Natalie's Marvel Star Wars 023 Leia Build

[LeiaAurora ()]

So I really, really loved the outfit that Leia wears in this comic and I had it in my mind to put it together when I had some spare time. Luckily, I've had that time and I was able to put it together over the last few weeks.

The costume itself looks deceptively simple until you look closer and take in all the details.

To start, here is a full front shot.


Simple, right? Not so much.

Once you start looking at individual patterns, you begin to get the fine details.

The shirt has detailed piping on it. It starts at the collar, goes down and around about halfway and then drops down over the bust on the left to the bottom of the shirt.



The vest is very similar to her Hoth vest and I can see where someone might think it's identical but it isn't. To start, it doesn't have the faux front pockets. It also doesn't have the ID pocket on the left side. The collar is much larger in this version than in the screen version.

As you can see in the shot above, it hits at her hair and a bit past it.
The vest also has a rank badge but it is completely different from the Hoth rank badge. I had hoped to just use my Hoth one but unfortunately, that wouldn't work. Here is a close up of the badge.

It is not in a pocket at all but looks to be just pinned on.

Her pants look simple but also have detail. There is a center seam down each leg. I did a side by side comparison of my pants against the images in the artwork.


The boots are also more detailed than shown. They are very similar to her ESB boots (the Falcon variant) but with black straps. The straps wrap all the way around the boot and then extend slightly past.



Her gloves are tan and have a gauntlet like appearance.



The other big stepping stone with this costume is the holster. It's not an exact match to ANY of Han Solo's belts. It's missing significant pieces and other pieces are moved around. I spoke with several approved Solo's in my base and we pieced together what Leia's belt actually consists of. Here is a comparison pic. (Please excuse my poor drawing skills)



Once I had my references in front of me and a clear outline of what I needed, I got to work.

The vest was pretty simple as I already had the pattern from my Hoth build. I will be posting a tutorial of how I made this one but here are a few shots.




You'll notice I added inside pockets. Cannot recommend this enough. I can hold my phone and keys in them.











The vest is pretty straightforward. The thing that takes the longest is the diamond top stitching.

The top was my next step. I found a pattern that I liked with a similar neckline and used that as my base.


I used View C. For the record, this pattern definitely runs big. It put me at an 18 and I cut it at a 14 and I ended up taking an additional 2 inches off of that once I had made it.

The main modifications I made to the pattern were to raise the neckline so it hugged closer to the neck and I ended up cutting the front piece into two separate sections so I would be able to install the piping.
Here is a sketch of what I did:


And this is what the pieces look like actually cut out in fabric form.


I wish I had taken more photos of this process but I was in the zone and didn't stop till I was done.
This was my first attempt at the top and I was relatively pleased with it but after I tried it on I decided that I wanted to remake it to make the collar tighter to the neck and bring in the sleeves more.


My friend is a very talented designer and I enlisted his help to get the correct rank badge. Here are his first design renderings before printing.




Here is the finished result. Ignore the other print. That is for my Splinter in the Mind's Eye Leia costume


Once I had sanded and primed the print, I painted it using acrylic paints and then set the paint with setting spray.


To keep the print on my costume but also to have it be easily removable, I added magnets and glued them to the print using Gorilla Glue. The magnets are relatively inexpensive ($5) and I ended up needing 4 but it stays in place extremely well.




The gloves were gloves I had been given for a different costume and all I had to do was remove the label tag and a flap that went over the front to make them match.

The pants were a lucky find at Goodwill. I found them in white and they even had the front seam detail! They were $4. I took them home, reinforced the front seam so it would stay and then dyed them tan.

The boots were also made with materials I already had at home. The boots are $15 ones I had purchased on Amazon over a year ago. I had scrap leather left over from my Qi'ra build and I used that for the straps. I glued them to the boot base using leather glue and it worked perfectly.




In the reference pics, her flaps extend past where they meet so I deliberately made them slightly longer to give it the look I needed.

The last piece I needed was the holster and honestly, this was the other reason I waited to make this. I simply cannot afford a custom made holster like what I would have needed for this outfit. However, I lucked out tremendously. A Han in our base who I had contacted about the belt specifics told me he had extra holsters he wasn't using and gave them to me. I was able to take the holsters and pouches etc and make an entirely new belt using pieces from the existing belts. I had to move some pouches around and remove the droid caller completely and add the side buckle and make it so that there was no back buckle but with a screwdriver and some random tools, I got it to where I needed it to be.


The artwork is a tad inconsistent on the number of pouches so I went with what was the most frequent look in the images.

The last thing needed was the hairstyle. It's basically identical to Leia's Hoth hair with loose tendrils framing her face. I can do it mostly with my own hair but to give it more height, I use Kanekalon and braid the piece into my own hair. It matches really well and no one can tell it's not my own.

Overall, this costume is super comfy and apparently very recognizable as Princess Leia. I had many people comment on it when we were taking my submission photos.
Here is the finished look.

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Community Member of the Year 2019
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In progress/submitted: Padme Amidala Deleted Scene/X Wing Pilot/Clone Wars Padme (maroon vest)
"This is a Rebellion, isn't it? I rebel."

[SongofAmazon (Jenna)]

Nicely done! I love seeing obscure, non-movie costumes.
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In planning and progress:
Summer Dreams Padmé, Riyo Chuchi, Havoc Trooper, Amilyn Holdo, Lilac Handmaiden, Saché, TOR Jedi

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[LeiaAurora ()]

Approved.

_________________
Community Member of the Year 2019
PR/Social Media Team for Strategic Command
CO Rogue Detachment
Costume Mentor
In progress/submitted: Padme Amidala Deleted Scene/X Wing Pilot/Clone Wars Padme (maroon vest)
"This is a Rebellion, isn't it? I rebel."

[Lora Skywalker ()]

I always love seeing people tackle the comic costumes. Those have completely different challenges to the movie costumes.
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