Advice on simple Jedi Costume

Hey guys. I just joined the forum; so, I do apologize if my post is off in anyway. I've been hoping to get some costume advice and this place seemed like a good spot for that. I want to design a simple Jedi costume for myself; but, I've never designed a costume before, my sewing skills are lame, and I don't want to spend a lot of money. I want to do something very similar to Obi Wan Kenobi's outfit in the Star Wars films.



Since I'm not good at sewing, a friend of mine suggested I buy a white Karate uniform. It would give me a simple base for the tunic and pants (which I imagine would be the hardest part) and I could simply dye the fabric the colors I wanted. The main problem I see with that is there would be a missing piece. I'm not sure what to call it, but I noticed there is a piece over his tunic that goes past his shoulders a bit and is behind his obi belt. It's even a little longer than the tunic. I'm sure I could "pass" without that piece, but I would like to add that piece, if possible. I think I might be able to buy matching fabric that I could dye with the other pieces and then sew accordingly. Does someone have a tutorial I could follow?

Like I said, this is my first costume and I'm very new to this; any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

Welcome to the boards! This a great place to learn, everyone is very friendly and willing to help. I am gathering info and reference photos of obiwan ANH so I can tackle his robes and tunic which are a bit different from your costume. But I chimed in to welcome you and explain when I started my Jedi costume path I found this on youtube

http://youtu.be/jlmwpfdm1x8

it was a pretty good budget build. Before you go buying karate stuff do a price check, believe it or not many people have suggested ebay for getting a Jedi costume. But be sure to look at their selling history first

i hope the video helps you, welcome aboard!!!

 

@halliwax: Many thanks for your reply and kind welcome. I will check out the video!

EDIT: I looked at the video. Thank you for sharing it. His was idea was simple, but effective. I already have some ideas involving fabric glue to make it look clean and professional, or at least as professional as it can get!

One thing I am definitely struggling with is the colors. I really want to dye the fabric because I don't want plain white; however, I cannot decide if I want to stick with Obi-wan's beige color or something else...