Saturday, October 29, 2011

Jedi's Robe - Halloween 2011 - Simplicity 9887

 Before I begin the saga of Halloween Sewing 2011, let me introduce you to the inspiration for this year's costumes.  Three years ago, in 2008, I made a black robe and tunic for my brother.
Scott is 6'8".  He was inspired to be a dark wizard, but not just any dark wizard.  He wanted to be 8' tall.  So, he bought some painter's stilts and added 15" to his already incredible height.
I sewed him a robe and tunic with a lot of extra length.
This is what he looked like when it was all done.
Fast forward to 2011.  This is Scott's friend, Lorin, aka: Jedi.  He wanted a black robe just like Scott's, and he would also be wearing stilts.  This is the makeup he wore with his costume.  
I busted out Simplicity 9887 from my pattern stash and cut out a robe and tunic.  Jedi is 6'1" and wears an approximate size Large, so I chose to make the Medium, and I used my husband to check the length, as he is also 6'1".

I had already added extra length to the pattern, so I just cut it 7" shorter than the length I used for Scott. 
Jedi informed me that his stilts were 12-14", so I dug around to find something for Tyler to stand on, and I ended up using a cooler, which was 14".  Tyler was pretty shocked that he was so close to the ceiling.  

This is what the tunic looks like.  The front and back are identical, and the neckline and armholes are finished with facings.  I added slits to the sides starting at around mid-calf.  If a person was not wearing stilts, the slit would probably be more useful if it was closer to the knee. 
Then I put the robe on him and marked all the hems.  If you look at the bottom of the sleeve, you can see that it's turned up an inch to check the length.
I love the hood, which is basically a square, very simple, and I love the topstitched seams on the front and back.
The sleeves are so dramatic!
Stay tuned!  I'll show off Jedi's finished ensemble in a later post.

2 comments:

  1. Hey, how much fabric did you use for the Medium? I just bought this for someone 5"10 with the same build as the gentleman in your photos but according to the pattern measurements I should make a large?? Yours looks so huge anyway though and the amount of cloth called for seems excessive.. is it a double layer for lining? I'm a novice and the fabric store people are ZERO help. Cheers :)

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  2. Um, I'm not really sure, as I did this in extra, extra long. But what worked for me was folding the fabric out flat in a double layer on a huge table, and I cut the 2 huge tunic pieces out of that, then I folded the rest normally, and all I had left was to cut the sleeves, the hood, and the yokes. Let me know if this makes sense?

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