A Padme Inspired Dress | McCall’s M8211

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Things used :

McCall’s M8211
3m gold chiffon
3m embroidered tulle
1m Star Wars cotton
16 inch invisible zip
1m iron on interfacing
2m 1cm wide elastic

construction

I wanted to create a dress inspired by Padme’s picnic gown from Attack of the Clones to wear on my Disneyland trip in 2024. Otherwise known as a Disneybound.

It is my most favourite of all of Padme’s dresses so of course I wanted a version I could wear to Galaxy’s Edge, the Star Wars themed park.

Initially, I wanted to make the actual corset to wear with it too but I ended up under a time crunch and that was the first sacrifice of this project I had to make.

The fabrics were actually fabrics I had ordered online to make a real replica of the costume, only after seeing them in person I realized they weren’t suitable, but they would be perfect for an inspired dress.

The bottom layer is a gold chiffon. I ordered it thinking it was sheer, but it was very much opaque. The overlay is an embroidered tulle which could have worked for the replica, but I decided I’m crazy enough to hand embroider it when the time comes.

Next I had to find a pattern. I was browsing the pattern book at my local sewing shop when I came across this new (at the time) McCall’s pattern that I liked the look of – McCall’s M8211. It had a square neckline and puffy sleeves. The only thing missing was a full skirt, but I knew that would be an easy swap.

I made the bodice part of the dress exactly as the pattern called for, and I lined it with a fun Star Wars themed lining cotton. For the skirt, I drafted a circle skirt instead for extra fullness. Unfortunately, it was hemmed in a rush so it ended up very wonky. Looking back on it now, I wish I’d made the tiered option that came with the pattern. I think it would have looked much nicer than the one I did.

For a final touch, I sewed a bunch of iridescent flower sequins left over from my first Padme gown I made in 2010 that I somehow still had on hand. I didn’t quite have enough to cover the whole gown so I focused on sewing them to the front.

Although I didn’t have enough time ti finish this outfit to how I would have liked, I did make some matching ears for it based on the headband and bun covers from the picnic gown.

I would like to make this dress again one day, fix the awful skirt I made and wear it with the corset like I had intended to in the first place. Make it a bit more obvious as to what it’s based on, because I only had one person recognize it at the parks, and she was also dressed as a Padme. Everyone else thought I was Belle.