Need Help reviewing my build

[byun21]

I have ordered a "cheap" costume online... That was a mistake. I have been trying to alter it to meet up with the standards, but it will take a lot more work. I decided to order a blueprint instead and work out the velvet fabric myself. I have no experience with hemming, sewing, and cutting fabric. I only have this picture so far of my build.

SelfSP1.jpg (28.76 KiB) Viewed 274 times

The fabric I purchased was not labeled or named, so I am not familiar with the specific style. I just know it is not crushed velvet. I have added a Velcro piece on the back to allow it to fit over my head. I do have to redo the folds on the shoulders for the vertical folds on the front of the robe. I am not sure if my sewing is hiding the seam lines well enough and would appreciate any feedback.

The under garment was a thawb with long sleeves and of wine red color. The red leather gloves I bought online and also the black ankle high boots (not seen in the picture).

I attempted to buy a visor to cut out and tint, but failed several times. I then took the original visor and tinted that directly and placed magnets as spacers to allow airflow. I do have helmet fans, but have yet to set them in place for I am not sure how to get cool air from the lower part of the helmet to the top near the visor to prevent fogging. I was planning to create an air vent using silicone tubes from the fan and leave the open end near the visor.

I made the force pike by cutting down a pool cue and either screwing, gluing, sanding, and painting. The knob portion I am holding (that you cannot see) was an extra end piece of a curtain rod holder. The black grips were made of exercise bar grips that were cut down to size.

I will take more pictures in the future after I work out the flaws I immediately notice. I have also noted that my helmet color does not immediately match the robe unless in specific lighting. As mentioned any feedback would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

[Shikkakku]

Hello! I'm currently at a con so can't comment in detail, but I'll get one of my command staff on it

[byun21]

I don’t use forums much so please excuse my keyboard mashing and who I reply to or not reply to. Please excuse my long rant below.

I stayed up last night to make a major correction to my outer robe. I should read more carefully. It was supposed to be a windmill pattern with the sleeves free from the front and back sides. I proceeded to undo all the messy sewing I have done only to find out the sleeves were too narrow and would naturally fold upon themselves and leave a huge gap.

Painstakingly I redid the stitches and may need to move to a build that has only two openings instead of four. If I am correct… this would be the AOTC build?

Besides the necessary hemming and reinforcement of the outer robe, I found that leather gloves weren’t allowed for the AOTC build. So now I am on the fence between builds at this time.

The leather gloves I have, had 3 ridges that began at the knuckles to the start of the wrists. They were set in place by thread as a design. I removed these threads, however it left 6 rows of needle holes behind and looks very unsightly. The ridges somewhat remain, but I hope I can wear them down flat over time.

In the case of leaning towards the AOTC build. I found some suede yellow gloves because burgundy or wine red color is impossible to find. I then purchased suede burgundy dye to use on them later (cross my fingers it will work).

The black jack boots ended up in my cart, but not purchased as it is the 3rd most expensive purchase of the build as it is about $130. I do have pointed black boots for the initial build at this time.

Should I just roll with the punches and switch over to the AOTC build or fall back on this build?

[Shikkakku]

Hi Byun,

Okay, I read through your thread and what would really help would be pictures of each component (Inner robe, outer robe, boots, gloves, sash, pike) so we can give you specific advice on each piece.

Correct that AOTC has only 2 openings in the front. ROTS would have 2 in front and 2 in back for a total of 4. You'll have to pay attention to the specific glove/boot combo for each one.

The great thing is that, unless you have a specific date or event in mind, you have all the time in the world. First give us more photos, then we can work on things one at a time until you get where you want to be

[byun21]

I bought a lot of stuff before verifying so I feel i just lost a ton of money. Here are the exact products I purchased previously and recently.

thawb.jpg (53.48 KiB) Viewed 195 times

This thawb is wine red in color, I am aware it has a lot of buttons and no sash to go about the waist. I am in the process of making the sash now.

redleathergloves1.jpg (14.86 KiB) Viewed 195 times

These are the red leather gloves I bought previously. I noticed that it had decorative ridges on the back of the gloves, so I removed them. However the ridges have yet to "disappear" and so I ordered this set instead.

leathergloves2.jpg (48.5 KiB) Viewed 195 times

These look much better, but I am not sure if they qualify. If it doesn't then I also decided to fall back upon the ATOC build with suede gloves instead. The exact glove is pictured below.

[byun21]

suedegloves.jpg (82.43 KiB) Viewed 194 times

these suede glove are the wrong color and the proper colors were hard to find, therefore I purchased...

suededye.jpg (87.25 KiB) Viewed 194 times

So I could dye them myself. The last little bit I have previously purchased were the boots.

blackleatherpointboots.jpg (41.05 KiB) Viewed 194 times

I was attempting the find the most plain (without design stitching) as possible. If none of these qualify I was going to search for the square toed boots, but those are also next to impossible to find in a reasonable price point.

That is all I have so far. I will take photos of my outer robe by tomorrow afternoon (currently under a basic 2 opening AOTC build). Sorry for the HUGE pictures! At the very least it will show more details that I have personally missed

[Shikkakku]

Okay, so initial impressions:

Thawb seems ok- be sure to try and use the same cloth/as close to similar as possible for the sash.

I think your 2nd pair of red gloves should also be good, as long as they cover your wrist.

The boots are the ones I'm unsure of. The CRL allows for zippers since it doesn't mention "no visible zippers" but the stitching on the outside might be a no go....

Have you looped in your local unit GML? Before you make any more purchases or change anything I strongly recommend contacting them for advice because in the end approval will be based on their assessment.

[byun21]

Thanks for the feedback! I have not reached out to the GML yet. I will do that soon before I obtain any more items. Thank you!

[Shikkakku]

You're welcome! And yes, please do involve your GML first before putting in any more cash on this build

Let us know if you need anything else!

[byun21]

I took a pic of everything i have gathered so far from the cheap costume (matches the color of the helmet in the middle) to the one I built from scratch (doesn't match the helmet, on the right). The far left should be the thawb. There are the gloves I replaced, but don't have possession of just yet. There are also my black boots as well. And the force pike too. There are also the "pink" boots too.

thumbnail_IMG_1919.jpg (25.31 KiB) Viewed 128 times

Below is the inner lining color of the built from scratch in comparison to the thawb (thawb on the left, inner lining of robe in the middle, outer lining of robe on the right)

thumbnail_IMG_1923.jpg (90.12 KiB) Viewed 128 times