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Basic Jedi Costume -> Robe

The Jedi Robe

The robe is an important part of the Jedi costume - all Jedi seem to wear one. Most Jedi robes are in a shade of brown or another earthy color and have a deep hood, wide sleeves, and a hook to fasten it at the neck. Anakin's Episode II robe doesn't not have sleeves and falls more like a cape. See the Anakin page for more information. Obi-Wan's Episode II robe has a tuck in the sleeve. See the Obi-Wan page for pictures illustrating this.

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Fabric

Jedi robes can be made out of a variety of materials. The ones in the movie are made of out wool, but this can be very expensive and warm. Heavy flannels are one possible option. Your best bet is to go through a fabric store, feeling the fabrics, until you find one in a color and texture you like, that is in your price range.

Wool is great if you want your robe to look like the ones in the movie, but wool is around 20 dollars a yard. I was lucky enough to find a wool remnant that was big enough (6 or 7 yards) that was on sale. I still paid $9.99 a yard, which is probably more than I should have paid.

Genevieve sent this suggestion in:

I think I have found some nice options for fabrics for the tunics at http://www.dharmatrading.com/. Ê The fabric on this site is print and dye ready, so they can be dyed to each person's preference.Ê The natural or unbleached fabrics are generally a great color for the Jedi tunics.Ê Ê The best robe would be the quilter's flannel (flannel like you suggest).ÊÊ The price is great!Ê The fabric also come inÊÊvery large widths which is great for making the large robe.Ê The 90" wide is from $5.75 to $ 4.19 per yard.Ê The 108" wide ÊÊis from $5.95 to $4.29 per yard.Ê Of course these would need to be dyed to the desired colors.

In the Homing Beacon for January 25, 2002:

"It takes more than the robes to make a Jedi, but the dark hooded cloaks are an important visual cue to audiences as to a character's connection to the Force. Originally, when sketching out concepts for Episode I, the Art Department tried different directions for the Jedi, but George Lucas insisted on a design that would be instantly recognizable.

Now, Episode II promises a showdown involving a huge number of Jedi -- more noble Knights than have ever before been assembled on the big screen. That means an awful lot of cloaks, most of them made from scratch as opposed to Phantom Menace hand-me-downs.

"The wool fabric from Episode I, we bought bales of it," says Biggar. "We discovered after we bought the fabric that it had been Second World War utility fabric, so it was made very heavy." Too heavy, it would seem, for Obi-Wan Kenobi's water-logged fisticuffs with Jango Fett. "On this Episode, we had that fabric recreated at a quarter of the weight. I know [Stunt Coordinator] Nick Gillard had his doubts about how it's going to be when it's wet, but I don't think it was as bad as he thought."

Light enough for rain-soaked pugilism, but still too heavy for speeder bike use. "There are always little problems," says Biggar. "One day we had Anakin on his speeder going through the desert, and there's a wind machine. Because we had bluescreens up, the wind machine couldn't get close enough to him. We ended up having to wire the end of the cloak so that it would be pulled with the wind's help."

Construction

Some construction details and graphics have been used from Amber's site with permission.

Diane drew up some measurements and notes on how she made her Jedi robe.

When I made mine, I followed the instructions given by WiliQueen on Amber's Jedi Meditation Chamber. This involves modifying Simplicity 7438, which is a pattern for a sleeveless cloak with openings in the sides. This makes it easy to put sleeves in. You'll be adding wide sleeves to this pattern, and ignoring the hood part. You'll do the hood differently. This pattern is really nice because it is very full and drapes nicely. It really is a great shape for the drape of the Jedi robes - it will give you a nice graceful curved hem all around, without the odd angles you can get at the sides if you use rectangular or trapezoidal body pieces.

The bad thing is that this wonderful Simplicity patten isn't made anymore. If you can find it on ebay or online, great! Otherwise, you may try McCalls 8936. That pattern looks similar. (Thanks Tricia!) You might have luck finding the discontinuied Simplicity pattern on www.monsterpatterns.com.

The Jedi robe has a seam up the back. Obi-Wan's Episode I Jedi robe does not have seams on the shoulders, but Obi-Wan's Episode II robe has tucks in the shoulders. There may or may not be a seam in the tuck. Compare the pics below.

Since the normal construction of the pattern doesn't have the pleats in the back, you'll have to add a couple inches to the back seam edge of each back piece to compensate.

To get the right length when adding the sleeves, measure your from the nape of your neck to wrist, then add a few inches for the back seam and the wrist hem (however wide you plan to make that hem; Obi-Wan's, at least, is really wide). There's a natural shoulder slope on the cloak pattern, so follow that line straight out to the end of the sleeve on top. Then pick a point about 12 inches from the top of the sleeve to put the bottom curve on the side of the body pattern piece, and extend it out and slightly down into the flared sleeve shape.

Look at this diagram from Amber's site, drawn by WiliQueen. You can see the width of the sleeves added on, and the 3" added to one side of it to make a small pleat in the center of the back.

The seams are straight at the sides, but the hoods are gathered across the back. (On Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, anyway; Windu's hood doesn't seem to be gathered, or quite as large.) There's about a 2-inch pleat on either side of the center back of the body of the robe; the rest of it is straight at that neck seam.

The hood is cut in one piece, with a seam at the back but not at the top. Obi-Wan's hood has a narrow double hem around the front edge and a self fabric binding over the raw edges of the neck seam. Qui-Gon's seems to be fully lined, with the raw edges of the neck seam bound between the two layers; I can't tell for sure because it's so much darker.

There is a seam down the center back of the robe, at least on Obi-Wan. (And I can't imagine that they could make one for Mr. Neeson without one...fabric isn't manufactured wide enough to cut that in one piece for someone his size, since a person's armspan is approximately equal to his height.)

The robe sleeves have a very wide hem, about 3 inches. This probably contributes enough weight to make them hang properly.

First, a front-view sketch of the whole thing, showing the sleeves cut in one piece with the body.

As for the hood, once again, I followed the WiliQueen directions. Basically, you'll want to cut a long rectangle, 45" by 25". My rectangle ended up being slightly smaller than this as it seem too big. Remember you will likely want a large hem on the front of the hood. Fold the rectangle in half and clip a curve around the top corner. You may want to use a dinner plate to mark the curve on the fabric. Then stitch the back seam. Gather the back part of the bottom edge before attaching to body of robe.

You'll want to fold the neck edge of the robe before attaching the hood - making a pleat.

To hide the seam the hood and robe make, cover it with a strip of material. Or, you can make 2 of these, and use one as a hood lining. I believe the hoods in the movie are lined.

This was the method that I used, and my robe looks like the Real Thing!

Thanks to Amber and Wiliqueen for the great directions and graphics!

Also, you can check out this site on making Jedi Robes.

Suggestions

Olivia sent in this report on a prospective Jedi pattern. She says, "The pattern for the tunicÊis Simplicity 5840 and for the tabardsÊI used pattern Simplicity 5916 view C and didn't cut the vest on a fold. For the Cloak I used 5916 again using view A and cutting the back on a fold and the front not on a fold and it worked pretty well.For the material I used crinkled cotton from wal-mart that was only a dollar a yard! and it gave it a good "Jedi" look.The costume probably isn't as accurate as it should be but it's close and pretty comfortable and easy to care for."

Kate suggests:

"Simplicity #8944 includes a robe that looks like it would be a good basis for the outer robe. Though I suggested that Simplicity pattern for the robe, I think I will follow WilliQueen's instructions. I think it will give a fuller, more "authentic" result.

However, having laid it out using a cape pattern I've long had, I would need at least 10 yards, I think, and I'm short (5ft2in). So anyone taller would need a lot of yardage, though those robes are very generous. In costuming, the only thing worse than not using enough fabric for the right "line" is using the wrong fabric. The Simplicity pattern I sent you only takes about 7.5 yards for the largest size. " Thanks Kate!

I think the difference in the amount of wool necessary is because the WiliQueen/movie robes don't have shoulder seams and then you need a really long piece of wool that will run from the floor up over your shoulder and down again. I haven't looked at the Simplicity pattern - but they might just have you cut two pieces and sew them together at the shoulder, using less fabric.

Disclaimer

All pictures, themes, and characters are copyright © Lucasfilm, Ltd. or their creators. All original work is protected by intellectual property laws. No copyright infringement is intended - copyrighted images are being used for costume study and research and is (hopefully) covered under the fair use clause of copyright law. Site design, graphics, and content is copyright © Maggie.

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