Jocasta Nu: Jedi Librarian

Jocasta Nu: Jedi Librarian

Rebel Legion Approved/Canon

This was my first approved Star Wars costume.

Fabric
Any linen or linen type fabric works well for a Jedi.  The most important thing for me was to get a khaki color for the tunic, and not yellow like many people use - it looks too fake.

When making this costume I learned the very important lesson of BUY EXTRA FABRIC!  The reason the band, sleeves and obi seem to be differntly colored than the body and tabards is because they are.  I made the tabards first and when I started cutting out for the tunic I soon realized my mistake.  I should have just made the rest from the extra fabric I found, but for some reason I didn't.

Tunic
For the tunic I used McCall pattern M2940 which is one of my favorite patterns for a Jedi costume.  In this case you will need to shorten it a little because it is with a skirt and not pants.

Undertunic
I used a old brown long sleeve shirt.  I wear it backwards to get the high neckline.  Since sleeves also need to show from the under tunic, this was easier than making a dicky.

Tabards & Obi
When I cut my tabbards and obi I just cut straight lines, but many women add a curve to the tabards to make it look better on a curvy body.  Padawan's Guide has a great tutorial if you want to try that out.

I drew the pattern on the tabards and obi by hand, in sections, with a pencil.  I then traced over with black sharpie, and then brown sharpie.  Doubling up on the sharpies gave it a deeper look and made the lines more "squiggly."  If you looks closely in the movie images the lines are not perfect, but if you try to draw imperfect lines it is going to look overdone.  I just let the imperfection happen naturally ;)

You will also notice that the tabards and obi do not have the seem at the edge like most clothes.  The backing is slightly larger than the front so there is a small border along the edge of the tabards and obi.  To get everything to lay flat, I used hem tape on the inside edges.  This keeps the border flat and in it's place.  It also makes everything lay really well when I'm wearing it.

Skirt
Just about any skirt pattern will work in this case, there isn't anything too special going on.  I originally wanted to make the skirt a dark green, but in order to get it approved it needed to be black.  So I did a black top skirt and a dark green underskirt to add some dimension.  I believe I used McCall pattern M4090 for both skirts.  I liked this pattern because it makes the skirt look very full.

Something else I thought of later would be to make the under tunic and under skirt a dress instead.  McCall pattern M4490 would be perfect for this.

Shoes
Any boot type shoes will do since they don't really show.  make sure no shoe laces or buckles show.

Librarian Tools
This was the really fun part.  I wandered around town until I found stuff that looked random enough to work.
- The longer tools are from some sort of toilet fixture. 
- The shorter rod is from a curtain bracket, I think.  The bulb is a cleaned out glitter glue bottle which turned out to be just the right shape.
- The bag is made of suede with leather string.
All of these are attached to a belt I wear under the obi - which also helps to keep the tabbards in place.

Hair
I braid my hair and then put it in a bun - the braids make the hairsticks stay in place better.  I have not found hairsticks I really like, so until then I use premium LeeAnn Chin's Disposable Chopstick.  It also gives me a good excuse to get some Cream Cheese Puffs before every troop ;)