Say what you will about the prequels, but you can’t deny that Padmé has a closet stuffed with gorgeous gowns. And yes, she makes some misguided decisions and has a crappy ending, but she also kicks some butt. Anyway, cosplayer extraordinaire Kelldar has made a few of Padmé’s outfits. The parade dress from The Phantom Menace is one of my favorites. To make the elaborate cape, she had to dye each petal by hand and sew them on individually. Whew.

For the cape, I started by making a basic cape out of white material. I came up with three pattern pieces – one for large petals, one for medium size petals, and one for small petals. Even though on the original dress, the petals are unhemmed, I wanted my dress to last, so I finished the edges on my serger. I cut out petals out of both the chiffon and organza – each petal is two layers and each has a rolled edge. I dyed each petal in yellow and pink dye, then started attaching them. Ended up having to go back for more organza and chiffon twice – all in all I ended up using over 40 yards of fabric for the cape. Towards the bottom, before sewing the petals on, I sewed layers of netting to help add some body to it. I still dream of sewing those petals on… it went on for forever! I sewed arm straps in to hold the cape in place, and also “handles” so I could keep the cape in front of me.

More details on this costume and tons of others at Kelldar’s site.