Han Solo Costume: Making of Han's "A New Hope" Outfit

For Convolution 2014, I wore the outfit I had created as the Masquerade entry along with a friend, where we did a cross-play skit with Han & Leia (or Hannah and Lee, if you will).

I LOVE love love this costume, and will probably be wearing it as a hall costume at multiple conventions. I even bought a Wookie backpack to wear it around for the evening (which was great for holding my knitting projects! (Plus, he's super cute...and well, WOOKIE BACKPACK!

Our Masquerade skit at ConVolution went off a smashing success, and we got the award "Judges' Choice: Funniest Presentation", which pleased us to no end. A video of the full masquerade is available on YouTube; we are at about the 20 minute mark as we were the "finale" to the masquerade.

Our skit is at the 20 minute mark.

I wanted to write a summation post about Han's outfit, which included what I learned and reality vs. expectation so that it might help other costumers create their own version.

From the onset, Han's costume looks relatively easy, but there are some complex considerations, especially if you want to make something that would pass the Rebel Legion's specification (if they allowed cross-play).  Certainly, a lot of these costume pieces can be purchased; there are many places where you can purchase pre-made Han Solo costumes, but I wanted the satisfaction of making it myself.

As mentioned in my preliminary post, I wanted to use / re-use as much as I could (i.e. fabric from my Stash, items I already had, etc), and spend as minimal as possible, but I also wanted to make the parts I was creating as screen accurate as possible within the timeline I had.  I already had the following: the black leather belt, the black leather boots, the gun holster. So, it was just matter of making the rest.

It took me about 6.5 weeks to make the costume working on it a few hours each week and some dedicated hours on the weekends -- starting a week after SDCC (end of July) to 2 weeks before ConVolution 2014.

Good luck! If you have any questions, feel free to email me or leave a comment.
And may the Force be with you.

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Costume Summation

The following is a summation of each of the posts, along with resource links and suggested patterns. I'll be slowly adding to and modifying my Han Solo outfit -- making a more screen accurate black belt, getting better boots, etc., I'll post about those as I come to them and update this post when I do.

Making the Shirt

For the shirt, I created my own pattern, because I didn't like the initial pattern I intended to use. However, there are a number of  commercial patterns that can be easily modified to create the shirt. As I already had plenty of muslin lying around, there was little cost in making this piece.

The Rebel Legion has the following guidelines for this shirt: "White or cream color long-sleeve shirt with placket v-neck and short mandarin collar." So you have plenty of lee-way in creating it.

• Post: Making the Shirt
• Suggested Patterns: Simplicity 1286. You'll need to modify the collar. 

Making the Pants:

For this piece, I purchased 5 yards of navy blue denim (100% cotton) fabric using one of their 50% coupon. I spent about $40.00 on the fabric and $10.00 of Guterman regular red thread for the embroidery machine (you don't need "specific" embroidery thread). The pants pattern was about $1.00 on sale at JoAnns; I suggest waiting for one of their pattern sales that they have on a regular basis.

The Rebel Legion guidelines are: Dark blue or navy pocketless pants with accurate red Corellian bloodstripes. But when you add the riding seam, pintuck, and embroidered stripe, you have "formal" Han Solo pants per the Rebel Legion specifications.

The riding seam was fairly easy to add as was the pintuck. However, I recommend having another person help you align the pintuck correctly after you have created your mockup. Make sure to make a full (or nearly full) mockup to ensure that the fit is correct with the pintuck, riding seam, and blood stripes. 

• Part 1: Pattern & Mockup -- Including how to add the riding seam
• Part 2: Embroidery the Bloodstripe
• Part 3: Finishing the Pants
• Resource: Aimee Major has some good tips on adding the riding seam and bloodstripe
• Suggested Patterns: Any blue jean pattern that uses denim as a suggested fabric
• Suggestion: 
• If you decide to make a full-length pair of pants (instead of knickers as some costumers have done), I highly suggest adding stirrups to ensure that the pants won't ride up in your boot and make putting on boots easier.
• If you don't have an embroidery machine, you can easy find someone on Etsy.com or locally to embroider your stripes. Simply provide them with the file that Aimee was considerate in making a Creative Commons file.

Making the Vest:

For this piece, I modified an existing pattern I drafted. In addition, I already had a medium weight black cotton/denim twill, so there was little monetary cost. However, it took quite a bit of time to ensure that the pockets were correct AND to scale on my body. I had to remake the pockets twice to get the right "depth". For me, this vest took the longest to get it to look right.

I highly recommend making a full mockup out of muslin before working your fabric.

• Part 1: Pattern & Mockup 
• Part 2: Adding Pockets
• Resource: Tutorial on making the pockets
• Suggested Patterns: Any pattern that contains a "yoke" on the front or back:
• Falcon Jacket pattern
• Simplicity 1287 -- with heavy modifications. You need to add the pockets, but it has the yoke.

 

Modifying the Blaster & Holster

The toy blaster from Amazon cost $10 with shipping, and the spray paint was another $15.00. I already had the gun belt, but a new holster needed to be made to fit the gun.

• Part 1: Modifying the Blaster
• Part 2: Making a new Holster
• Resource: 
• Instructable instructions on modifying a toy
• Rebel Legion Forum

 

Other Costume Elements

There are other costume elements, such as the items Han wears on his belt (i.e. droid caller, bits & bobs.) You can purchase the droid caller at Corellian Exports. I went without these elements, as I felt that the major parts I created were pretty iconic and easily recognizable as Han Solo. However, if you want to go for complete screen accuracy, I suggest getting these other elements.

 

Additional Resources:

The following are some additional resources that were extremely helpful to me during the making of the costume:

• Google Images Search on Han Solo 
• Aimee Major's Blog -- has some really good information, screencaps, AND she has the embroidery file for the bloodstripe
• Kay-Dee's Blog -- a lot of photos of her costume and great information on sources.
• Instructable instructions on modifying a toy
• Rebel Legion Forums 
• General information and links to threads 
• Guidelines on Han's costume for ANH
• Rebel Legion Forum regarding Blaster

Han Solo Costume: Crafting the Blaster Holster

Once the blaster was done, my Viking had to make the new hostler.  This first image is the existing holster. It looks big enough, but it's made for a gun that has a much smaller overall width. This section documents how he created the holster. Unfortunately, there aren't photos of each step, but I hope that it's is enough to show the overall steps of what he did.

So, using paper, he created a pattern using some reference photos that we took during the Star Wars exhibit.

Afterwards, it was a matter of cutting out the leather and crafting it appropriately.

1. Cutting the leather to the pattern.
2. Getting the leather wet and molding it around to the appropriate shape. A lot of binder clips and spring clamps were used to help keep it in shape.
3. Once the leather dried to the correct shape, it was stitched together and conditioned.
4. The pieces were individually dyed and then put together.

He dye'd the leather match the existing belt color. It looks red in this photo, but it's really a dark dark brown.

Here's the final blaster holster as well as the leg attachment.

Han Solo Costume: Modifying the Blaster

As it gets closer to Convolution 2014, the last finishing touches of my outfit are coming together -- the blaster and holster. Both are done, but I have yet to finish taking photos, so I will break it into different blog posts.

My Viking wanted to do the modifications on the toy blaster that I got from Amazon.com. He loves modifying guns, and I was able to concentrate on other things. The gun, while not completely screen accurate, is very passable AND it makes "authentic" pew pew noises from the movie. It was also about $10.00 USD with shipping, so overall a reasonable price for a prop.

We went over to our local craft store and picked up the necessary paints (spray paints and touch up paints) needed to transform the orange & white toy to look like a passable version of the DL-44 blaster).

First, he pried off the muzzle barrel and gave everything a black matte primer, then spray painted it a glossier black.

After he was happy with how it looked, he put the finishing touches, including painting the "wooden" grip (with aging) and the muzzle barrel silver.

It took several days to finish the gun, which mostly involved waiting for paint to dry. However the finished product looks pretty good and should be fine for on-stage usage.

However, the toy gun was BIGGER than the holster that went the gun belt I was going to use, so that necessitated making a gun holster that fit this prop that would fit on the gun belt. So, that will be the subject of my nearly last blog post on the making of this costume

Han Solo Costume: Making the Vest (2)

Once I finished the mock-up, I started working with the fashion fabric. It was very easy to start piecing everything together, especially after making the mock-up as it gave me a template to follow.

However, I had forgotten that I had wanted to add magnetic closures to the pockets so that they wouldn't flap open. They are slightly more expensive than other closure types (such as snaps), but the ease of use of the magnets, especially when you're in full costume, outweighs the cost.

When I drafted out the pockets initially I hadn't taken into consideration adding the one inch closure into the pocket and pocket flap. Consequently, I had to increasing the size of the flap and the pocket slightly to allow for the size of the closure.  It was a minor, but annoying modification.

I made each panel (front left, front right, and back) and added each pocket to each panel. (It was much easier to sew the pockets onto each panel individually.) First, I marked out all of the seam allowances, then using my mock-up as a guide, I pinned all of the pockets into place.

Once I pinned all of the pockets into place, I eyeballed the two panels together to make that all of the pockets lined up horizontally. I used a lot of pins. Then I did the same for the backpiece.

After I put together the fashion fabric together, I made the lining using a black cotton/polyester blend, then seamed the whole thing together.

As a side note, black denim attracts lint & fur like a magnet, and my kittens love to sit on it! By the time I was done, it looks like a Wookie had shed all over the vest. (I must remember to bring a lint roller to the convention!)

Once the whole thing was together, I did a bit more finishing work, including top-stitching the neckline, armholes, and bottom. Then there was minor tailor stitching for all of the pocket flaps to ensure that they won't stick out .

Here's the semi-final costume, sans the holster. We're still working on the blaster.

(Vest with shirt and pants)

Back of the vest.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with how the vest turned out. There were some fiddly bits (primarily pockets and their placement), but it was an easy pattern to draft out. 

With this completion of the vest, it's just a matter of the rest of the accouterments.

Han Solo Costume: Making the Vest (1)

After I finished the pants, I started working on the Han Solo vest. But, with my schedule, I couldn't work on it for a few days. So, over the holiday weekend, I finished up the mockup that was languishing on my dress dummy.

Many cosplayers have made this item. Some are using the Falcon jacket pattern and it looks like you can purchase one from Magnoli for a not-cheap sum. However, as I had made a 'cargo' vest previously (my Melinda May vest), I just decided to use this pattern as base (as the two vests are "close enough").

There are some differences -- the Han Solo vest has a yoke for the front & back and no collar. (Actually, the Melinda May vest also has a back yoke -- I saw screencaps of the back AFTER I made the vest...go figure.)

So, I redrafted the vest to include the yokes and appropriate seam allowances. Then I took a pencil to sketch out where all of the pockets should be located (vs. actual Han Solo's vest) along with the appropriate proportions for MY body.  It took me several attempts to get the right size pocket for each section, as they are ALL different sizes!!! Then I took a black sharpie marker once I was happy with the look.

Here's the back with a the loops and back pocket sketched out along with the comparison photo.

Once I had the outlines I wanted, I took the measuring tape and took the relative dimensions for each pocket loops. Each of the pockets are "accordion pockets", which means that they expand outwards. (In some screenshots from "A New Hope", you see that some of the pockets are slightly expanded, due to either the way Han Solo is standing or he has something in the pocket.)

Also, Aimee Major was kind enough to create a zip file with photos of the Han Solo vest with a write-up from an archived thread of the Rebel Legion forums. It was extremely helpful while making my vest, and I referred to it constantly. 


I started experimenting with different pocket "depths" for the accordion pocket to see what would work best for me in different places. Unlike Harrison Ford, I have boobs and a very deep accordion pocket wouldn't work for the topmost pockets.

For the top pockets, I used a 1/2" (1.587 cm) depth, but for the bottom and back pocket, I opted for a 3/4 inch (1.9cm) deep pocket. (Here's a decent tutorial on how to make accordion pockets.)

Here's the pockets with various sized pockets
so I could get a feel for what would be a good depth.

Using a similar technique for the loops, I played around with different depths for how "deep" I wanted the loops.

I'm fairly happy with how the mockup looks, so I can start working with the black twill fashion fabric. Also, with this new "base" pattern, I'll probably re-work the Melinda May vest to be more fitted after I finish up Han Solo using THIS as the base pattern. :-)

Han Solo Costume: Making the Pants (3)

This past weekend, I finished 98% of the pants (I still need to do hem the pants and add a stirrup so that it doesn't bunch up when I put on boots.

I am really pleased at how it turned out, and it's very comfortable to wear. I think I might reuse this pattern to make better pants for my Melinda May outfit because her cargo pants are pretty form fitting (unlike commercially available versions)

Here's the back view that I based on my existing pair of jodhpurs. I added two belt carriers at the back waist.

And the front of the pants with the pintuck and the front belt carriers. I miscalculated when placing the bloodstripes. I wanted them to start just slightly above the waistband, but ended up being a little bit more than what I wanted. As "perfection is the enemy of the done", I opted to just leave it as is. The belt, gun belt, and vest will cover this part of the costume.

 

And the final set of pants with the full bloodstripe.

I made the pants longer than necessary (about 4" longer than my legs) because I wanted to have extra length when I did the bloodstripe, just in case the machine screwed up slightly and I needed to cut a few stripes out.

Han Solo Costume: Embroidering Bloodstripes (Pants 2)

Before family & friends arrived, I started working on the bloodstripes for my Han Solo outfit. As I mentioned before in a previous post, Amiee Major had kindly put up the embroidery file under a Creative Commons License in her blog post.

I downloaded the file, and marked out the areas to put down the stripes.

I made a couple of test pieces, just to check the thread tension, and placement, etc. Then I set up my machine to do the full thing. I used:

• Guterman thread in their 410 red colorway. It's a bright red that contrasted well with the blue denim that I had chosen. 
• Tear-away stabilizer suitable for denim. (Make sure to get the RIGHT type of stabilizer otherwise, you will have problems!)

The front & back of the bloodstripes.

It took almost two hours to embroidery one panel for one leg. I did one panel one evening and another panel on a separate evening. (While babysitting the first panel to ensure that nothing went horribly wrong, I got a lot of knitting done!)

Because the file is made for a 250 x 150 mm hoop, you can only do a certain number of stripes at a time and have to move the hoop down after each section was completed. Once a section completed, I had to carefully line up all of my marks to do the next part of the panel. I would have modified the file to do a larger hoop size, but unfortunately, I hadn't installed the embroidery software on my (newish) computer and I didn't feel like dragging out the disks to install it.

It took 1.75 spools and nearly 4 bobbins of thread to complete both stripes. (I'm really glad that I bought three new spools of thread just for this project!) The stripes came out very nicely with only minor issues, which I can fix by hand.

After each panel was completed, I had to take my small sharp scissors and a pair of tweezers to snip all of the connecting threads. (It was a lot of snipping.)

I snipped threads on one panel while the machine worked on another.

Now, I can start sewing the rest of the pants.

Han Solo Costume: Making the Pants (1)

With the shirt done, the next most difficult part was going to be the making of the Han Solo pants. There are a few good resources that I looked at:

• Aimee Major's Very Helpful Guide -- she offers up an embroidery file for the bloodstripe using the Viking Designer, which is the sewing machine that I have.
• Information from the Rebel Legion. Search their forums, too. There's plenty of images of other people's costumes.

For the pattern, I opted for McCall's M6610 pants.

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From Aimee's post and embroidery file, I knew the bloodstrip was one inch wide. I made the bloodstripe pattern piece three inches wide to accommodate a french seam.

As I mentioned before, I tend to always copy out my patterns so I can make modifications as necessary. Because I had used a McCall's pattern for the 10th doctor (and Simplicity & McCalls are the same company), I felt I could make the modifications prior to making a first mockup of JUST the pattern. (Yeah, that didn't go over so well....but keep reading...)

Han's pants have a riding seam. I took out my actual riding jodhpurs and used those as a guideline for modifying the pattern. (This is the original pattern with the cutting line for the riding seam. At the same time, I knew that the bloodstripe piece was going to be three inches wide, so I removed a little bit from the outer seam of the back pattern piece to accommodate the bloodstripe width with French seams.

Here's the two new pieces that I re-drew with the added seam allowance.

The front pattern piece had very little modifications, except for removing the bloodstripe amount from the front.

For my mockup, I used carefully marked out the bloodstripe piece and used a highlighter to make stripes. This way, I could tell where the stripes were and make the mockup accordingly.

Unfortunately, my first mockup didn't quite fit all that well. It was too tight. The riding seam was perfectly aligned as was the bloodstripe, but it was a half size too small for me to wear comfortably. After making two more mockups, my final pattern had 1.25 inches added to the back pattern piece seam and 5/8 inches of fabric to the front pattern piece.

Remember when I said that Simplicity & McCall's was now the same company? Apparently, they don't use the same sloper. I SHOULD have made the pattern as-is, THEN made the other modifications. I would have had to make only two mockups instead of the three.

Now, it's time to make the full set of pants, starting with embroidering the bloodstripe....

Han Solo Costume: Making the Shirt

Han Solo's shirt is a simple v-neck placket shirt with a short mandarin-like collar and set-in sleeves There's been some debate on whether the fabric is a stretch knit fabric or woven fabric. It's a bit hard to tell (although I think it's the stretch knit), so I went with a woven fabric (i.e. muslin) because I have plenty of it. There's no need to buy fabric when I have a perfectly good substitute.

I didn't think I needed to make too many modifications. Although his shirt gapes a little bit more than what I would be comfortable wearing, so I wanted to change that slightly for me.

Men's shirts haven't changed much over the ages, so I decided that I would use an existing pattern that I owned because I thought it would be easier. I would use a combination of elements - the short mandarin collar of "The Last Quarter" with the V-neck placket of the "Highlander". There would be some additional modifications, like set-in sleeves and no cuff. It would save me the hassle of drafting my own pattern.

However, I discovered that this pattern wasn't going to cut it -- it didn't have set-in sleeves and used a sleeve gussett, so I went back to the drawing board and drafted out my own pattern using my generic sloper. (And used the placket pattern from the Tailor's Guide pattern.)

My back sloper piece is for one side of the back. For this pattern, I opted to make a single back piece so I made the pattern piece to be on the fold.

I also drafted out the sleeves accordingly, although I did have to make a small gusset piece for under the arm for it to fit correctly. I decided to live "dangerously" and make my mock-up the final shirt if it turned out well. Why? Because I have already made outfits using my sloper and I know it fits so I didn't feel the need to make two shirts.

It took me about four hours to finish the shirt, including drafting out the pattern, which isn't too bad. The completed shirt looks pretty darn close.  I used a roll hem for the shirt bottom. I still need to trim down the placket on the inside, but that's a minor fix.

And here's the required cat shot; Pharaoh helping me draft out the pattern.

And now I can move onto the harder pieces!