Costuming a Jawa from Star Wars

When we started attending DragonCon several years ago, our niece asked for a Jawa costume and I happily obliged.  I had just learned to sew and I had no idea there were recommended standards for Star Wars costumes.  What I made was…good enough at the time.  The hood was oddly shaped, the mask was all wrong, and the robes weren’t weathered.  I planned to redo or upgrade her Jawa costume, not really sure what to remake or repair, and then Hurricane Harvey and our eldest dog made that decision for me.

 

 

Brittany’s first Jawa, worn at DragonCon in 2015 (above), was ruined when her house took on water.  It was cute, but not good enough for my girl.  According to 501st Legion (an organization dedicated to the construction and wearing of screen-accurate Star Wars replica costumes) standards, the hood should be detached and pointed, the mask more mask-like, and the sleeve/skirt edges weathered and frayed.  It also had seams in the center front and back, which were not standard.  Below is the remake (and how I remade it), which isn’t intended to be 501st approvable, but intended to be close enough that no one picks on her at parties and conventions for having a less than screen accurate Jawa costume.

 

 

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Last month our 13 year old dog Ginger, who was very afraid of thunderstorms, kept me up half the night with her shaking/panting/needing to be held.  While the storm was passing, she and I looked up 501st standards, perused blog posts (thank you for the instruction, Jenny from Descent Into Nerdiness), and shopped on Amazon.  The next day I hit the fabric store for loosely woven brown linen and pre-washed it while waiting for patterns and accessories to arrive.

 

 

Brittany’s Jawa blaster and bandolier were at my house during the storm, so I didn’t have to remake them.  I can proudly share that I pieced the blaster together with a toy cross-bow handle that we found at the grocery store, a champagne cork, an empty hair gel bottle, 3mm foam, and a plastic cup.  A few coats of Rust-Oleum Textured Spray Paint and Rust-Oleum Wrinkle Finish Spray Paint in black made all these odd pieces look weapon-like.  I made the bandolier with faux leather (per my vegetarian niece’s request).  We may replace it later with this replica found on Amazon: 1903 Pattern Leather Five Pocket Bandolier for Jawa Costume.

 

 

I remade the mask by covering a Friday the 13th Jason mask (cheapest: Loftus International Star Power Adjustable Jason Hockey Face Mask White One-Size Novelty Item) with a partially sheer fabric over the eyes, and loosely woven linen over the rest.  I padded the inside with 10mm foam.  I also attached more sheer fabric at the chin of the mask to cover the neck while worn.  The eyes, and this is my proudest hack, are clip-on LED carabiner lights (Nite Ize SpotLit Clip-On LED Light with Carabiner, Weather Resistant, Round Package, Orange) with the clips shoved into the mask’s nose and held in place with Velcro (because they’ll need replacing after several wears).

 

 

For the robe/dress, I followed Jenny’s build but with a simple wizard’s robe pattern (McCall’s Costume Pattern 7838) that I already had in my pattern box.  Because of the narrow width of the fabric, I cut off the pattern’s arms as separate pieces but made sure to cut the robe shoulders and center on the folds to reduce unnecessary/unapprovable seams.  I cut the hood in both brown and black and cut slightly larger than the pattern’s hood piece.  I also cut pockets…because dresses with pockets make me happy!

 

 

I stitched the black fabric as a liner and stitched a channel for boning.  I used reed (Commonwealth Basket Flat Oval Reed 1/4-Inch) that I bought for my 18th century costumes, but plastic (Dritz Featherlite Boning) would work as well.  With scraps, I cut two long strips and stitched them as hood closures long enough to cross in the front and tie in the back.

 

 

My niece is only a few inches shorter than me, so I cut the robe/skirt to the floor based on my height, the sleeves to my arms, stitched the bottom/arms (not a folded hem), and frayed the raw edges like Guest Blogger Aimee frayed her Rey jacket and my Dark Rey jacket.

 

 

After testing a scrap strip (because you only get one shot), I weathered the Jawa to make it look dirty with the following spray paints:

• Rust-Oleum 7992830 Stone Creations Spray, 12 oz, Gray Stone
• Rust-Oleum 7220830 Textured Spray, Black, 12-Ounce
• Rust-Oleum 302593 12 oz Country Gray Chalked Paint Spray
• Design Master 758 Walnut Wood Tone Colortool Spray

 

 

And finally, shoes.  I sacrificed a pair of wedge boots for our niece, an old pair of Sketchers for me, and an old pair of running shoes for my husband and simply covered them with scrap fabric (and spray paint weathered them like the Jawa robe/dress).  The Jawa is one size fits most, and it fits all three of us very well, so we can all enjoy the new Jawa costume.  A family that Jawas together stays together!

 

 

I took the Jawa costume out for a test drive at Houston Museum of Natural Science’s May the Fourth party…and had a BLAST!  After that dress rehearsal, I added more foam to the mask and cut more breathing holes.  Otherwise, the Jawa is ready for Brittany to wear to Comicpalooza in Houston this month and DragonCon in Atlanta this September!

 

Other Star Wars costumes on the blog:

Costuming Rey from Star Wars: Shirt & Pants

Costuming Rey from Star Wars: Jacket & Gauntlets

Costuming Rey from Star Wars: Belt & Accessories

Costuming Dark Rey (Concept) from Star Wars

Costuming a Jedi from Star Wars

 

 

“Utinni!!”

 

For Ginger, who passed away from complications of cancer yesterday (may she rest in thunderstorm-free peace).  She was by my side supervising the building of this costume, as well as my husband’s Jedi.  We love you and miss you very much, Pretty Girl.

 

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