Cape New ROTJ cape stitching method

[bobawife]

So I’ve only started sewing to do this project, and I’m in no way great or experienced. I nearly gave up on making a screen accurate cape because I was so intimidated by the white stitching. I “finished” the edges of my authentic US army vintage half shelter with matching army green thread and it looked fine since the color match was so good but my lines were very wobbly. I knew the white stitching COULD NOT be wobbly at all or it would ruin the look of the entire cape. I couldnt find any guidance on how to do it so before giving up I had one idea I decided to try and it worked beautifully! This may have been done before but I haven’t seen it said so I want to put the idea out there. What I did was take a long piece of painter’s tape and just laid it down flat and straight where I wanted my double white stitched lines. Then I literally just used that as my guide and tan it through my sewing machine doing one line on each side of the tape. It made it so easy to do. Just make sure not to run your needle over the tape to avoid the sticky residue transferring to your needle. Then simply peel off the tape! The line is straighter than pictured as the cape isn’t totally flat in the image

 

[Irongladiator]

bobawife
That was a clever idea using the tape. I know the material I gave you was on the smaller side but this looked like it worked out great! I know when my seamstress did it she zig zagged the material and then stitched it shut.

It gave it that bulkiness on the seam. But again, yours looks great too. Now ya just gotta put on that cape greeblie!


Keep up the great work!
-Iron

 

[bobawife]

bobawife
That was a clever idea using the tape. I know the material I gave you was on the smaller side but this looked like it worked out great! I know when my seamstress did it she zig zagged the material and then stitched it shut.
View attachment 237253It gave it that bulkiness on the seam. But again, yours looks great too. Now ya just gotta put on that cape greeblie!


Keep up the great work!
-Iron

Yes it’s worked out great, so appreciated! I referred back to your post to see the folding technique and as easy as it looks I just couldn’t get it folded perfectly so I decided that as the project continues and I improve my sewing skills I’d like to go back and remove the lines to re- stitch it that way since it looks so much better with the fold. But this works for now so the next steps are weathering in the next few days then adding the phenomenal greeblie as the finishing touch! I have 9 days until I gift this to my husband and it won’t be nearly finished (I started in mid-April and this is no easy project!) but I’ve got a creative way to gift it so it’s still exciting before adding him into the making of the project! I’ll be wrapping each piece I have individually in a box to give him and he’ll open them from least obvious piece to most obvious piece until he can guess what the present is. Excited to see how long it takes him!

 

[Mythosaur]

Looks great! I agree with Irongladiator that was very clever! Another thing to consider using to help keep your lines straight when you have unevenness in your fabric (such as seams) is to use a Jean-a-ma-jig. They look like this:

it's just a piece of plastic, and I've seen plenty of people make one with cardboard or whatever you have. It just goes between the fabric and the foot, and helps to even out the pressure the foot is putting down onto the fabric.

Also, love the gift wrapping idea! Your husband will love it!

 

[Irongladiator]

bobawife
What an awesome way to give "The Gift of Boba" to someone. Love it! Looking forward to the end result of the cape - and the rest of the costume.

...and you are, correct in that....

(I started in mid-April and this is no easy project!)

After doing one myself, yeah building a Boba Fett is definitely NOT an easy project, if you're looking to make things pretty accurate. It is however VERY rewarding. And the attention it draws when you wear it - pretty amazing! I originally wanted to make an original trilogy Stormtrooper costume, but to me, that looked incredibly difficult. I then looked at Boba Fett and thought that would be much easier. But when I first started and came upon this forum group that I was told the Boba Fett costume is perhaps thee most difficult costume to make in all of the Star Wars universe. After I got my costume to where it was wearable, did I find that passion to keep going with upgrades.

I'm sure your husband will love what you've started for him! Just make sure to let him know of this website and to get onboard as a member. And it probably won't be before too long before he finishes what you've started. And who knows, you may join him as a Princess Leia, Jyn Erso, Bo-Katan, etc. My wife, sadly thinks what I'm doing is very nerdy and initially didn't want to even think about getting a pro-grade Star Wars costume. But after seeing pictures of me and my daughter at Comic Con's/Halloween have I think we've swayed her line of thinking. I know my wife doesn't like helmets - she's ok with hats though. So I was thinking about seeing what she thought about becoming Dedra Meero from "Andor".

She has brunette hair, so it'd just be convincing her to color it blonde and letting the brunette roots show - hehehe. But I digress. An Imperial Officer will undoubtedly be much, much easier than my Boba Fett, or my kid's Boushh costume for sure.

Looking forward to your next steps!


Best,
-Iron

P.S. Mythosaur - That's a neat little sewing tool! My seamstress informed me that she uses an iron and iron's the holy heck out of the cape so that it sits flat and then she stitches away. But she's also got 30+ years of sewing experience too and I'm sure doing straight lines for her is simple. But to someone just starting out in the world of sewing, I'm sure it is a daunting task indeed. As my Boba Fett is starting to slow down in terms of things to do. I'm thinking about getting a sewing machine and maybe offering ROTJ Fett Capes via the Cargo Hold to those Fett newcomers. I just find working with my hands to be quite fun.

 

[bobawife]

bobawife
What an awesome way to give "The Gift of Boba" to someone. Love it! Looking forward to the end result of the cape - and the rest of the costume.

...and you are, correct in that....

After doing one myself, yeah building a Boba Fett is definitely NOT an easy project, if you're looking to make things pretty accurate. It is however VERY rewarding. And the attention it draws when you wear it - pretty amazing! I originally wanted to make an original trilogy Stormtrooper costume, but to me, that looked incredibly difficult. I then looked at Boba Fett and thought that would be much easier. But when I first started and came upon this forum group that I was told the Boba Fett costume is perhaps thee most difficult costume to make in all of the Star Wars universe. After I got my costume to where it was wearable, did I find that passion to keep going with upgrades.

I'm sure your husband will love what you've started for him! Just make sure to let him know of this website and to get onboard as a member. And it probably won't be before too long before he finishes what you've started. And who knows, you may join him as a Princess Leia, Jyn Erso, Bo-Katan, etc. My wife, sadly thinks what I'm doing is very nerdy and initially didn't want to even think about getting a pro-grade Star Wars costume. But after seeing pictures of me and my daughter at Comic Con's/Halloween have I think we've swayed her line of thinking. I know my wife doesn't like helmets - she's ok with hats though. So I was thinking about seeing what she thought about becoming Dedra Meero from "Andor".
View attachment 237260
She has brunette hair, so it'd just be convincing her to color it blonde and letting the brunette roots show - hehehe. But I digress. An Imperial Officer will undoubtedly be much, much easier than my Boba Fett, or my kid's Boushh costume for sure.

Looking forward to your next steps!


Best,
-Iron

P.S. Mythosaur - That's a neat little sewing tool! My seamstress informed me that she uses an iron and iron's the holy heck out of the cape so that it sits flat and then she stitches away. But she's also got 30+ years of sewing experience too and I'm sure doing straight lines for her is simple. But to someone just starting out in the world of sewing, I'm sure it is a daunting task indeed. As my Boba Fett is starting to slow down in terms of things to do. I'm thinking about getting a sewing machine and maybe offering ROTJ Fett Capes via the Cargo Hold to those Fett newcomers. I just find working with my hands to be quite fun.

I’m planning on he and I working together on getting Boba Fett finished and then I’m hoping for Halloween next year I can make a great Star Wars universe costume for myself too. So far I’m leaning towards Rey, I really like the look and it doesn’t look TOO complicated. I’ll absolutely make sure he also starts a tdh account. I think I saw You can even link accounts or something like that. It will likely be that or Leia! I’d be very interested in seeing Dedra Meero be done!

 

[bobawife]

Looks great! I agree with Irongladiator that was very clever! Another thing to consider using to help keep your lines straight when you have unevenness in your fabric (such as seams) is to use a Jean-a-ma-jig. They look like this:
View attachment 237256
it's just a piece of plastic, and I've seen plenty of people make one with cardboard or whatever you have. It just goes between the fabric and the foot, and helps to even out the pressure the foot is putting down onto the fabric.

Also, love the gift wrapping idea! Your husband will love it!

Wow that’s a really cool tool, I’ve never seen one! That would be so handy on things like this!

 

[Mythosaur]

But she's also got 30+ years of sewing experience too

You definitely can't replace experience, I have a little over 5 years using a machine and can pull off things I wouldn't have been able to at first, so it does take time. I bet she does iron the holy hell out of it, you really want to when you do creases and seams, it helps A LOT.

If either of you guys want to pick up a jean-a-ma-jig, you should be able to find one at Joann's, it's been handy when I've needed it. Also, if you're hesitant about doing more with the machine, practice on spare fabric or make something else. The first thing I made before I started my Fett and to help improve my skills was a teddy bear. I do warn if you go this route because stuffed animals are expert level sewing, but it did give me the necessary experience and confidence to do more. (Also gave me room to mess up)

P.S. Irongladiator, dude I've been trying to get my wife involved too, but she's like yours and isn't really into it. I do think I managed to convince my daughter to let me make her a Jawa though!

 

[cdyoung]

Mythosaur and Irongladiator, would you recommend purchasing a half shelter and doing the pattern and stitch work yourself versus trying to find the correct version for sale?

 

[Mythosaur]

Mythosaur and Irongladiator, would you recommend purchasing a half shelter and doing the pattern and stitch work yourself versus trying to find the correct version for sale?

From what I can tell, it is very difficult to find the correct half shelter, you usually have to alter it. Sometimes you want to anyway depending on your height, I'm 5'6" so I never bothered to find an actual half shelter, I would have to alter it quite a bit it seems. My cape is just fabric from the store I stitched together myself, it looks ok, but obviously isn't correct.

 

[Irongladiator]

Mythosaur and Irongladiator, would you recommend purchasing a half shelter and doing the pattern and stitch work yourself versus trying to find the correct version for sale?

cdyoung - I did! Only for the same reason(s) that Mythosaur stated. I'm a 6'2" Fett. So I never bothered looking, and then I went off of tennantlim 's CRL pic for the stitch work. But like Mythosaur, I felt like trying to find the correct US Army Half Shelter with correct stitching was like looking for a needle in a haystack.