Category: Content

Intro to Fabric Prospecting

(This article is a modified version of a workshop I recently taught at the 10th annual Whippoorwill Festival here in central Kentucky)
Greetings, galactic crafters! – and happy ‘May the Fourth’ weekend!
If you’re in search of an authentic GFFA wardrobe that can stand up to the rigors of authentic GFFA activities, I find that off-the-rack fashion pieces from Amazon can only take your look so far. When you’re in the middle of a tariff war and most of that cheap clothing comes from overseas, this might be the perfect time to add a useful skill to the ol’ proverbial toolbox and start creating more of your garments yourself!
So, do you want to create a solid, in-universe outfit but find that the good materials (linen, raw silk, wool, etc.) at the online fabric merchants have gotten too expensive? Or has your go-to big-box craft store gone bankrupt and closed its doors, leaving a choice between one that doesn’t even sell fabric in-store, and another run by Christian Nationalists? Then you should consider Fabric Prospecting!
What’s that? I’m glad you asked!

Traditionally, prospecting is done for valuable raw materials—like precious metals, or crude oil—but in the costumed arts, the raw material in demand is quality fabric! As you would expect, traditional markets price these accordingly (especially when compared with synthetics, which are dirt cheap). However, did you know that there’s an oft-overlooked source of high-quality, natural-fiber fabric just waiting to be exploited and put to costumery uses?

learn the secrets of fabric prospecting!

Why don’t we have a starfighter mobile game yet?

While this post is perhaps outside the scope of this blog’s usual meat&potatoes of galactic reenacting research and costume crafting, I still think it’s a worthwhile concept that I think many of you will appreciate, and which I hope gains traction! I trust that my aviation historian readers will note the date: 7 September, 1940 marked the beginning of nighttime bombing of London that became known as the Blitz.

As part of ‘inner persona’ “research” for the pilot impression I’ve been working on, I’m always looking for ways to gain insight into the flyboy life. I can only rewatch Top Gun, or Maverick‘s trench run so many times, and while some of Dan Hampton’s books were decent overviews, they’re largely lacking the level of detail I crave. At the same time (whether a cause or byproduct of the pilot project, I’m not sure), I’ve been on a bit of a Second World War kick lately and was curious if there are any good WW2 pilot-based mobile games to play on my lunch break. Luckily, I managed to find one that I think is pretty much perfect, and it got me thinking…

a fun game recommendation and a great idea, after the jump

SWLH 2023-24 site update

Dear readers: happy new year! – I hope your 2024 is off to a good start and holds good times in store!
I want to begin by apologizing for my lack of engagement with this blog over the last season or two.
Whenever one tries to pursue a hobby into something more than a hobby, the threat of burnout is constant, and sadly—despite being a decently-successful member of its Maker community—my mental health when it comes to the Galaxy Far, Far Away took a definite downturn over this past year. (What I really need is to just stay off Star Wars Instagram, which typically takes just a couple swipes to alternately deflate my self-confidence, inflame my inferiority complex, zap my motivation, and/or raise my blood pressure! (Now there are some topics in serious need of unpacking!)

So then, what have I been up to?

-After spending most of 2023 sewing a succession of vest commissions for folks lucky enough to experience the short-lived Galactic Starcruiser (with a particularly hectic late-summer rush to outfit several final-voyage travelers), I had to return to a more conventional job for a steadier (and larger) source of income. Sewing-for-hire is great, and I love seeing my customers get to live their adventures wearing clothes I made for them, but it can’t quite pay the bills (at least not yet)!
Bike-commuting to/from and working a 9-to-5, detail-oriented, standing-desk job demands a totally different kind of energy than full-time crafting, and as a result I’m usually pretty wiped out when I come home, and after household chores, cooking dinner, and giving my partner and doggo the attention they deserve, there’s often very little time for galactic pursuits and other fun! Lately, I’ve been taking a break from the GFFA in favor of indulging my inner six-year-old by building out my herd of Jurassic Park dinosaurs (often repainted and retooled for scientific accuracy, naturally!).

-Just after Halloween I was approached by the host of the Into a Larger World podcast, who had found this blog and wanted to hear all about my approach to the GFFA. Eventually, we were able to chat and record an episode, which you can check out here! It was a ton of fun to sit down and actually talk Star Wars with another person for a change!

-Then there was my annual fall trek with the Middle-earth Reenactment Society, preparations for which took up every moment of free time for the better part of a week. (This time, we decided to do a paddle-in campout, which meant I had to get creative and tackle some major, long-overdue renovations to my rawhide canoe.)

On the way back home from the wilderness trip, I managed to snag something I’d had my eye out for (at least) the last six months  – an old Wedge Antilles pilot helmet from Hasbro’s Black Series.
Why? Because OT flyboys are where it’s at! Yep, that’s right, I’ve been on hiatus long enough to almost finish building a whole new kit!

As I’m currently in the grasp of a polar vortex, we’re stuck waiting on warmer temperatures to return so I can properly weather it and finish up a few pieces, but I’m almost there – and you can be sure a full breakdown will be published in future posts!

So, what does 2024 hold in store for this site? I’m still trying to fight the good fight, and have several Galactic Style Guide entries in the works. I’d still like to do some costumer spotlight-interviews if possible, and I should definitely have some finally-finished projects to show off fairly soon! On the Offworld Outfitters side of things, once we get our Mark 3 vest pattern knocked out (third time’s the charm!), I would like to reopen my commissions, but likely on a more limited scale—ideally, something like one a month or so. I also have plans for a couple of non-vest offerings to put out there—but those announcements will have to wait until the time is right 😉

What are your GFFA costuming/reenacting/living history goals for 2024? Let me know in a comment below, or come chat with us on the SWLH facebook group!

Diamonds in the Rough – Colin “OddViking” Adams (part 2)

Welcome back to our monthly spotlight series, where we discuss Star Wars costumers who have ‘gone the distance’ and put in the effort to create solid, in-universe outfits or personas. This is the second half of our two-part interview with Colin Adams, and after digging deep into the design stages in last month’s entry, we’re ready to follow along as he starts his actual build process!

When first considering this project, Colin said he knew how to sew “at a moderate level”, and knew there were other folks who made custom Mando-style flightsuits. However, he also knew that if he was able to attempt this and succeed at it, not only could he learn some new skills, but he would also be able to alter and tailor it himself! I’ve always been a big fan of Lev Vygotsky’s ‘ZPD’ theory when applied to reenacting-crafting, and it helps to choose projects which not only build on one’s existing skills but which can help push them to the next level – but not to bite off something completely outside your existing skillset! If you’ve never touched a needle and thread before, sewing something as complex as a screen-quality flightsuit for your first project would likely result in you getting frustrated and giving up. There are no ‘skip three levels ahead’ cheat codes IRL, so it pays to work smart, start small, and build on what you already know! Looking back on his project, Colin said that while things like setting a zipper fly were so much more complex than they seemed at first, “I feel like I leveled up two levels doing this suit: it really came out great and fits me perfectly.”

the secrets of authentic Star Warsy crafting continue…

Diamonds in the Rough – Colin “OddViking” Adams (part 1)

Welcome back to our monthly spotlight series, where we discuss Star Wars costumers who have ‘gone the distance’ and put in the effort to create solid, in-universe outfits or personas. This is actually the first half of a two-parter, because our subject has gone so totally above and beyond and built an incredible kit with tons of details that spreading it out over two months is the only way to really do it justice!

If you’ve spent any time exploring Star Wars content on Instagram in the last several years, chances are you’ve seen Colin Adams’ incredible work before. As a professional graphic designer/illustrator, Colin has a very large bag of tools to draw from, and puts them all to good use with a number of impressive cosplays and kits, each fully-detailed and seamlessly dropped into immersive settings with the magic of Photoshop. At the beginning of this year, when I saw Colin was starting a custom Mandalorian build, I knew the final result would be amazing. As we’ve discussed previously in our First Steps series, one of the keys to successfully creating an effective GFFA character is to dedicate time at the beginning of the process to doing your research and really nailing down what the ‘outer persona’ should look like.

creating this incredible mando kit, step by step

Diamonds in the Rough – Keith Olsen

Welcome back to our monthly spotlight series, where we discuss Star Wars costumers who have ‘gone the distance’ and put in the effort to create solid, in-universe outfits or personas. This month’s entry comes from Keith Olsen, who has done his research to put together an excellent impression of a generic ‘Pyke Syndicate’ soldier.

As you can see, this build was initially inspired by the appearance of the Pykes as seen on ‘The Book of Boba Fett‘ (though as I’ll discuss in a bit, an animated-style Pyke would look quite different!), and as such is based at around 5 ABY.

Keith did a lot of old-school costume replication legwork – unless something goes on display for an exhibit, this typically involves very carefully scrutinizing screenshots – to determine the materials and types of clothing that could be bought off the shelf for this outfit.
Let’s examine the elements one by one!

keep reading for the full breakdown and details

Diamonds in the Rough – Mandalorian foundling

Welcome back to our monthly spotlight series, where we discuss Star Wars costumers who have ‘gone the distance’ and put in the effort to create solid, in-universe outfits or personas. This month’s entry is actually a bit of a carry-over from last month, because while building his own Mandalorian ‘Kryos’ kit, T.H. also created a simple but highly-effective outfit for his own youngling at home:

Less is more!

Diamonds in the Rough – ‘Kryos’

Welcome back to our monthly spotlight series! In this feature, I interview Star Wars costumers who have ‘gone the distance’ and put in the effort to create solid, in-universe outfits or personas. This month, we’re learning from T.H., who has taken skills he honed as a historic reenactor and applied them to the GFFA setting, to great success with his excellent Mandalorian kit, ‘Kryos’:

When asked about his initial inspiration for this character design, TH says he was born in winter and has always felt a connection to snow, so creating a snow-based kit was only logical! As we would expect, the snowtroopers of Episode V were a big influence.
TH began the creation of this outfit by looking to “many influences”, not only the aforementioned snowtroopers, but also Echo Base rebels, other ‘arctic Mandalorian’ fan costumes, and real-world cultures from harsh climates, like historic Scandinavians. While he admitted that many of these inspirations didn’t end up in the final costume, as he says, “the research helps in getting on the right path.”

more insights in the full interview

Diamonds in the Rough – the ‘Normandy Quarren’

Welcome back to our monthly spotlight series! In this feature, I interview Star Wars costumers who have ‘gone the distance’ and put in the effort to create solid, in-universe outfits or personas. This month, we’re very fortunate to bring you a look inside the French organization Transfert à Ord Mantell. The group is made up of several traditional (historic) reenactors who have applied their skills at reenacting to the galactic setting. When the photoset from their recent Normandy beach shoot hit the interwebs last month, it made quite a splash, and I knew I just HAD to pick their brains and learn more!

While there was obviously a lot of high-standard work on display, as the majority were existing character types (Imperial officer, stormtroopers, mudtrooper, scout trooper, a lowly rebel technician) or a known character (Boba Fett), the one that really caught my eye was their original Quarren character design:

what is it that makes this design WORK so well?