Building "Little Ahsoka" in 2 1/2 days.

pandatrooper

Well-Known Member
Project "Little Ahsoka".

I was commissioned by a friend to make this costume for his daughter just before Emerald City comic con 2011. I only had a few days to work on it as I had several other prop projects going on at the same time, and I was bringing them all to Seattle for the event. But how can I say no to Little Ahsoka?

So in 2 and half days, little Ahsoka was completed!

I always start with sketches to figure out how the costume will work. This was based on the early season Ahsoka costume.
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I drew up paper templates for the head piece (or "Lekku" / head tails), using a small foam "safari hat" with the brim cut off from a craft store as a base. I didn't have time to sculpt and cast anything in foam etc. and for a small girl, I wanted it to be easy to wear and quick on / off. The safari hat fit Little Ahsoka perfectly. It will not be seen or used as the "skin", the tattoo look will be done with makeup instead (less hot for the little girl)
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I created paper templates for the lekku, using some craft paper and some basic paper engineering.
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Paper mockup of the lekku on the safari hat.
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Here are the paper templates transferred to felt material for the lekku
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Started sewing the lekku, focusing on the sides first
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Here, I flipped them inside out and gave them a quick stuff with Fiberfill to see of this crazy plan was going to pan out. Looks the hotness!
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Here, I started sewing the top of the lekku. I flat seamed each cut to make it seamless and to make the tails more full.
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Believe it or not, this is most of the lekku sewn
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Flipping it inside out yields results!
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Lekku partially stuffed and test fitted on the safari hat.
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Third tail started
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More sewing...
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More stuffing...
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I felt I captured the look pretty well. I didn't want the lekku to look 100% like the animated version, I wanted them to look younger to match the costumer, and this fit the bill perfectly!
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I started drawing on the patterns for the grey lines in pencil directly on the felt
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I took a break from the lekku to concentrate on the body of the costume.

Here, I've done up patterns for the arm bracers / gauntlets
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Tiny hand plates using fun foam and and wrapped with material. I had some left over material that has a bumpy fake leather look to it. Using elastic as a loop sewn in place to secure them for the wearer.
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Arm guards completed
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Here, I've drawn up patterns for the bicep wraps.
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They are designed with felt material underneath, to make them look like the skin is visible (the costumer will have a long sleeve shirt on for warmth.
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Completed arms
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I made some styrene hexagons for the belt buckles, using snaps to secure the straps in place for easy on-off.
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Inside of buckle
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Glued shut
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Mock up of criss crossed belts
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Front side of belt buckle
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Painted buckles
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Completed belt buckles
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I polished some aluminum tubing and spun them in a drill to create the Jedi food pellets (didn't have proper pen caps on hand at the time)
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Rivetted the tubing to the belt from behind
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Completed belts!
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The pattern and material for Ahsokas middle belt hanger thing. Sewed two layers together, flip inside out
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Hand painted detailing for the belt hanger
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The vest was made from some simple T-shirt fabric. The back opens up via a velcro closure.
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I wanted the costume to be more modest, since the costumer was young. So the somewhat revealing opening on the chest of the costume is simplified to a small felt teardrop shaped patch.
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Ahsoka's leggings are simply grey tights with felt squares glued on
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Boots were purchased from a local store
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Body of the costume complete!
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Back to the lekku!
Testing different grey colors. I use Liquitex acrylics.
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I have masked out areas on the lekku for the grey patterns
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Tested out the upper horn first
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I felt it was bit dark so I lightened it after this photo
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Started doing the stripes on the lekku, masking them out as I went along
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Making out the rear lekku. My messy workbench in the background :)
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To create the triangle shaped gems around the front edge of the lekku, I shaped these out of 1/4" thick fun foam and Dremeled the sides to form the bevels
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Painted the gems in silver
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Gems completed
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What little girl doesn't want something sparkly? I used some sparkly gems for the bling on the lekku
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Paid special attention to how they wrap from the front and split apart, then hang on either side of the side / rear lekku
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Last minute test fitting in the laundry room!
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The costume was mostly done, but I felt it need just a little more "oomph". I recall visiting a toy store with my friend and his daughter (Little Ahsoka) and she kept running around with the plush Clone Wars backpack with Rotta inside. So I decided to make a quick version of it. This was done the night before leaving early in the morning for Seattle, so it was a rush job!

Backpack shell made of foam
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PVC pipe covered in white vinyl for the thermal detonator looking thing on the bottom of the pack
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Curved section finished using 1/4" thick white fun foam
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Straps were added and the whole pack painted and weathered Clone Wars style (I have to track down the pictures).

The morning my wife and I left for Seattle, I sewed this little felt Rotta and stuffed him with some fiberfill, and hot glued the details. I literally finished the closing stitch and we jumped in the car for the road trip!
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Finished costume and Little Ahsoka in action! She hits all the right poses when the cameras start flashing, and always steals the show at our troops.

This is dad and his daughter Little Ahsoka. She was previously using a green Hasbro saber and the hilt was a bit big for her hands, so an Ultrasaber Initiate was ordered due to the shorter blade, and much slimmer / smaller hilt.
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Myself in Old Republic Jedi garb with Ahsoka
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Do not mess with this youngling!
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Hope you enjoyed this build!
 
Too cute! If I ever have a little girl I will definitely do this! Also I love what you did with the Styrene buckles... I want to do that for a belt of my own! Really inventive!
 
That is an awesome build and done in such a short time, great job, she looks like shes enjoying it.
 
That's adorable! If I ever have children I'm certainly going to be hooking them up w/ awesome costumes for halloween! Great job!!
 
That is incredibly cute. I really like how you created the backpack out of foam. Is it still together or did it just come apart? I ask cuz i'm looking to design a backpack for my wife's costume and trying to learn all i can.

Thanks,
-River
 
Its still in 1 solid piece considering it's made of mostly pink foam. :) Keep in mind it's a little girl wearing it, and she's pretty gentle with it.

If you were making an adult one, I would use a light weight piece of wood / plywood / MDF for the "back plate" of the back pack, and attach straps to that. Also make the sides out of MDF / wood, and use sintra or stryene sheet for the curved outer piece. The sides trapezoid details could be carded from foam or wood, etc. Slap some paint on it, and you are done!
 
Thank you! I've been looking for a template for (or at least where to start) sewing Ahoka's headpiece, and all I kept finding were clay sculptures. I want to do this for my 3 1/2 year old daughter, who is tall for her age, but still never fits costumes right. Did the felt allow for movement of the tails, or was it still pretty stiff? Either way I'm going to try your method, I'm just curious. Thanks again for posting this amazing build.
 
Very cool build.
Just wondering if you could make the Lekku templates available for download. I am not that good at drawing, and this would be a great help in making this for my daughter.

Thanks in advance!
 
Amazing job! I am in the process of making my 8 year old daughter's Ahsoka costume and am having loads of trouble on the headpiece. Any chance you could share your pattern? I have two days until Halloween and my paper mache one didn't work out so well. Help please :)
 
I just wanted to say thank you so much for posting this! I used this as inspiration for my daughter's Ahsoka costume and it was a huge hit with her and everyone who has seen it. We were at Disneyland yesterday for her 5th birthday and got some awesome action shots!! I would love to post pics but am new to the forum and am not sure how to comment with a picture. If anyone has tips let me know! Thanks again for the wonderful and inspiring post!
 
I figured it out!! I hope... IMG_7145.JPGIMG_7174.JPG
I just wanted to say thank you so much for posting this! I used this as inspiration for my daughter's Ahsoka costume and it was a huge hit with her and everyone who has seen it. We were at Disneyland yesterday for her 5th birthday and got some awesome action shots!! I would love to post pics but am new to the forum and am not sure how to comment with a picture. If anyone has tips let me know! Thanks again for the wonderful and inspiring post!
 
These Ahsoka costumes are fantastic. Such a joy seeing parents with their kids enjoying Star Wars. Thanks for sharing.
 
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