We were contacted by a family who was throwing a birthday celebration for a little girl, Maggie, who just wrapped up chemotherapy treatment. She loves Star Wars, so her mom wanted some characters to make an appearance. The party was on July 25th, and we had a wonderful time! She was so sweet and so grateful. What a cool kiddo!
Last August, we visited Max, a really cool kid who was battling a multitude of health issues. We had a wonderful time and Max and his family became part of our Star Wars family. Sadly, late last year, Max passed away. We’ve been staying in touch with his family since last August, and they asked us to be part of Max’s memorial birthday party on July 10th. It was a wonderful celebration and a lovely memorial, but it was really difficult to hold it together emotionally. While this is such a huge part of why I do what I do, it’s also the most difficult part. Last year, two of the kiddos I visited passed away, and it was just so incredibly heartbreaking.
We had another premiere event for Black Widow on July 9th, but this time we were at Emagine Theatres in Lakeville. We had a great time! The movie was great, too.
July 8th was the premiere of Black Widow at Emagine Theatres in Eagan. It was also my debut of my WandaVision Scarlet Witch costume! Other than a wardrobe malfunction with one of my boots, the costume fit well and was comfortable, and I think it looks pretty awesome.
July 3rd was the Edina 4th of July Parade (I know, I know…) and HOLY COW did the Jedi turn out for this one! I wore my Poe costume for the first time in ages. The weather was nice (maybe a tiny bit warm) and there was a great turnout to the parade.
Dominic Pace (Gekko the Bounty Hunter from The Mandalorian) made an appearance at Nerdin Out in Inver Grove Heights on June 30th, and the 501st Legion came out to celebrate!
June 19th was the St. Louis Park Parktacular Parade! This was the first traditional parade we’ve done in over a year because of the pandemic. It felt great to get out and walk in a parade again (although my legs and feet begged to argue).
There aren’t many Star Wars costumes that can be approved in both the Rebel Legion and 501st Legion, but a Jawa is one of those costumes. It’s also just a really fun costume to make and to wear. I finished up mine in 2020, but it took months for me to finally get around to submit it for approval. It was approved in both groups in May 2021!
I largely followed the tutorials by Utinni Army on YouTube. These, along with advice from other Jawa costumers really helped me figure out what I was doing!
Robe & Hood: The base fabric is natural monk’s cloth that I bought at Joann Fabrics. I used Rit Dye in Sunshine Orange (1 bottle) and Dark Brown (2 bottles) to dye all of the fabric brown. The hood is lined with black cotton quilt fabric (I can’t remember where I bought mine, but it’s widely available). To keep the hood in a nice, round shape, I inserted coaxial cable into the hem. I drafted the pattern of the robe and hood by hand. Weathering was done with watered down acrylic paint.
Boots: I bought these boots from Amazon in “Brown.” The boots were covered in scraps of the robe fabric. I used hot glue to apply them.
Gloves: I bought these gloves from Amazon.
Bandolier: I bought this one from Etsy and weathered it with acrylic paint and sandpaper.
Mask: Following the Utinni Army tutorial videos, I constructed mine from a “Jason” mask, LED string lights, acorn capsules, acrylic paint, black speaker cloth, Velcro, and hot glue.
Underneath everything, I wear a long-sleeve black top, black leggings, and a black balaclava.
On May 4th, we visited the East Central Regional Library for their May the 4th event! We did a virtual Q&A and participated in Star Wars trivia!
May the 4th be with you, everyone! Here’s a bunch of photos of all of my Star Wars costumes: canon characters, original characters, and interpretations/mash-ups (so far!).
Amateur Hour Cosplay & Costuming 