[Sponsored] Star Wars Obi-Wan Kenobi photoshoot!

Good day everyone!

To better showcase my new Star Wars costume from CosplaySky I wanted to have a photoshoot with it! This is my first time cosplaying a non-anime character, aka a movie/real-life actor/face character, which is a huge step out of my comfort zone. Obi-Wan was my first favorite character when I watched all Star Wars movies for the first time last year (yes, I'm late to the party) and I felt like I wanted to do him, despite the challenge it would provide as I feel like I'm too young to pull him off realistically. I wish I had darker crepe wool for the facial hair (as I can't grow my own in the same shape as his) but all of the darker colors were out of stock when I ordered, rip. ;_;

I will include some links after the photos on where you can get Jedi tunics like this – or any other costume you desire! Be sure to check them out~

But now it's time to indulge in a galaxy far, far away.. enjoy!

Cosplayer: Shiro Samurai (Obi-Wan Kenobi)
Photographer and stylist: Sacchan
Photo editor: Shiro Samurai

Want to be one with the Force too? Check out the links below!

Link to CosplaySky main page: CosplaySky Online Cosplay Store

Jedi tunic link: CosplaySky Star Wars Kenobi Jedi TUNIC Costume

All Star Wars costumes: CosplaySky Star Wars costume selection

I just want to say a few words about this costume as well. ^^

It's nice, easy and comfortable to wear, except that the tabards like to fall off my shoulders if I move around a lot but that makes sense as they're only secured in place by the belt. x) This is great even as a generic Jedi outfit (you don't have to be Obi-Wan) if you want to dress up for the next Star Wars movie marathon or something! Fans who don't have super high accuracy standards will surely enjoy it, just like I do. Overall I'm really pleased with this costume and I'd warmly recommend CosplaySky to my fellow geeks and costuming fans alike.

Pssst, be sure to check out my detailed and 100% honest review about them here ~

~ Bonus photos ~

One does not simply oppose the high ground.

Jedi frog dance. Remember to serious-face.

That's all I have to say for this time!
Thanks for reading my blog and may the Force be with you.

A big thank you also goes to CosplaySky for sponsoring me! ♥

~  Shiro Samurai says farewell.

[Sponsored] CosplaySky review: Star Wars Obi-Wan Kenobi cosplay costume!

Hello geeks from all over the world!

It's cosplay costume review day today and this time it's not your typical anime bishounen that I have chosen but someone from a galaxy far, far away. Yes, of course I'm talking about Star Wars. ;) CosplaySky took contact with me and together we teamed up, which means that they sent a costume for me to review here on my blog! I'm pretty stoked, not gonna lie, as I've been wanting to go beyond my comfort zone and try cosplaying from movies for a while now!

For those unaware – CosplaySky is a big, established and well-known online costume store that has been around for a long time and is selling mainly cosplay costumes, but also props and wigs for affordable prices. They sport a wide selection of costumes ranging from TV-series and movies to anime and video games.

My reviews are always 100% my genuine opinion, no matter if the items were sponsored or bought with my own money. I never compromise my honesty and true thoughts to my readers. 

With all of that said I want to welcome you to a honest review of CosplaySky! I hope you will find it helpful and feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions after you're done reading. 

Let's go! 

~ "Forewords" ~ 

I feel like I should mention that I am observant when I browse online cosplay costume shops – I have a habit of scrutinizing even the smallest details (I'm a perfectionist!) and comparing them with official reference photos to see how accurate they really are. I do often try to find the most accurately made costume possible but I also keep realistic expectations in mind – you can't get something that's 100% accurate, well-made and with high-end quality fabrics for cheap. The simple and often true saying of "you get what you pay for" is something that I always keep in mind. :) Most cosplayers do agree on that quality goes before price, meaning that they are willing to pay more for a nicer costume and yes, I'm in that cast too. I do believe though that CosplaySky has an overall fair price versus quality standard, meaning that considering the price you pay you do get something that is worth the money (especially if you are aware of how much it would cost to have a private seamstress do it custom-made for you). There might be some flaws or sizing issues but considering the affordable prices it's often a non-issue.

 ~ Contact, packaging and shipping ~

CosplaySky contacted me on the later half of last year, around late November. Yes, I acknowledge that this review has been super delayed and I'm terribly sorry for it but yeah, I got stuck in an economical crisis (still am) and didn't have any spare money to buy the remaining supplies that I needed to do this review in time. ;_; I also had issues with getting a photographer and with the weather being bad whenever it would have been possible to take the photos for this review.

I am not sure when or how long exactly my costume was produced, but I can assume it took around one week based on the dates set on my costume information sheet that came with the package. I have no sure-fire way to track or know how long the costume took to arrive (as I received no notification on exact shipping date) but from my email conversations I can land it somewhere between 1-2 months from China to Sweden, which is reasonable.

Costume bag.

The costume basically came in a plastic bag and inside a zippered costume bag. The costume bag is pretty neat as it's roomy and all costume pieces fit nicely in it and because of the zipper it keeps all kinds of dirt out. Definitely keeping the bag for storage!

~ Costume thoughts, fabrics and sewing quality ~

Okay so, on the site it says that the costume pieces consists of three different fabrics: linen, cotton and polyester for the robe. That should be enough of an indication for the serious Star Wars fans who are looking for a 501st Legion approved costume to keep on looking, as this won't be anywhere near screen-accurate – despite the costume page claiming it is. It's a good jedi outfit for a casual fan or someone who just wants to dress up for fun (or to a convention) but if you're applying to be a part of any Star Wars costuming group with rigid costume standards then this likely won't fly. I'm gonna have to admit that I'm pretty new to the Star Wars universe (I only watched all movies for the first time last year, don't judge me lol) so this also means that I haven't spent countless hours staring down details on the screen and thus I am blissfully unaware of how screen-accurate this budget-friendly jedi outfit really is. For me, as a new fan, it's great for the price and fills its purpose!

What is included:

• Inner tunic (kimono style)

• Outer tunic (kimono style)

• Tabards

• Belt
• Under-belt
• Robe
• Pants

What is NOT included:

• Boots

My first impression was positive. The outer tunic, tabards and the under-belt feels like a medium thick cotton or linen fabric, which is nice when you've gotten used to expect everything from China to be polyester despite what the description says. xD The brown inner tunic seems to be a polycotton blend and is really thin but still okay. The robe is polyester and kinda thin too, which is good in the sense that it picks up wind and flies easily but not so good in the sense that it looks... cheap, for lack of better words. At least I always imagine Star Wars robes to be thick and warm.

The belt is fake leather with a metallic purely decorational clasp in front and it closes with velcro at the back, same velcro closure goes for the white under-belt as well. You will need a sash or cord or something to hold the inner tunic in place as it's a wrap-around kimono style tunic, just like the outer tunic is. The tabards are two really long rectangular pieces that you throw over your shoulders and secure in place with the belt(s). Pants are really ordinary pressed brown pants with a zipper and button closure and that has belt loops, if needed.

Belt close-up. Photo by Sacchan.

There's a leather pouch attached to the belt, I don't know enough to say anything more about it. ^^" Sewing quality is generally good and consistent, straight seams and such. There were some loose threads poking out in a few places but those were easy to just cut off. 

One thing that I really don't get is why the robe has strings at the front, as if for tying it closed near the neck? I really don't get it and those strings just end up looking goofy and out of place when they live their own life on photos – I'd definitely cut them off or remove them as they are quite annoying and long enough to get in the way.

This particular costume is about 95% accurate to the stock photos on the site, which is solid. The only difference I notice is that on the stock photos the fabrics perhaps appear to be thicker? Make sure to study the stock photos closely as you are likely to get something really similar to it if you buy from CosplaySky.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Photos taken by Sacchan.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Front view.

Side view.

Back view.

Without the robe.

Want to be one with the Force too? Check out the links below!

Link to CosplaySky main page: CosplaySky Online Cosplay Store

Jedi tunic link: CosplaySky Star Wars Kenobi Jedi TUNIC Costume

All Star Wars costumes: CosplaySky Star Wars costume selection

CosplaySky store & Star Wars jedi tunic rundown – Pros and cons:

+ Actual linen and cotton costume parts for the most part
 + Comfortable and easy to wear
+ Very accurate to store's stock photos
+ Affordable and recognizable
+ Decent sewing quality
+ The costume came in a convenient clothing bag
+ Great for fans who just want to have fun
+ Can be worn as a generic Jedi, doesn't have to be Obi-Wan

- The pants don't fit despite ordering custom size
- Likely not applicable for Legion 501st standards
- Not for those who demand screen-accuracy

~ Sizing ~

The sizing is generally adjustable with this kind of mainly wrap-around, loose-wearing outfit. Everything fits me despite the pants, which wasn't really a surprise anyway as I struggle with finding pants even in normal life as I don't have an ideal body type. The pants being unwearable (I can wear them but they're too small/narrow to be closed) is of little concern to me because I have a pair of fitting brown pants from another costume that I can use instead.

I ordered custom size but I'm not too sure how custom it really is – it might just be that custom really is just mixing and matching sizes from the standard sizes to get as close to your measurements as possible. So if you want to be safe (especially if you are a bit bottom heavy and/or have some belly) then order a size up as it will pretty much only affect the size of the pants and the belts (because of velcro closure), the rest is more or less one size with only the length varying. The fabrics have no elasticity.

Obi-Wan Kenobi reference image.

~ Conclusion and final thoughts ~

Okay, so to wrap up this review I want to make it clear that, despite some of my ehh-moments (robe ties mainly) I am overall very pleased with this Force-positive costume that I received and with CosplaySky's service. ♡ I voice my humblest apologies for how overdue this review is but I really enjoyed this collaboration with CosplaySky and I'd warmly recommend their store forward.

Both beginners and more seasoned costuming fans can enjoy what CosplaySky has to offer. They are a reputable online costume store with a huge costume selection and decent quality. They are also pretty fast with the turn-around times, but as with any online purchases from overseas you should plan in advance and order at least a couple months prior to the event you need the costume for, just to avoid any shipping delays. Their costumes also work as decent bases if you can't sew but want to do some small modifications to an existing costume.

I can recommend this Jedi tunic for Star Wars fans who want to have fun while dressing up – you don't even have to be Obi-Wan to wear it as it just so happens that his outfit is the most generally recognized one by the masses and thus you can use it as a base to do your very own Jedi character; I've seen countless Obi-Wan inspired Jedi creations come alive! Have fun with it and may the Force be with you.

Final Grade (from A-F): B+

Recommend to others: Yes

That about wraps it up. I hope you found this review helpful and hey, do hit that "follower" button if you aren't reading my blog yet, there's a lot more content coming up soon, including an Obi-Wan photoshoot!

A huge thank you goes out to CosplaySky for making this review possible and to you for reading this! ♡
~  Shiro Samurai says farewell.

[Sponsored] Lens review: GEO Crazy SF-75

Yoooooo!

Once again I'm back reviewing another pair of lenses sent to me by the amazing Sweden-based circle lens shop called CirclelensesEurope, also known as Cirkellinser. ^_^ I've done a couple reviews for them earlier so, in case you're curious and missed out, check them out here and here ~! 
This time around I'm reviewing a crazy lens – the GEO Crazy SF-75! These lenses often have other names added to their number code name (SF-75), most commonly "Flame Eyes" or sometimes even "Vampire" – but some people just call this kind of lens design for the Darth Maul eyes since they are often used by cosplayers for the iconic eyes of the Sith Lords from the Star Wars universe.

The lenses I'm reviewing in this post were kindly sponsored by CirclelensesEurope, aka Cirkellinser. Rest assured knowing that all my reviews are purely 100% my honest opinion. I don't ever compromise the truth.

The discount code "SHIRO" gives you 10% off on any order placed on both CircleLensesEurope and Cirkellinser – feel free to use it! ♥

Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.2 mm

Water content: 40±2% 

Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

Note: To all my Swedish readers, please scroll to the end of this post for a summary in Swedish. // Till alla mina svenska läsare, bläddra gärna till slutet av detta inlägg för en sammanfattning på svenska. :)

Before I start with the actual review of the lenses I want to tell you all a little about CirclelensesEurope, also known as Cirkellinser. You might wonder why I'm mentioning two stores but the catch is that it's actually the same store, just for two different markets – CirclelensesEurope is catering for the whole Europe while Cirkellinser is especially for the Swedes. Both sites have the same people behind it, the same products for sale, ship from the same place etc so yeah, the only difference is basically that the other one is for people living in Sweden. Neither of them is a copycat or a scam site so no worries there – you can buy from either of them with confidence!

Both of their sites are fresh, inviting, cute and easy to use. There is not a staggering amount of circle lenses to choose from since they seem to focus on just a couple lens brands – GEO and EOS, respectively. But what CirclelensesEurope lack in options they make up for with incredibly high-speed and cheap shipping – it's a flat price of 3€ for anywhere in Europe. The fast shipping puts CirclelensesEurope at an advantage over Asia-based lens stores because yeah, if you're a cosplayer and need lenses urgently (let's say, a week before the con) then they might very well save your costume!

Regarding the shipping and handling time I want to say that I've always received my orders extremely fast – most commonly already on the next working day. Shipping to Sweden is usually 1-2 days and to the rest of Europe it's 3-7 days and it also says on their site that they ship out within 24 hours.

If you wonder to what European countries (note: they do NOT ship outside of Europe!!) they ship to then this is what it says on their site:

We deliver to following countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom and Austria.

Their customer service is dependable; they seem to answer within 24 hours, even during weekends! Customer service is also really kind and easy to approach while still having that professional air to it. All in all CirclelensesEurope is a very easy and smooth shop to deal with, safe to buy from and I would warmly recommend them to all fellow European (and Swedish) cosplayers and circle lens fans! They are a really good store, honestly. ♥

 ~***~ Lens review continues ~***~

The lenses arrived in a small regular white bubblewrap envelope that easily fits into your average mailbox. On the envelope was a cute little 3D smiley sticker.

Inside the white envelope the lenses are packed in a small cute drawstring bag! With the order also came a free lens case, a business card with a hand-written 'thank you' note on the back, a GEO Medical information sheet (because I received GEO lenses) and, of course, the shop's own leaflet with information about their guarantees, wear & care etc – a really good piece of advice for all the first-time contact lens users.

~***~

I put the lenses to soak in ordinary contact lens solution before wearing them – it's not recommended to wear circle lenses right out of their original vials/packaging! I have no problems inserting them and the lenses don't sting my eyes or such; I also don't feel them when I move my gaze around. One thing that they do though is blur my vision because of the small pupil hole, which also means that I see yellow corners in my vision field in any kind of poorer light conditions; it's nothing that you don't get used to and it's to be expected with any kind of crazy and animation lenses.

One lens in.

My natural eye color is a light blue-gray but I do have a faint golden-ish ring next to the pupil. As is to be expected by crazy lenses these completely cover up my real eye color! The color is really opaque, pigmented and vibrant. There's no shading or anything so the color looks really fake but hey, who buys crazy lenses expecting them to look natural? Like, really?

The design is just a solid yellow color with some irregular flaming edges that is a shade between orange and red; it makes you look like the bad guy from a science fiction movie and that's pretty boss. These lenses could also bring that little extra to any kind of werewolf, vampire, alien, dragon or even a possessed look for the next wild carneval party!
The size increase is quite modest – it's there but you don't really pay attention to it. I rarely buy crazy lenses for enlargement effect anyway, I buy them for the special effect.

Lens photos ahead!

All photos taken by me during a May afternoon with a clear sky.
There's no color filters or such on the close-up photos and that's so that the colors would be as true to real life as possible.

Apartment room light. Natural (window) light.

Apartment room light, standing in a dark corner.

Flash photo.

White light in the corridor.

Yellow light in the staircase.

Indoors storage room. Natural light from the side.

Basement floor. Poor natural light.

Outdoors, facing the sun while being in the shadow.

Outdoors, back against sun.

Outdoors, facing sun.

I instantly noticed that once I had both lenses in that they were of vastly different colors! One lens is several shades brighter while the other appears duller and more muddy in color, as well as a bit more transparent (insufficient color print?) and it's honestly impossible to miss. I'm suspecting that it's a manufacturing error – it could happen to any pair of lenses and I was just unlucky, in other words. Sith Shit happens. :'( I'm not gonna lie, of course it's disappointing because it looks dumb –and makes the lenses unusable for serious costuming purposes– but I really can't blame CircleLensesEurope; it's not their fault that manufacturer errors exist and, just to compare, I've gotten defective lenses from several big and popular Asian circle lens stores as well. 

Also, the color difference is not visible until the lens is in the eye – or at least I didn't notice anything in the vials, nor when I held the lenses on my finger; there's also no chance that I put them on the wrong way since it's really easy to tell the right side apart from the wrong side (because wrong side is considerably lighter). I also want to mention that I checked the batch numbers on the vials and both lenses are from the very same lot, surprisingly enough.

The comfort is mainly good but a bit unpredictable. The first time I wore these lenses I could easily wear them for 3,5 hours (I had to take them off for work after that) without feeling them anywhere – I know I could have worn them at least a couple hours more with no problems. The second time I wore these I experienced frequent dry bouts on and off and I had a hard time to wear them past the first hour because my eyes felt so dry, yet I still persisted for 4 hours before I gave up. I've had very dry eyes lately so take my comfort grading with a grain of salt because yeah, the first day I easily wore these for 3,5 hours while the second time I struggled after the first hour. I have dry and sensitive eyes naturally anyway, by the way. I'm pretty sure that if you don't suffer from the same eye problems that I do then these would surely be comfortable!
Also, in case someone wonders, I noticed no difference in comfort between the two lenses – despite the obvious color difference. So yeah, it's not defective as in unwearable, just a color mistake it seems.

Distance photos! Original Sith Lord style, of course.

Regarding CircleLensesEurope I need to mention that they and their Swedish counterpart sadly don't carry prescription lenses for the time being. I don't know if they plan to start selling those anytime soon but I keep my fingers crossed since a lot of people have vision defects, me included, and need prescription lenses to see. My own vision defects are minor enough (-0,50 on my weaker eye) that I can get around just fine with plano lenses but yeah, if you can't wear lenses without power I'm really sorry to say that, sadly, CircleLensesEurope doesn't have what you need. :'(

Remember, if you make a purchase at CircleLensesEurope or Cirkellinser you can get 10% off any order if you use the discount code "SHIRO" during checkout – enjoy! ♡

Short summary:

Color: 9/10 

Ignore the defect and it's an intense flat yellow color with a fiery flame rim. Not for the faint of heart.

Design: 7/10 

A simple solid lens with a flame design on the outer rim. Looks badass!

Opacity: 10/10

As is to be expected from a crazy lens – really good color coverage.

Enlargement: 4/10 

Modest enlargement. It's there but it's not all that noticeable, perhaps because of the eye-catching extreme design.

Comfort: 5/10 

Easy to wear (no stinginess etc) but a bit unpredictable on my dry eyes. Ranges from really comfortable to drying after a couple hours. Gives yellow corners in the vision field and occasional blurred sight in poorer light conditions.

Naturalness: 0/10 

Unless you turned to the dark side of the Force and your eyes suddenly changed then no, not really.

• Sammanfattning på svenska •

Vad är cirkellinser? 

Cirkellinser är kosmetiska linser som till en början mest användes i Asien av idoler, modeller och liknande men som har, på sistone, blivit alltmer populära även i västvärlden – särskilt bland ungdomar som har ett intresse för japansk populärkultur. Det som skiljer cirkellinser från vanliga färgade linser är att dom kommer i otroligt många olika designs och färger (även onaturliga färger så som röd, rosa och lila etc) samt att dom får dina ögon att se större och vackrare ut! Cirkellinser finns att köpa både med och utan styrka. Det är flest unga kvinnor som använder cirkellinser men även män, transpersoner, ickebinära och andra har insett hur roligt det kan vara att byta ögonfärg lite nu och då för att testa på något nytt och spännande.

~~~~~~~~~

Cirkellinser är en svensk online-affär –förmodligen den första och enda i vårt avlånga land– som säljer äkta "circle lenses", numera även kända på svenska som cirkellinser. Tyvärr så säljer inte Cirkellinser linser med styrka i dagens läge.

Denna gång valde jag att recensera ett linspar som heter GEO Crazy SF-75 (bilder finns ovanför!) då dem verkade riktigt balla med sin intensivt gula färg med flammor i kanterna. Linserna anlände inom nån enstaka arbetsdag i ett vadderat kuvert. I kuvertet fanns även ett visitkort med en handskriven hälsning på baksidan, ett gratis linsetui samt linserna själv som var förpackade i en fin liten snörpåse.

Linserna är superfräna, heltäckande och passar perfekt till att exempelvis cosplaya en Sithlord från Star Wars med de ikoniska ögonen – de syns på väldigt långt avstånd också! Dessa linser går även galant att komplettera looken med om man ska klä ut sig till vampyr, varulv och andra läskiga varelser på maskeradfesten!
Tyvärr hade jag otur och fick ett linspar med tydlig färgskillnad på linserna, men detta är ett produktionsfel och sånt händer – det inte Cirkellinsers fel; jag har fått defekta linser även från de största cirkellinsbutikerna i Asien. 

Dessa linser har varierande bekvämlighet för mig; jag har haft riktigt torra ögon på sistone och första dagen jag testade dessa kunde jag lätt ha dem i flera timmar utan problem. Andra gången fick jag kämpa för att inte ge upp efter första timmen då dom kändes torra. Jag är dock rätt säker på att om du inte har torra och känsliga ögon som mig så är det säkert inget problem att bära dessa linser! De är lätta att sätta in, skaver och kliar inte – men däremot så gör dessa linser så att hörnen i mitt synfält blir gula och/eller suddiga, främst inomhus. Den blurriga effekten sker då linsernas pupillöppning är mindre än på din typiska icke-crazy cirkellins, vilket gör så att när du vistas i ett utrymme med sämre ljusförhållanden så blir din pupill naturligt större och "krockar" därmed med linsen. Man vänjer sig fort vid det dock.

Linserna fick jag från Cirkellinser, en av mina sponsorer, i recensionssyfte. ^_^ Men fast jag inte själv betalat för detta par så påverkar det inte min ärlighet. Jag kan med handen på hjärtat säga att Cirkellinser är en professionell och pålitlig hemsida. De säljer endast äkta cirkellinser som är tillverkade i Korea. De innehar även en äkthetsgaranti samt öppet köp i 30 dagar – allt för att du ska känna dig trygg och nöjd! Beställningar som gjorts före klockan 14:00 skickas samma vardag och frakttiden inom Sverige ligger på 1-2 dagar och kostar endast 19 kr. Jag kan rekommendera deras onlinebutik till alla som är intresserade av att prova på att använda färgade kontaktlinser!

 
Min kod "SHIRO" ger dig dessutom 10% rabatt på din beställning hos dem, glöm inte det! ♥

Thanks for reading!

A huge thank you to CircleLensesEurope and Cirkellinser for making this review possible!

~ Shiro Samurai out.

I made a Jedi robe from Star Wars!

Hello geeks! ~

Okay, so I sewed a brown Jedi robe/cloak from Star Wars from scratch in like, two days. 

– The reason?

I thought I could dress up for the upcoming world premiere of the Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie, since I'm a volunteer worker at the town's cinema. And hey, great excuse to be nerdy and cosplay outside the walls of my apartment! :D Bonus points for the cinema encouraging the workers to dress up! For example: when the James Bond movie Spectre premiered earlier this year all workers on that day were formally dressed and wore black/white suits.

So yeah, I went to mom's over the weekend and spent like all my time sewing this robe together. I'm sorry but I don't have many photos of the progress because I was in such a hurry to get it done in time. I'm still gonna try to tell at least something on how I made it, even though this post won't really be detailed enough (I guess?) to function as any kind of tutorial on "how to make a Jedi robe". Sorry. ^^"

As a base pattern I used some very basic men's fleece jacket in, like, the biggest size possible – XXL. The pattern was then widened and lengthened to the galaxy moon and back. The pattern was also modified so that the sides of the body widened towards the bottom and the underside of the sleeves curved into small "trumpets" towards the arm openings, aka what I'd call 'wizard sleeves'. The hood was greatly enlarged too, to the point it looked comical. The hood was cut out twice (four pieces in total) so that it would be doubled on the final product.

I started by overlocking all the edges, of every single piece, to keep them from fraying. After that I sewed the shoulder seams together.

Shoulder seams done.

Next up I took the sleeves, folded them to mark out the center back and ironed them. It doesn't really show on the photo below but the edge further away is the arm opening and the end hanging off the ironing board has a slight tip (because of the trumpet style) which proved to be an annoyance when I hemmed the sleeve mouths later, lol. I actually had to hand-stitch the tips in place so that they'd stay flat.

One sleeve folded and ironed.

I first sewed on the sleeves and then sewed the underside of the sleeves closed and continued all the way down the side seams. Now it started to look like something!

Sleeves attached and side seams closed.

I hemmed the arm openings by doing a big fold of a couple centimeters. I always steam pressed seams open when I had sewed something together and I also ironed folded edges before hemming them. This fabric is elastic so yeah, it was needed to iron things in place because the fabric is seriously alive and did cause me some inner cursing during the process, lol.

One hood piece put in place on the fabric, to act as a pattern for cutting out
the "double hood".

Next up I think I went to straighten (read: cut) the bottom because, as is tradition for me by now, it's never ever straight down there – aka all pieces are not the same length. I don't know why this keeps happening because I sure do cut the pieces the same way and I always iron to mark out the center spots (shoulder folds etc) before sewing so yeah, it should be aligned perfectly but lolnope.
Oh well, I went to the trusty overlock to get the job done faster but guess what? I possess the luck of Donald Duck (it rhymes, hihi) so of course when I started sewing the machine made some really loud and scary sounds that sounded like I just tried to start a fucking lovechild of a chainsaw and a snowmobile – and a really old painful one at that.

Overlock, y u do dis to me? ;__;
Yeah, that's how much I had time to sew before it died on me...

Oh well, no can do except take out the ordinary scissors, cut the shit straight and do the good ol' zigzag instead. With the bottom hemmed I was nearing the end – now I just had to hem the front and sew on the hood. The hood did reveal itself to be the most annoying part of the whole thing though. xD I did hem the front "flaps" first all the way down to the bottom and then I started to sew the hood together; I first took two of the four pieces and united them so that I got one complete hood – a crazy big one at that. I then took the remaining two pieces and did the same thing to them and now I had two hoods. What was next was to sew both of these hoods together into a single hood that wouldn't show the underside (aka seam side). I thought that this was a good idea because the guys in Star Wars don't always wear the hood so yeah, when it's just chilling on the back it would still look neat and clean since even the inside of the hood would look the same as the outside.
The thing with sewing the hood was that the neck (aka the spot for attaching the hood on the cape) was only around 60 cm around while the hood was 112 cm.
See what this means? – Yep, make huge-ass pleats so that it will fit in!

Pleating in progress. I decided to make three deep folds on each side
of the middle seam of the hood.

I sewed the pleats in place really carefully (so much fabric layers!) and I was kinda expecting the needle to break on the sewing machine... but it didn't, phew. Next up was to take the "inner hood" and pleat it as well.

Showing that the underside (seam side) of the outer hood is pleated and sewn on; the
"inner hood" is yet to be pleated and attached to the body of the cloak.

"Inner hood" pleating in progress – one side done.

I did some fancy stuff by sewing the pleats of the "inner hood" in place without actually attaching it to the cloak itself yet – this made it possible for me to hem the "inner hood" on top of the outer hood's seams and thus hide all the seams for a very clean and professional look. The problem is that, meanwhile I was pinning the hem folds, mom came and took a look at it because I had joked that this is sooooo gonna break the whole sewing machine – worst part is that she agreed because holy crud so many layers and pleats had accumulated in that hood attachment spot by now that sewing it by machine was out of the question; not even the thickest 100 numbered needle would make it. So yeah, I had to sacrifice some Neatness Pro™ points and just skip the actual hem folding and just sew it on as a single layer, no folding. I still of course sewed the edges of the "inner hood" on top of the outer hood's seams, to hide the "mess". Not like it was messy because clean overlock seams but yeah, still looks better.

Finished Jedi robe!

Back view of the hood when not worn.

So yeah, this is what I've been sewing on the whole weekend. It was really stressful to make it in such a short time (intense sewing, go!) but at least I can't call it rushed because the sewing work is still clean, save for a few really minor things (mostly hemming) because of the fabric living its own life...

It's gonna be fun to wear this at the cinema and be a random Jedi knight!
The issue is that I'll have to throw the rest together from whatever I can find from the closet since I won't have time to make or buy the rest of the parts. Now if only I had a lightsaber...

That's all I have for this time!

Shiro Samurai says goodbye!