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| Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace – Queen Amidala Galactic Senate Address costume recreation 4/2005 by Kathy van Beuningen – modeled by Quincy Newkirk I found all of the reference material that I was able and learned what I could about the creation of the actual movie costume. The costume appears in briefly in two scenes of Star Wars Episode I when the young Queen Amidala addresses the Galactic Senate to plead for help in stopping the illegal invasion occurring on her home planet of Naboo. For the better part of the past two years I have been searching for materials that would be the closest match and have the most compatible feeling to the materials used in the movie costume. I began construction of the beaded portions of the dress, the sleeves and bodice in late 2004 and completed the constructed the coat, dress and headpiece in March of 2005. Growth issues with Quincy caused me to wait to build this costume since the coat is floor-length. I needed to make this costume with a degree of flexibility to accommodate her changing height. I accomplished this by making the under dress in two pieces so the length can be adjusted as needed from the top. The custom design of the dress incorporates the ability to adjust the length to accommodate the Queen's continuing growth spurts. The dress bodice & sleeves are lined with a satin lining. The coat is fully lined as well. I knew I needed to start with the beading first, because I knew that the whole thing would lay nicer if this was done before hand. I had also planned to completely finish the insides of this costume with a lining. After all, this is the costume of a Queen. A Queen’s wardrobe would be lined. I tried to think of ways to make the construction easier and be able to do more of the sewing by machine. I discovered that to achieve the look I sought, I would need to do most of the embellishment by hand. The dress sleeves and bodice: I noticed that this area of the costume is at least two layers from the way that the fabric puckers around the beaded areas. I created a pattern design based on what I could extrapolate from what is seen in those pictures. I used a base fabric of gold on gold metallic cotton covered with a layer of sheer gold sparkle organza for these pieces. I found both of those fabrics at a local Hancock Fabrics last summer 2004. I created a sleeve design based on Simplicity pattern #9162 and incorporated those into a collar & yoke I designed based on Simplicity pattern #9690 (youth) #7808 (adult). I hand-sewed many hundreds (probably over 3,000) of gold and silver glass beads to both sleeves and the yoke. I then 'filled in' areas of the yoke with antique gold metallic appliqués and Italian gold lace trims. I found the appliqués at a local fabric warehouse, 2121 W. 21st Street, Chicago, but it took a LOT of digging to find some thing that would be close to the movie costume. Most of the gold trims I found at Joann Fabrics. Much of the bead design on the yoke is now covered, but they do show through and add quite a bit of dimension and opulence to the look. I created a lining out of an ochre colored lining material for this entire portion of the construction. I added a temple gold 22" zipper to the back. The lining is also hand-sewn into the dress. I made the 18" doll version of this costume concurrently using most of the same materials. I used the experience with the doll’s costume as a guide as to what I could expect on the full-sized costume. I hand-beaded the doll's sleeves and yoke using the same layers of gold material and smaller-scaled gold trims. The doll's costume is also fully lined. I spent a day hand-pleating an orange / gold metallic cotton fabric for the lower part of the blouse and the skirt underneath for the doll costume. The doll’s dress is all in one piece, since the doll’s height will not fluctuate. The dress pleated portions: As I learned from my experience with the doll costume, there is no quick & easy way to do this, however the results are stunning! I used a satin-backed crepe in orange for the human version of the costume. Since the hem of this part of the costume can not be adjusted, all continuing minor adjustments will need to be made from the top. I created a separate dress around the lower section of pleats. I hand-pleated nine yards ~28” wide strips of fabric into ½” pleats. I attached one section of pleats to the bodice construction. I sewed much of this by hand, since the lower edge of the bodice is pointed. I hand-sewed the entire lining into the upper portion of the dress. I then created a functional and adjustable upper dress out of a heavier cotton fabric in orange to hold the lower portion of pleats in place. I loosened a portion of the gold lace ornamentation to carefully hand-stitch the dangling gold cording to the front of the bodice after the bodice and pleated portion were joined. The Coat: I began with Simplicity pattern #9533 as the base for the coat. I added material to the front pieces to give it more volume in the front. I widened the armholes quite a bit and used sleeves from Simplicity pattern #5840 (robe) extended by about 8 additional inches of total width. I sloped the front opening of the coat before I added the collar. I used cranberry-colored cotton velvet that I finally found over a year ago at Vogue Fabrics in Evanston. I bought what was left of the bolt (7 yards) when I finally found it, since I had been searching for anything that I could use for the coat for well over two years already. The body of the coat is lined with heavier cranberry-colored matching satin. The yoke is lined with velvet so the direction of the nap will help keep the coat in place when it is worn. I did not have enough cranberry-colored satin for the sleeve lining. It is difficult to see what the insides of the coat sleeves are indeed lined with in the original costume, since all pictures only show the sleeve cuffs extending to the inside. SO I decided the logical thing to do here was use a gold material. I had enough of the gold on gold metallic cotton, which I had used as the base material on the dress sleeves. This is perfect, since the beading on the sleeves of the dress may tend to snag a more delicate fabric. While I was working on it, I left the lining open on the sleeves and body so I could sew on all of the swirled 'roses' and the crunchy velvet at the lower front sides and the yoke. The yoke lining was also open at the back so I could do the hand sewing underneath it. The 'crunchy' velvet on the yoke and front of coat: I used a matching cranberry colored panne velvet for this. I cut out two 18" wide strips across the width of the material. I sewed them together at the selvage so the nap would be in the same direction of both pieces. I used the seam as the center and placed it on the center of the yoke. Then I started 'crunching' it by sewing it down randomly to look right. It took me nearly a week to sew down the material on the yoke and nearly a month to sew down the ‘crunchy’ velvet on the front of the coat. All of the needlework is under the lining, so when anyone looks at any of this costume, all of the thread will be invisible. I hand-sewed the double rows of golden braided trim after all of the crunchy velvet was in place. The swirly 'roses' on the coat: I used a chenille yarn (Lion brand) in the exactly matching cranberry color, sewing ~18" lengths in random circular patterns using metallic gold thread. I noticed that there is a metallic sparkliness to those designs in the pictures from the movie costume. The 'trim' for the sleeve cuffs and front opening: I had dyed 1/4" round rope a golden yellow. I had planned to sandwich the rope between a base layer of orange cotton fabric and a two-toned antique gold and cranberry red sheer 'magic' fabric. This fabric also took over a year to track down the exact color I needed. I planned to sew the cording in random swirls using gold metallic thread. I made a test / sample piece and found the rope was too thick to use in this way. I had used a yellow yarn for this in the doll version and decided to try a yellow colored chenille yard instead of the rope. This worked very well. I added some boning to the hemline and cuffs of the coat to give it a little more shape. The Head Piece: The 'metal' pieces of the headpiece have been cut & shaped out of sintra. The armature of the headpiece is constructed out of a wire wreath form, drop-ceiling cable, a block of wood, staples, nails, hot glue, fiberfill and two layers of fabric. The 'hair' is made from a fabric. The ends of the hair pieces are made from 1 1/4" foam pipe insulation covered with an other layer of foam and then covered with a fabric. ALL of this is sewn together because I have learned that glue makes ugly lumps. I then sewed on gold mesh wired ribbon doubled over on itself. This wasn't what I wanted to use, but I have been searching for 2 years to find the perfect material, that so far, doesn't exist. This will do for now. Visually, it works. I spent a few days inhaling fumes from all sorts of different paints, finishes and adhesives to create the metallic parts of the headpiece. I used a gold metallic pebble paper adhered with 3m Super 77 to the roughed-up sintra shapes. I then added a gold metallic bead around the perimeter of each shape. I attached ruby & sapphire stones and other gold beads, crystals and doo-dads to the shapes. Later I coated each piece with a clear sealer. Most of the components of the headpiece are sewn together or fit and stay in place because they are built to fit that way. I added an elastic & Velcro chin strap and then added a layer of foam 'headliner' to the inside of the 'helmet' piece for comfort. The back of the headpiece is secured with a brown cord that will tie around Quincy's ponytail. Her own hair will act as ballast. I am very proud to say that the headpiece will sit perfectly balanced on top of a pole. The weight is approximately the same final weight as the one I made in 1999, but this one is shaped much better and definitely looks more refined. Kathy van Beuningen April 2005 |
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