My Zam Wessel - from bits and pieces to something eventually wearable

[carpe mindiem]

Do you guys have the Dressing A Galaxy book? If not, I have one you can borrow...

I've heard about that book, but no, we don't have a copy. I'd *love* to borrow it.

Did you cut each individual square out and then drill them?

I did cut them all, as Marc mentioned, since they had to be all different sizes. I felt kinda dumb after I was done rotary cutting them when it occurred to me that I could have used the strap cutter for that part, too. Oh well.

Marc asked the other day if I would consider making other skirts to sell after my costume is all done. Uh, no way! I wish I'd kept track of how long this took me. So far, the skirt alone has to have been at least 20 hours. That's a conservative estimate. I still have to go over all surfaces of each square and the lacing with the sealer, which I'm sure will take hours, and then lacing the thing takes 3-4+ hours from what I've read. Aside from all that, I don't want to make it easier for a bunch of Zam's to be running around. I want something unique. 

[RebelPrincess]

Do you guys have the Dressing A Galaxy book? If not, I have one you can borrow...

I've heard about that book, but no, we don't have a copy. I'd *love* to borrow it.

I own it ^_^! As long as ya take care of it I'm totally cool with letting you borrow it,

[Sithman]

Mindie that looks awesome!I'm getting more and more excited to see the finish outfit,it's gonna be awesome!!!

[carpe mindiem]

Here's the fruit of my labor all day today:


That's less than half the lacing I have to do, since I still need to go back up each column and then finish off the ends.

I started trying to lace on Friday and Saturday, got 3 hours and 4 columns into it before I realized I was doing it all wrong. So I pulled those laces out and started over today. Once I got it figure out, it took 15-20 minutes to go down each column (15 of them). Going back up will be slower since I'll have to use a needle or some other implement to fit the lace back through all the previously laced holes. I think the 3-4 hour estimate for the lacing was bunk--it'll take way longer!

The laces hanging out at the top will get tied into a belt that gets hidden by the cummerbund I have yet to even think about.

It's really cool having a part of this costume that is starting to look like a final product.

[Sora]

Zam is one of my favorite female characters from the movies and I can't wait to see this costume finished. So far its looking really good from what I have seen, and you are doing an excellent job. Only question I have, are you going to make or buy her rifle ? Its such a cool gun.

[carpe mindiem]

No rifle for now. Once I'm finished with the whole costume, I'll probably move on to the rifle.

[carpe mindiem]

I've been working on lacing back up the columns, getting only two or three done each day before my fingers couldn't take any more. I got five columns done yesterday and the final end lacing done tonight. 17 columns: 20 minutes going down each + 25 minutes threading back up each = over 12 hours of finger-numbing work.

Here's a picture of the nearly finished skirt on top of my bodysuit fabric.

It'll hang up now for a few days so that it's weight can stretch out the lace, and then I'll retighten as needed. The final step will be to make a belt and tie the ends to it. I'm sooooo happy to have this piece done!

[Cooter Davis]

Been a while since we've seen an update. Has there been any progress on this.
I can't wait to see it all finished up.

[carpe mindiem]

I painted a bunch of greeblies awhile back. Besides that and just receiving more parts, I haven't done much. One of these days I'll take my fabric over to the seamstress to see what it'll take to make the undersuit. I still need to acquire materials for and determine how to make the cumberbund and vest. That's the big stuff that's still completely outstanding.

[carpe mindiem]

I dropped off my fabric with a seamstress yesterday. In a few weeks, after a couple of fittings, I'll have my body suit.

Today we got some supplies at Oregon Leather Co. and I painted my boots. I still need to figure out how I want to hack them up (they're too tall and really hard to get on and off because they're so narrow). They get mostly covered up, so the leftover olive color at the top will either get cut off or will be completely covered by my shin armor.

Click to see picture of boots

[carpe mindiem]

It was a productive weekend for Zam.

1. Finished the skirt. Belt is done, and it's ready to wear.


2. Worked on the chest and stomach armor. I need to find some way to cut out those letters on the upper plate of the chest armor before I paint it. The engraver attachment I got for the Dremel is too thin in diameter for our Dremel to grip. Annoying! I'm not sure I like the color of the back piece of the stomach armor. I might redo that.


3. Started on the leather that covers most of the boot that won't be covered by shin or toe armor. My sewing machine doesn't want to sew the strip on to the bigger piece, so gluing it to the boot is on hold until I figure out what to do about that.


More details and pics here: http://home.comcast.net/~mindiem

[carpe mindiem]

I'm bringing this project back from the dead.

I finally gave in to the truth that my boots were too small, so a couple weeks ago I got a new pair on ebay that's a size bigger and has elastic on the sides for much easier putting on and taking off. I deglazed and painted the boots, and I cut out and painted new boot covers this afternoon. Everything's drying right now before I sew the boot cover parts together and then glue them onto the boots. Pics to come.

A lady who's been building a Zam for YEARS decided to stop and she sold off all the parts she had, so I got the leather and other bits for the cummerbund and some stuff for the vest from her.

I have the top of my undersuit from the seamstress. I need to go back and try on the pants again. The last time I was there, they were way too big and baggy, so she's making them tighter. But that's close to being done.

The only major things left are getting the leather for the vest, constructing the vest and cummerbund, and doing something about the super-small helmet that won't fit on my head. Marc's helping out on assembling my blaster. There's still lots of painting and weathering to do. And I'll have to come up with some contraptions for holding everything in place. At least the finished skirt still looks good! 

[Ribann]

SWEET! I saw this thread about you making Zam and I was like, "YES!!!! Awesome!!!" I'm making a Jango and it should be done in a couple months. It will be nice to have a "business partner". If anyone comes dressed as a senator from Naboo, we'll know what to do. 

[Mosi]

If anyone comes dressed as a senator from Naboo, we'll know what to do. 

You probably won't have to worry about that since she is the only current Senator Padme with the base/garrison. It may be kind of hard to wear two costumes at once! HAHA!

[Luananeko]

So instead she just has to worry about her former business partner shooting her when she wears the Padme outfit instead of the Zam Wessel one