Arthur Dent (NEW) Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy DONE

FordPrefect · Jul 22, 2014

All,

OK this is a thread for the costume creation of Arthur Dent from the new Hitchhiker's movie.

BACKGROUND
I did lots of reading on The RPF and other places when I got to the point I wanted to cosplay this year at GenCon - at this point I had no idea what I wanted to do but I knew I wanted to do something. During that reading I saw posts about terrible stories of costumes not fitting and costumes falling apart. People with toe nails popping off, items so tight they thought they were going to lose a limb and limbs so numb they could no longer feel them but they carried on all day. I realized I did not want to be that person

Loving the HHGTTG franchise it was a no brainer .. walk around all day in pajamas and a gown ! This is going to be fun and comfortable.

Again some research I found no one really reproducing the screen idea of a costume but the general idea of the pajamas and robe seems very accepted as a costume. I read some of the material in print and found they used custom materials and stitched things up for the movie .. lots of online research trying to match robes, pants all coming up empty. I did want to do a good job matching the picture above so realized I had to get CRAFTY.

So off to the races I go !

FordPrefect · Jul 23, 2014

Re: Arthur Dent (NEW) Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy WIP

OK so I started off small and easy.

Shoes - Footwear
I was going thru red slippers and all the various sleepwear shoes but read a post about cos play problems and shoes seem to be a big item that causes many people pain after being at a show all day. So I went with Red Toms ! I am able to catch the appearance of the slippers that are red but can have a nice comfortable day / night at Gencon.

Shirt -
Next I went back to amazon and hunted down a T-Shirt that matches the color and look of the one Arthur uses. I also went to the local target and grabbed some XL white under shirts to help get that same look. Another tip I picked up was work your costume to not be HOT so I went and bought some thermobond from Michaels to create a look of the above picture but was actually only one shirt.

I cut the bottom off the white undershirt and top off to make a dickie. From this picture I still hacked off the arms. I used the thermobond to join the two and lets hope I did this right so I do not have a story of my costume falling apart.

Here is the final look of the T-Shirt.

Very happy with where things are going and can not wait to finish up.

FordPrefect · Jul 27, 2014

Re: Arthur Dent (NEW) Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy WIP

Pants .. PJs .. Pajamas time to have these put together

First I tried to find some PJs that would work online, I came up empty and of course while researching the movie they were made special - no luck on "off the rack" items.
I then went online and read a few tutorials .. watched a video .. compared notes with my Sewing Mentor. And then got busy I went to local fabric store and got some nice Red Flannel material (twice as much as I needed in case of a problem), this flannel will feel good while wearing and was not super heavy again trying not to be hot while walking around the convention.

Here is my basic pattern I made I did keep this because I knew I would not be totally happy with the first attempt and will do another one sometime in the future.

Once the pattern was made I cut out the needed panels and did some test painting to see how the fabric paint I got would look and how I should apply it.
My wife came up with the idea to blue tape the fabric and then paint it - I used some special "edge lock" blue tape and it worked very well for my messy painting habits.

I was super happy and surprised when I removed the tape it looked pretty good.

Then I joined the bros that sew club. All I can say is read the steps three times and be sure what you are going to sew is the right way. Pulling threads and starting over is a huge pain. Below the PJs are almost complete the inseam and crotch areas are done and I was about to add the waist elastic.

For the end of the legs I went with ThermoBond to heat press the cuffs (not sure if that is the right term).

Pants are done and now onto the Robe / Gown depending on what side of the pond you are from

FordPrefect · Aug 1, 2014

Re: Arthur Dent (NEW) Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy WIP

Robe Time

OK this was tough every time I found a color online I liked it did not match the ribbing of the on screen robe. Also every time I found the ribbing to somewhat match I could not get the color

So I went with a white robe that had a collar and pockets that matched pretty darn good. Now once I got it in hand I went to the Rit website and started checking on colors and mixing dyes to get a color I thought matched well. After going to three places and buying them out of green

I was back at home ready for a test run.

The test run went well and I was very happy with the color I got (it did lighten up a little after it dried and was washed a few times)

Now it was time to do a large run. I went from the small bucket you see above to a large storage tub !
It worked well I will add that getting that much hot water had me a bit nervous so I was mixing water from the faucet on hot and water I had heating on the stove.

Stir - Stir and Stir I enlisted so help from the little one who was a big help trading off with me stirring.

We stirred for almost an hour and did a great job on the temperature of the hot water it was nice and hot / warm the entire time.

Now words of advice before I show the final product. Check and double check and have a friend double check your math

I added too much water and ended up with a lighter dye job than I was looking for

after the initial disappointment I pushed forward with the robe I have for Gen Con .. next year so help me this is going to be redone and be the right color !!!

Next for a prop to go along with the outfit .. I mean come on what is a costume with out a prop !!

Psicorp7 · Aug 1, 2014

Re: Arthur Dent (NEW) Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy WIP

My god man! What are you doing screwing around with all these clothes. Your Towel! You never, ever, THINK of leaving without your towel. That should have been first!!! :facepalm

Awesome job so far!! Looks great and should be really comfy to wear around the con!! :thumbsup

FordPrefect · Aug 2, 2014

Re: Arthur Dent (NEW) Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy WIP

Psicorp7 said:
My god man! What are you doing screwing around with all these clothes. Your Towel! You never, ever, THINK of leaving without your towel. That should have been first!!! :facepalm

Awesome job so far!! Looks great and should be really comfy to wear around the con!! :thumbsup

A TOWEL !! You are exactly and unequivocally correct this post is criminally devoid of towel talk. What is funny I have been racking my brain and internet about towels from the new movie. You do see some time along the movie Arthur switches to the Heart of Gold towels - and man those babies are sweet but of course look completely custom made for the movie. Oh why couldn't I of been in to props back then I would of spent a small fortune on auction items hahaha. It has also been stated Fords towel is a Marks and Spencer towel - this I need to dig into more who knows if a screen accurate one exists anymore but I will look into it at some time in the future.

Now for me and my towel I will go very plain basic and simple - HOTEL TOWELS ! This way I do not have to pack it and it fits with the essence of the towel "they are not electronic - magical or complex but very useful" and it does not matter where you got one as long as you are a froody guy who has one

Thanks for such a good question and the support can not wait to kick it for day lounging as Arthur !

FordPrefect · Aug 2, 2014

Re: Arthur Dent (NEW) Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy WIP

Prop Time

Getting so close to being done but I grabbed the ScannerJoe Hitchikers Guide paper project. Did a quick print used some whiteboard and cardboard I had around the house and made a nice "always closed" version. I had an idea to follow the prints and have it open and close but while running around the convention I figured it made everything easier if I just made a simple closed version.

Now it is all cool and stuff but I wanted bigger more recognizable "thumb" and "dont panic" it completely deviates from the accuracy of the prop but I was hoping would help people recognize the character I was costuming like.

My wife got a vinyl printer / cutter which has been so great for little projects of mine

Ok seriously one more thing and this one is done !

flange · Aug 4, 2014

Re: Arthur Dent (NEW) Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy WIP

Hi all,

First post here and I thought I would try and make it a useful one rather than just another boring intro that won't be read. I am a bit of a HHGTTG fan and went nuts a while back buying props whenever I saw them. Didn't end up with much of any great significance but did get one or two reasonable bits. The Viltvoddle costume is fun and the Vogon Boots have a prime position on display.

Now to the point:

I have these which I bought as screen used costume items which came from an auction in the USA by Tiger Remarketing for Abacus Costumes and props. They were marked on the box as indoor and have a label in each slipper saying "In #1"

They are From Legendary Footwear of Glastonbury, style: Anton Size 7 UK (Martin Freeman has small feet!) And the colour is Wine apparently. Product code (I Guess) is 22618. They are sheepskin lined and very good quality.

Hope this helps with the costume - I can provide more pictures If needed. I do have a range of other screen used items from the same auction that help verify the authenticity, which I got from the same seller
View attachment 357809 View attachment 357809

Sorry about the double picture (it said only click once so I clicked twice!)

disposablepal · Aug 4, 2014

Re: Arthur Dent (NEW) Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy WIP

looks great. reminds me of cosplaying The Dude, its so comfy, but you want those little details to be perfect

FordPrefect · Aug 4, 2014

Re: Arthur Dent (NEW) Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy WIP

disposablepal said:
looks great. reminds me of cosplaying The Dude, its so comfy, but you want those little details to be perfect

You are so right The Dude would fit right in with this "comfy cosplay" haha I am sure you had a great time with that one.

FordPrefect · Aug 4, 2014

Re: Arthur Dent (NEW) Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy WIP

flange said:
Hi all,

First post here and I thought I would try and make it a useful one rather than just another boring intro that won't be read. I am a bit of a HHGTTG fan and went nuts a while back buying props whenever I saw them. Didn't end up with much of any great significance but did get one or two reasonable bits. The Viltvoddle costume is fun and the Vogon Boots have a prime position on display.

Now to the point:

I have these which I bought as screen used costume items which came from an auction in the USA by Tiger Remarketing for Abacus Costumes and props. They were marked on the box as indoor and have a label in each slipper saying "In #1"

They are From Legendary Footwear of Glastonbury, style: Anton Size 7 UK (Martin Freeman has small feet!) And the colour is Wine apparently. Product code (I Guess) is 22618. They are sheepskin lined and very good quality.

Hope this helps with the costume - I can provide more pictures If needed and could be persuaded to part with them for the right money. I do not have a COA as they did not come with one. I do have a range of other screen used items from the same auction that help verify the authenticity, which I got from the same seller
View attachment 357809 View attachment 357809

Sorry about the double picture (it said only click once so I clicked twice!)

Very cool you got some items from the auction ! I wish I would of been paying more attention them.

Great Great detail on the footwear - Thank you so much for sharing. The pictures you attached are not working for me would love to see them !

Again thanks going to web search and see what come up with those details.

p.s. on the selling take a quick look at the forum rules when it comes to the buy / sell thing they get pretty sticky. I can tell from your comment it was a innocent comment but others could take it wrong.

flange · Aug 4, 2014

Re: Arthur Dent (NEW) Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy WIP

Thanks for the tip Ford. Have edited accordingly and hopefully added the picture properly this time. I will perhaps start a thread with a few pictures of the other stuff I have got. Never occurred to me that there might be people interested in the tiny details but they do count!

flange · Aug 4, 2014

Re: Arthur Dent (NEW) Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy WIP

Just did a quick search and found this too

http://www.draper-of-glastonbury.com/products/2/anton

FordPrefect · Aug 5, 2014

Re: Arthur Dent (NEW) Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy WIP

flange said:
Thanks for the tip Ford. Have edited accordingly and hopefully added the picture properly this time. I will perhaps start a thread with a few pictures of the other stuff I have got. Never occurred to me that there might be people interested in the tiny details but they do count!

Picture looks great ! Links to them are great also. I am out of time for picking them up for this year but I am pretty darn sure come end of this year I will be getting a pair for my replica collection !!

I also think people would like to know more about what you have and details. Take a look at some of the "my collection" threads also we have quite a few HHGTTG fans on this forum so the audience is around.

Again super thanks for jumping in. It was cool to see the details if I could tell you the time I spent watching the movie and reviewing screen caps I understood what they were but just did not have the chops to id them !!

thanks

FordPrefect · Aug 6, 2014

Re: Arthur Dent (NEW) Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy WIP

DONE

Got a nice small white towel - something very easy to walk around with at the con. Got my HHG to carry around with a nice big Don't Panic !

If you see this guy walking around GenCon say Hi !!

Of course I have many things I want to do different for next year .. I really need to find a Big and Tall robe I think the way the large hangs is just not enough after comparing to the pictures from the movie. Also I learned about the shoes during this thread and need to make a small purchase in those ! Well no matter what I will have a good time and hope a few people recognize this is Arthur Dent

So Long And Thanks For All The Fish !!

agirlcalledbob · Aug 15, 2014

Re: Arthur Dent (NEW) Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy WIP

Excellent Arthur!! I hadn't thought about painting the stripes on. I put my husband's Arthur together but ended up just going with maroon pj pants. He was nice enough to endulge me so I could do a Trillian with my POV gun

I think this winter I'm going to find someone to do Trillian's jumpsuit for me and make him dust off his Arthur.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/xstarsprinklesx/6127561423/

FordPrefect · Sep 2, 2014

Re: Arthur Dent (NEW) Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy WIP

agirlcalledbob said:
Excellent Arthur!! I hadn't thought about painting the stripes on. I put my husband's Arthur together but ended up just going with maroon pj pants. He was nice enough to endulge me so I could do a Trillian with my POV gun I think this winter I'm going to find someone to do Trillian's jumpsuit for me and make him dust off his Arthur.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/xstarsprinklesx/6127561423/

Thanks! Sorry after Gencon had to take a little break just saw your post.

Also great job on the Arthur yourself - it is such a fun cosplay outfit. The POV gun looks good that needs to be a prop I try to knock out also one day.

NeilTheVFDAgent · Oct 20, 2017

I was Marvin for Halloween last year

minus the deppresion

Arthur Dent (NEW) Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy DONE

FordPrefect

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FordPrefect

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FordPrefect

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FordPrefect

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Psicorp7

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FordPrefect

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