stripes wrote:Peregrinus wrote:Always looked more suede than velour to me...
Seeing as how Velour is not accurate nor acceptable for 501st membership... the point is moot.
Since you've said that in a couple of threads I just posted in... Ignoring the snark, when I say 'velour' I mean the 21-ounce (pretty darn heavy) cotton velour theater curtain material the original ROTJ capes were made from, not synthetic, lightweight, and/or panne velour that a lot of people think of when they see or hear the word. I am not talking about shiny, wrinkly first-season Star Trek uniform fabric. It may not be acceptable, but it is accurate. Nilo Rodis said so, and the fabric characteristics are an exact match. The
only point I'm not clear on is whether they were actual salvaged theater curtains, or just made from new fabric sourced from a theatrical drapery mill specifically for the production.
*sigh* I've been sewing for almost thirty years now, and my mother and grandmother before me. I've absorbed a lot from them, taken a lot of classes over the years, and done a lot of independent research. I'm not a noob -- I actually
do know what I'm talking about, and try not to sling baseless speculation around the internet -- except in threads that are specifically for and about baseless speculation. *heh* I also do my best to make sure of my facts before stating them publicly. I don't like looking foolish.
I'll try to find which of Nilo Rodis' very rare interviews saw him actually talking about more than just the general design process for the Emperor's guards, but he was the one who said they used 'theater curtains' as fabric for their robes, and there's a very narrow range of fabrics that have been used for that over the last century and change. Consulting with as many of the very few makers of such that exist in the world today, the consensus -- based on things like weight, movement, drape, reflectivity, texture, and so forth -- is a non-fire-retardant heavy-weight cotton velour in the 18-to-24-ounce range. They ruled out velvet right off as too shiny. Like the brushed linen used for Jango's flight suit, velvet's fibers are distressed to give it particular light-reflecting/scattering properties that are not seen on the Guards.
And, now that I've
thoroughly derailed this thread from the gloves that were being discussed...
--Jonah