Part 3: Kylo Ren - Photoshoot

Year: November/December 2015

Source: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

Cosplayer: Mean Machine Cosplay

Collaborators: Foolyhardy Puffin FX (saber hilt repaint), All Star Props (belt buckle), Mudget Makes (belt)

Materials: polyester basketweave furnishing fabric, cotton voile, cotton duck

Photography: Illumis Creations

We took Kylo Ren out for a spin at a local cinema. He received quite a reaction from the waiting crowd.
Cosplayer: Mean Machine Cosplay
Photography: Illumis Creations

Cosplayer: Mean Machine Cosplay
Photography & Meme: Illumis Creations

That last one just for fun ;P

05. The Smuggler - Cloak

Year: 2012
Source: Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood multiplayer
Materials: cotton duck, grosgrain ribbon, braid, lining

Unfortunately I didn't document this process as much.

Hood front

Hood back

I drafted a rough hood pattern and moved the seam from the centre to create that middle panel.

There's three layers to the cape.

04. The Smuggler - Shirt & Skirts

Year: 2012/2013
Source: Assassin's Creed Brotherhood multiplayer
Materials: cotton, grosgrain ribbon, lace
Conventions attended: Supanova 2013, PAXAus 2013, Chaos 2014

To make the collar I traced the curve of the neckline from the doublet and drew the collar flaps. The swirls were created in Illustrator and hand embroidered.

Bottom of the shirt.

I made the decision to not make a full shirt to cut down on layers and fabric. The collar and shirt tails are attached to the doublet with loops and buttons.

There were no clear images of the detail on the in-game skirt so I had to design my own. They were hand embroidered.

This underskirt gave me problems, particularly where the bottom curves of the front panels meet with the back panel. It was a lot of drawing out a pattern piece and looking in the mirror to try to get it looking right.

All of these pieces are lined with bemsilk lining.

Each side was made up of 3 panels joined together by the waist band.

The design was also created in Illustrator, scaled to fit the pattern piece and traced onto tissue paper. It was taped onto the vinyl and hand embroidered with a basic running stitch.

The cream braid was again hand sewn onto the edges and metal fashion stud domes applied. This skirt closes with press studs and it fully lined.

03. The Smuggler - Puffy shirt & Doublet

Year: 2012/2013
Source: Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood multiplayer
Materials: Cotton voile, vinyl, lining, cotton duck, braid, grosgrain ribbon
Conventions attended: Supanova 2013, PAXAus 2013, Chaoz 2014

Photo: Brett Woolgar Photography
Convention: Chaoz 2014

There are buttons on the inside of the doublet to attach the shirt collar and tails to.

It's been a few years since I made this costume so I'm going to try and remember as many details as possible. Please bear in mind that it was my first ever costume and I had very little, if any, costume-making knowledge back then and very basic sewing tools. A lot of it was experimentation and making mistakes.

  

Doublet pattern

I copied the base pattern off a jacket I already owned and drew out a new pattern with highlighters. I made a toile from old bed sheets.

I used a stiff iron-on interfacing on the vinyl and ended up hand-sewing most of it because it was too hard to put through the machine. I wanted it to be fairly stiff and armour-like. The doublet ended up being re-made about 3 times, I think because I wasn't happy with certain things.

Pinned together. This was a bit risky...

The puffy shirt was made from Simplicity 2809 Renaissance Costume Collection. The sleeves were super puffy and I ended up having to cut off some of the sleeve width.

The shoulder tabs.

Embroidery down the front of the doublet

The pattern was created in Illustrator which I scaled to fit the doublet piece exactly. I traced it onto tissue paper and pinned it in place to hand stitch it with cream embroidery floss.

The doublet was lined with satin lining. The cream braid was hand sewn onto all the seam lines.

I purchased the Tandy Leather buckles and fashion stud domes from eBay. Each stud was roughly spaced out and attached by hand. The doublet closes with hook/eye fasteners.

I drew on the swirls with gold and silver paint pens. I didn't know how else to do it. 

Part 2: Kylo Ren - mid-robe & outer-robe

Year: November/December 2015

Source: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

Cosplayer: Mean Machine Cosplay

Collaborators: Foolyhardy Puffin FX (saber hilt repaint), All Star Props (belt buckle), Mudget Makes (belt)

Materials: polyester basketweave furnishing fabric

Cosplayer: Mean Machine Cosplay
Photography: Illumis Creations

Cosplayer & Saber FX; Mean Machine Cosplay
Photography: Illumis Creations

I wrote a PDF document detailing each step of my build in depth with photos. You can download it from my website.

Below is a summary.

Mid-robe sketches. My friend already had a cotton mid-robe for a different SW costume that I could modify.

Outer robe sketches.

Finding a similar black basketweave fabric was hard. The best we could find was a bright blue furnishing fabric which we attempted to dye black. It sort of worked. In bright light you could still see a bit of the blue coming through and some strange striped effect.

Part 1: Kylo Ren - Pleated Gambeson

Year: November/December 2015

Source: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

Cosplayer: Mean Machine Cosplay

Collaborators: Foolhardy Puffin FX (saber hilt repaint), All Star Props (belt buckle), Mudget Makes (belt)

Materials: cotton duck, open-ended zips, cotton voile

Cosplayer: Mean Machine Cosplay
Photography: Illumis Creations

This was a commission for a friend. He had spoken about wanting a Kylo Ren costume for the film premiere. I aimed to make the costume as accurate as possible with the limited references available at the time. Contributors on the Knights of Ren FB group and the RPF Forum were incredibly helpful.

I wrote a PDF document detailing each step of my build in depth. You can download it from my website.

Below is a summary.

My build notes and sketches

Cutting the strips using a cardboard template and a rotary cutter.

One sleeve completed. Each strip was sewn individually with a zig-zag stitch onto a cotton voile backing.

Finished sleeves ready for the piping and zips.

Finished gambeson using the same technique as the sleeves. The sleeves are attached to a T-shirt underneath.