Tag: DIY

Research Pays Off: Jedi Service Corps Embroidery

Back last spring when I was first putting my AgriCorps Jedi persona together, I wanted some way to help indicate (besides the bucket hat, folding trowel, and complete lack of lightsaber) that Silo wasn’t another run-of-the-mill Knight that most people picture when they think ‘Jedi’. What I really wanted was some kind of patch that I could sew onto my outfit or field gear to help designate my membership in the Agricultural Corps.
Since I didn’t know of any existing symbols used by the various branches of the Service Corps (what’s the plural of corps? It can’t be corpses?), I opted to use a mid-90s Girl Scout ‘Plant Culture’ merit badge, since—to my eyes—it looked like a pair of non-human hands growing a plant with the Jedi consitor sato technique.
plant culture GS
However, recent subsequent research has yielded a great development—the various branches of the Service Corps did, in fact, have their own insignia after all!: Continue reading “Research Pays Off: Jedi Service Corps Embroidery”

Step 5 – Craft It!

Now that you know what you want to do (as a reenactor or interpreter), who you’re going to portray (your persona), and (after careful research and/or use of the Galactic Style Guide) what you’re going to wear while doing it, the time has come to gear up and clothe your persona in appropriate ‘garb’. If you know how to sew, great! If not, it’s always a good time to learn! A simple websearch for ‘basic sewing stitches’ will yield plenty of tutorials. Even though we’re depicting a high-tech society, tailor droids break down now and then, so hand-sewing is fine too! (the first time I made my Jedi tunics, I opted to sew the main seams with a sewing machine, and then finish the seams by hand).

When it comes to making or buying elements of one’s kit, it always pays to remember The Designer’s Paradox:

fast-cheap-good-design-diagram
You can have it CHEAP, you can have it FAST, or you can have it GOOD.
Choose carefully, because you can only pick two!

In other words, getting something cheap and good takes time; fast and good costs money up-front, while cheap and fast will cost you in the long run.

Since there are plenty of how-to pages out there (costume tutorials abound on the internet), I will try to keep this short and sweet.
A quick primer on fabrics and their properties as they pertain to our purposes: Continue reading “Step 5 – Craft It!”