt was most of the work; I made the peasant blouse using a pattern and some white cotton. For the designs on the shirt, I drew up patterns in photoshop, then printed them out on heat-transfer paper and ironed them on. Added the drawstring to the neck and sleeves, and some red tassels to the end.

Since I had this costume now, of course I took it to Dragoncon 07. I decided to wear it to pick up our badges that year - remember when badge pick-up was separated by last names? I got stuck in the longest line. All of my friends had gotten theirs and were long gone. I was in line for like 2 hours LOL And by the time I was done, these shoes were KILLING ME. So I didn’t stay in it much longer.

The only other time I wore this was for the white backdrop shoot in 2013, then I sold it to a new home.

But its legacy lives on in our household, because I put those designs I did for the blouse on etsy, where I sell them as a downloadable item. Every Halloween I sell a few and put that money into my costume budget. It’s been great! I should really do more things like that for Etsy, but I’m lazy...

My Costume History Day 91: Marasiah Fel from Star

My Costume History Day 91: Marasiah Fel from Star Wars Legacy, for Dragoncon 2007

As soon as I saw the cover of issue 3 of Star Wars Legacy I was like, I wanna make that girl’s costume LOL I got caught up on the series and got to work.

The base of the suit is a dance bodysuit I bought online. I cut the top into the shape I wanted and added clear plastic straps, and sewed the legs closed and added openings for the heels so I could wear the boots on the inside, so it would all look like one piece.

The robe is made out of jet-set, using a wizard robe pattern, and I made the sleeves as huge as I could LOL

The rest of the costume was kind of a disaster. I made this sort of faux underbust bodice thing out of some white fabric. Drew up some swirly designs in photoshop and heat-transferred it onto the panels. It’s lightly hand-tacked onto the bodysuit and velcros in the back. It was messy. The half skirt panel in the back is attached to it also, and also has the heat-transferred swirly design on it. The “tie” in the front is just a strip of fabric, with part of a christmas ornament tacked in the front as the brooch.

The wig I bought and added a weft of white hair to the front, and the tiara is just a strip of gold leather.

I was very unhappy with this at Dragoncon. I planned to scrap that entire underbust and half skirt section as soon as I got home and remake it, but I never did. It sat in a bin for the next 13 years, I never did a white backdrop shoot, and I only had a handful of photos from the one time I wore it at dragoncon. I figured it’s just gonna get trashed one day.

But then 2020 happened, I had nowhere to go and nothing to do and I was looking for projects I could work on - and I decided it was finally time to revisit Marasiah. I made a new proper underbust bodice out of some scrap white material - properly boned and laces up the back, and I did the swirl design with my silhouette HTV this time. Looked MUCH better! New underskirt was a separate piece and tied on under the bodice. Cleaned up the bodysuit and Chase 3d modeled and printed a new brooch for me.

Finally shot her on the white backdrop - and I was also finally happy with the costume!

My Costume History Day 90: Padme’s funeral dress f

My Costume History Day 90: Padme’s funeral dress from Star Wars, made for Adventurecon 2007

I loooved the funeral dress, the colors, the fabrics, so of course I wanted to make it, even if it was a little macabre. Since there weren’t a lot of great references of it, I just kinda did my own thing, so it’s not super accurate - but I love how it turned out.

The under-dress is a crinkle turquoise fabric I picked up at Joann in 2006 because I thought it’d be great for this. It’s a little too shiny but I loved the color and texture. I basically just made a huge tube of fabric and then gathered the top down to fit me. It velcros up the back, and I added straps, and some beading at the neckline.

The cape is the swirl velvet a lot of funeral Padmes used back then. I made it way longer and more dramatic than it needed to be LOL Once assembled, I dyed it... and dyed it again... and dyed it again. It never really got to the colors I wanted. But I was running out of time so I wore it unfinished to Adventurecon 2007 - I added the collar (made of satin with sequins added, and the sequin streamers that I got from Hancock attached to the bottom of the collar). The wig I bought online and wired ribbons and flowers into. The baby bump was the same as I used for Mustafar.

So yeah I debuted this at Adcon 2007, but it wasn’t finished. I did get some cool photos of it - then brought it home to keep working on it. I decided since the dye wasn’t getting dark enough, it was time to break out the paint. I sat for several days painting this thing, making a mess of myself (I have pics of me looking like a smurf LOL). Once I was happy with the colors, I added more sequins and flowers to the cape, as well as adding a facing to the front edges made of scrap leftover from the underdress.

Now finished, I “re-debuted” this at Dragoncon 07. I was much happier with it now! I never wore it anywhere again - it’s a lot to transport. I have had it out for videos and photoshoots, so it does get some love occasionally. Will I remake this more accurately one day? Probably not. I do love “my” version and I’m ok with that!

My Costume History Day 89: Princess Leia’s ewok vi

My Costume History Day 89: Princess Leia’s ewok village dress from Star Wars, made for Adventurecon 2007

Next in my journey to make all of Leia’s costumes, I decided to do the ewok village dress. There’s not a lot to this one - I got this stretch faux suede on ebay, modified a princess seam dress, added the cotton sleeves. Added the stitching and lacing to the front with a leather cord - had to use pliers to get it through that fabric.

I cut up the hem to create the torn look, though of course since this was stretch, it wanted to curl. I added some more layers to the hem with some scrap fabric, and when I made the belt, I added a couple of pieces hanging from that too to make it look more full.

I wore the wig as a half-wig - curled it, sewed the braid with the leather cording onto the front, and when I wear it, I set back a couple of inches from my own hairline and pin it there. That makes this the easiest Leia hairstyle for me to put on! The sandals I bought online.

I debuted it at Adventurecon 07 and loved it. Super comfy! In fact I loved it so much this was my Rebel Legion trading card when I did a run in 2007. My only beefs were that I hated the sandals (not comfy and not accurate) and I was never happy with the way the curling of the wig turned out. But I wore it to several more conventions and events over the years, and finally updated the sandals for the white backdrop shoot in 2012. Second pair of sandals were hand-me-downs - and I thought they’d look better, but they really didn’t.

In 2019 I decided I was really going to fix the 2 major problems with this costume - I bought my 3rd pair of sandals and these are sooo much better than the previous 2. And I also decided to braid and dunk this wig in some boiling water. If I messed it up, it was an old wig at this point, who cares! LOL But it worked great and finally looked the way I wanted! I was so happy with the results that we re-did the white backdrop shoot in 2020, one of the few costumes that been shot twice.

One of these days I’ll remake this in a proper fabric, but Endor and Hoth are in line ahead of this for a remake!

One more Luke Skywalker and princess Leia from HSV

One more Luke Skywalker and princess Leia from HSV expo. Please note Kevin’s “peace tied” lightsaber 😹 (which I ended up carrying most of the day while he carried the blaster, I just felt like he was gonna smack somebody with the saber… so maybe it did need to be peace tied 😹)

It’s been a minute since me and Kev got to wear Lu

It’s been a minute since me and Kev got to wear Luke and Leia to a con. It made me realize I reallllly need to update his Luke. I think I may overhaul the whole thing later this year, new boots, pants, tunic, belt, maybe a wig this time, even if he only wears it for photos. If anybody has any leads on ANH Luke belt pieces, lmk…

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