Slave Leia
Kim made this costume to go with my Luke Skywaker Xwing Pilot when we went to Comic-Con back in 2001. Sadly, it has never been worn again, but Kim was a celebrity for a day while wearing her "metal" bikini. As it turns out, this is not the most versitile of costume when it comes to charity events!
Kim and fellow Leia costumer Christie. Kim and LisaFett who's tutorial made it possible.
We spent quite a bit of time posing for photos that day....
LisaFett's tutorial
This was Kim's first big undertaking and she pretty much used this tutorial word for word. It no longer exists on Azeem2000.com but I rescued it from the web "wayback" machine because "LisaFett" really came up with a clever and easy way for someone with only very basic craft skills to put together a nice looking costume.
SLAVE LEIA Tutorial
by Lisa Yankey
http://web.archive.org/web/20020805142735/http://www.azeem2000.com/
Introduction
Slave Leia has always been a favorite of Star Wars fans and non-fans alike.This sexy outfit was an instant hit when RETURN OF THE JEDI was released in 1983. This is a simple walkthrough for creating a cheap but very good looking Slave Leia outfit.
I know this might seem a little overwhelming if youve never worked with any kind of power tools, but its really not very hard. :) There have been other people who have made this costume using model magic and wire, sculpy, paper mache, and thick wire. Im pretty sure the original was probably injection-molded plastic. Many people might want to use parts of each type for the costume. I started out with model magic and wire, but it was a mess. I love my sintra and power tools. :)
Find good pictures of the costume. This was difficult for me, and I ended up winging it on the small details. I found pictures in some books, but nothing really spectacular. I had to just sort of make the designs up from what I could see. Now that I have found good pictures, I could do a more accurate job. The most important thing is that your costume looks good in real life, and the proportions are right. I chose to make a few modifications on the first one I made, such as egg-shaped circles instead of round ones. I just liked it that way, and like to change things around sometimes.
Paint
I used gold leafing paint then used a brown aging paint that is sold right next to that stuff. You wipe the aging stuff on and then wipe it off, leaving it in the cracks sort of. It looked a lot better that way. Then, I sprayed with a gloss clear coat, which further gave it a reddish, aged look. On my second version, I used a pewter color in addition to the gold, for accenting certain parts of the costume.
Materials:
Sintra (PVC Polystyrene) is your friend. You can get an 8’x4’ sheet of it for $25, or ask for the scrap bin at the plastic shop. You will need one largish piece for the bra, plus more. If you use scraps, make your patterns first out of stiff paper, then go get the Sintra. Sintra is great stuff, when you boil water, you can dip the Sintra in, then bend it along its plane. (It’s hard to make dome shapes out of Sintra, but a cylinder is easy.) You will need to sand the edges so it will look good.
Material - Suede for shoes and bra top. I used the rough side out of a piece of cow leather to make the shoes because suede was too thin. I used microsuede for the bra top, and again for the front and back fabric panels. I chose a maroon instead of gray for the bra, just to be a little different. The screen costume used some sort of silkier material for the front and back panels, but I wanted something a little heavier and non-see through. There are fanboys about. You could also consider weighting the fabric, and Kim Knight (I hope I got your last name right) had the great idea of using toupee glue to stick the fabric to your sides. I’ve heard there’s glue for knee socks as well.
Superglue – For the Sintra
Hot glue – To put in the fabric parts
Velcro – depending on how you do it, this or snaps
Puffy Paint – Or substitute your own idea
Bondo – It’s the stuff they use to fix your car if it gets dented (the red color works best for me- it’s smoother)
Gold Leafing Paint, aging compound, sealer spray (gloss or matte) (Test sealer over your paint first – some will discolor.)
Small Brushes
Stiff paper, like tagboard (construction paper will tear too easily)
Gesso - Or use puffy paint
Band Saw/Scroll Saw - To cut the Sintra
Dremel Tool – To cut (if no saw available) and sand the Sintra
Tape
Hair clip thingies…your choice as you can put the hair things on different ways.
Sandpaper – Sand between coats. :)
Elastic (maybe six inches, to go on the sides of the skirt thing)
Wooden beads (four) and black or brown paint for them.
Black Cord (um…three yards?)
Small Drill (maybe a dremel attachment could substitute)
Bra:
You will not be able to just cut a long strip of Sintra and try to wrap it into a bra shape. It wont bend that way, only perpendicular to its plane. Stand in front of the mirror or get someone to help you for the first part. You need to create a rough shape for the bra out of the paper. Its easiest to tape the paper right onto your skin, just tear it and bend it so that it looks roughly the right shape. Make sure its covering under your chest and on the sides, and pretty even. You dont need to do the middle U shape yet, just the outsides and the middle squiggle. When you peel off the paper bra, flatten it against the Sintra. It will look really funny and long, but it will re-bend to fit you if you did it right. Trust me, what thou hast flattened, thou canst re-bend. :) Trace around it, making curved lines instead of the papers rough ones. Now is the time to make it pretty. If you want it more symmetrical, you can trace the same side twice, just do one side and then flip it over.
When you have all the other pieces cut, boil a big pot of water, dip the Sintra in and wait for it to get really flexible. It should only take a minute, and if its not bending really easily, the waters not hot enough. Bend it a little tight on you, as the Sintra will relax a little bit. Try to dip it in cold water, that will minimize any change in shape. Before you paint it, you have to texturize it or it will look like you cut out a piece of plastic and tried to wear it. Either use your dremel or an end nipper pliers to indent the sides (look at the picture of the bra and other pieces). Then use the gesso or puffy paint to make the little dots (again- picture). Youll drill in the holes into the top where the black cord goes around to the back. After you paint, you will put the cord through and use the wooden beads to cover both ends.
Middle of the bra:
Cut a U shape that matches the middle of Leias bra. Make it a little longer, so you have room to superglue it onto the rest of the bra. You may also need some small bits of wire here and on the arm band, so you can hot glue vertical pieces of the wire to help keep the Sintra from relaxing. This has four little dots you can make with gesso or puffy paint.
Bottom Strips of the bra:
Cut these (theyre just sort of long rectangle-ish things, bend them, drill little holes in the ends. I used a wire and some hot glue to attach these to the front inside of the bra. The other side bends around and you can put the other half of the cording in there, then use the wooden beads to cover the ends. I ended up hot gluing parts of these to the bottom of the bra for a little extra stability. It depends on how much *ahem* support you need.
Front and Back Panel Skirt:
You cut practice pieces out of stiff paper and tried them on already, right? Do that with everything, you dont want things to look out of scale when you put them on. Thats a lot worse than any small differences in detail, as it stands out right away to anyone glancing at you. Cut the shapes out of Sintra then bend them to curve around your body a little. You can also bend the sides a little to give it a little more dimension. For even more dimension, you could add a little model magic to the tops. (I didnt, and I dont know how it will work.)
To make the decorations I suggest drawing the pattern on stiff paper, then cutting it out and tracing it in pencil onto the front and back armor pieces (already bent!) Find some half-spheres (you could cut ping-pong balls in half or use the round half of Easter eggs) and glue those where they are suppose to be. I used silly putty eggs for the pieces on mine. I liked the shape better. You will need two for the hair clip and two for each of the front and back. Now, use the puffy paint to create the three dimensional shapes on the armor. Put it on thick and let it dry overnight, at least. It will dry, believe me. :) When it is dry, use Bondo to smooth it out. Now, for the textured parts, smear a little more puffy paint all over, then use something like a small chain to press into and quickly lift up all over the armor. When you paint over it, it will look Wrinkly like Leias armor. At least, since I never got a really in-focus look at itthats what Im thinking it looked like. It looks really good, anyway. :) There are some smooth parts of the armor, you dont want to get anything on that, and if you do, sand it off.
Oblong Side Connectors:
Easy, just cut them out of Sintra and bend them. Put on the little dots with gesso or puffy paint, or leave them smooth, I really couldnt tell in any pictures. Note: These are also important to get to scale.
Fabric Panels:
I just hot glued them into the inside of the panels. I think Ill use Velcro or snaps next time so I can change them.
Crotch:
I used a pair of underwear, cut out the sides, and used snaps to put it into both pieces of front and back armor. I hot glued the snaps right on. Using different sizes of snaps for front and back will keep you from getting it on backwards. If you are good at sewing, put in some elastic along the edges of this to keep a little more snug to your body.
Arm Band:
I made a long strip of Sintra with the ends pointing up and down for the snake heads. I had somebody bend it around my arm, then used a bit of wire hot glued in place to keep the Sintra from “relaxing”. I put on details with puffy paint for one, and left another version smooth. I think it is supposed to be smooth. The hot glue will grip the skin of your arm after it’s hardened, so you don’t want to get the armband too tight.
Wrist Bracelet:
Just cut out the shape from Sintra, bend, then add details with puffy paint. See a pattern here? :)
Hair Thingy:
Again, make it out of paper first, then trace onto the Sintra. This one didn’t even have any texture to it, I believe. You should put on the two round shapes, though. They probably shouldn’t stick out more than about inch, or they’ll look weird from the front. I made mine a little too big the first time. To stick it in my hair, I was going to glue a little comb thing inside, but I found that was not necessary if I sort of fit it around my hair. The hairpiece can be worn two different ways, I think, one pointing down and one pointing up. I have a lot of hair, but even still I don’t have enough to wear it the hair thingy in the “up” position.
Lower Hair Piece:
I used one of those new slap-bands that’s attached to a hair band. I put two slap bands together, then painted them then slid it up over the hair band. You can cut the slap bands to some extent, but there are sharp edges you need to cover with hot glue so you don’t hurt yourself. I wound up not using this and doing my hair differently than Leia had hers, because it was just easier
Neck Collar:
The first time, I just cut a band of Sintra, bent it around my neck, closed it with Velcro then used some round baby toy rings to cover where it closes. I also added details with puffy paint, like lines around the top and bottom. The second time, I made the band, created teeth from long fake nails, glued on rubber washer rings, then have the chain merely loop through both rings, holding the neck collar closed.
Chain:
Baby toys! There are linking baby toys available. I got mine at Target then painted them gold. With two colors of paint, they look even better.
Boots:
I did it how the Inuits did it, traced around my foot for the sole, sewed the sole to the sides of the boot. For the boot upper I made a pattern, then cut from suede. The top parts were made out of Sintra in the same way as the other hard parts. I hot glued them on. I also took an old pair of moccasins and cut out a bit of the sole, then glued it onto the bottom. I broke the top of one of my moccasins when I bent down on my heelsbut it super-glued back together very nicely.
