Mara Jade as Arica the Dancer Tutorial

[Princess Liz Fett (Liz Welsh)]

I wanted to include a tutorial on how I made my Arica costume

Here are some reference images of this costume:





Here's a list of materials that I used:
-Royal Blue Spandex fabric
-Fishnet fabric
-Aluminum
-Acrylic gems
-Black stockings
-Black strings
-Silver bracelets
-Silver headband (used as a base for the circlet)
-Super Glue and tape
-Royal blue all purpose thread
-Black all purpose thread
-small curved fabric scissors (for the blue winged top applique)

The first part I made was my circlet:


For my circlet, I first bought a simple headband at walmart for the base of the circlet. Then, I cut out a strip of aluminum (you can find aluminum sheets for sale on ebay and amazon) and taped the aluminum on top of the headband.
In this picture, you can see my circlet from a bird's eye view and see that the aluminum is attached to the headband.

For the blue gems on each temple of my circlet, I super glued some acrylic gems onto each temple. You can find acrylic gems in the craft section of walmart or Joann's for a very cheap price. I'm sure Michael's carries them also.

For the top of this costume, I used some black fishnet fabric for the shirt and some of my blue spandex fabric for the applique.
Now, the difficult part: the blue winged applique on the shirt.
I used these awesome curved edged scissors that I found at Joann's for cutting the curved fingers on each side of the applique. There are five of these fingers on each side of the applique. I strongly recommend hand-sewing the applique onto the fishnet top.
Another important part of the applique is the black stitching. The stitching consists of two triangle shapes on each top edge of the wing. The triangle closer to the center is larger than the other one. Then, in the center of the applique, there is a circular shape with a line going down the middle.
I made myself a template for my stitching. I was able to cut out two triangle shapes from two clothing tags. For the circular shape in the center, I used a circular shaped needle container (the bottom of a styrofoam cup is about the same size as what I used, this would be a suitable substitute.)
Here are the items I used to guide my stitching:


And here is a close up of my stitching and applique:


Next: the skirt. For my two skirt panels, I cut two pieces of the spandex fabric and left a few inches on each side for the two side pieces to connect to each other. There is also a belt loop on each side. I believe that you can add more than one belt loop on each side if you like (I am going to add an additional belt loop on mine.)
For the skirt, I highly recommend lycra/spandex fabric. It lays beautifully and since there are no zippers or buttons, you will need something stretchy to put on and take off the costume.
Satin is not a good choice (my first version of this costume was satin and was denied approval. I am glad that the judge denied that costume because now I realize that my new choice of fabric is much better to use than satin. I am actually very grateful for the judge's decision because this inspired me to re-do my costume and it turned out looking much better.)
Here are a few images of my skirt:


Sorry my cat photobombed a few of the photos

Now for the veil/cape. This is my favorite part of the costume
I cut a rectangular shape for the veil (about 2.5 yards.)
The silver bracelets were a lucky find in my old jewelry box! I sewed the ends of the veil around the two silver bracelets.
Then I used black strings to hold up the veil against my arms.
Here is an image of my veil:

After looking at more reference images of Arica, I have decided to shorten my veil (shortening it to about my upper thighs) so I'll post some new pics soon

Now for the leggings/stockings!
I did not sew my own stockings. I found a great pair of footless stockings at walmart and cut them apart. I cut mine to the length of my mid thighs.
These are not the leggings that I bought, but a good example of a pair that you can cut apart and modify:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/380714105538?lpid=82

Now for the hair.
There are some reference images of Arica with black hair, and some with red hair. I just used my natural hair, which is black.
In most of the reference images, Arica's hair appears to be wavy, so I added some waves to my hair.


For trooping, I have these black sandals that I use. I would recommend if you use shoes for trooping, use black or silver sandals that would compliment the outfit well or you could risk going barefoot, but that may not be the safest option if you are trooping outdoors.

I hope that this helped

[mjudith (Maria Judith Gandia)]

woot.. my costume for Celebration .. Awesome tutorial, it will help a lot!
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BMO, BCO, TM, KJO DXO, KJO DCO, CCM, LAC, ACOG (2013-2020)

[Princess Liz Fett (Liz Welsh)]

Thank you so much!

Here is the picture I promised with my strawberry blonde wig