Slave Leia Boot Tutorial

[Princess Liz Fett (Liz Welsh)]

Hello everyone!

So one of the most complex pieces of Leia's slave outfit are the boots. The boots are known to give many of us a lot of headaches

I am sharing my method of how I modified my Slave Leia boots

Here are the supplies that you will need:
-Tall, flat, suede boots (in any of the approvable colors, but in my tutorial, I will discuss how I dyed mine olive green.) The boots can also be a little scrunchy like they were in the movie.
- Scissors
- Needle and Thread
- Boning for keeping your boots standing up (I used old corset boning.)
- Strong glue (I used E6000, but some suedes require a stronger glue.)
- Velcro (as an alternative or in addition to glue)
- Accurate golden boot adornments

Step 1: Find your boots

Search for tall, flat, suede boots. Our standards require that the boots be olive green, medium gray, or dark taupe (dark taupe is like a camel color) We allow these different colors due to the color variation brought on by different lightings used in the movie and promo images. If you are planning to dye a pair of boots, stay tuned! I will cover that in step 2!

Here were my original boots. A cheap $9.99 pair from Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0051UTSEI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1



Make sure that your boots are tall enough for your golden boot adornments to fit!

Step 2: Golden boot topper adornments

Leia's golden boot toppers have quite an interesting design. They act as a top trim to the top edge of the boot, and then have an intricate shape at the bottom with claws.



Here is a photo of mine before I applied them onto my boots:



If you are buying your bikini kit from a vendor, your boot toppers will most likely need to be reshaped to your boots. Your clawed portion will have to be bent downwards so that the boot tops will be on a diagonal angle. Your claws will also need to be curved to the boots. A heat source will be needed for the reshaping. Good heat sources include a hair dryer, and a pot of hot water on the stove if your boot toppers are made of a really thick resin.


Step 3: Dyeing your boots (this step is optional. I did this so that my boots would be olive green.)

I decided that I wanted my boots to be olive green. Olive green seems to be the color that is most prominent in reference images.

The dye paint I used for my boots is called Simply Spray Fabric Paint, and the color was sage green. Their sage green looks close enough to olive green, and came out really nice! This was also purchased from Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0077C54KA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1



Their color palate sample:


Now, after you have your boots and your dye, I recommend going outside to dye this, as this is a spray-on dye. Once you spray an area on the boot, you must rub it in, so be prepared to get your hands dirty. After your boots are all dyed, leave them out a day to dry.

Here was my result!



Step 4: Cutting and sewing your boots

Leia's boots are cut on a diagonal angle. Before you cut your boots, place your golden boot adornments on top of them and use them as a guide while cutting your boots.

After you have cut your boots on an angle that is suitable for your boot adornments, hand sew the edges of your boots for neatness.

Also, I strongly recommend sewing some boning in the back spine of your boots for extra support standing up. The reason why your boots may not stand up well is because of the weight of the claws on the boot adornments. For my boots, I sewed in some old corset boning in the back, between the suede layer and the inner padding layer.





For your boning, the length will depend on the height of your boots. Here is a link to boning that you can use:
http://corsetmaking.com/category/white-steel-boning.html

Step 5: Attaching your boot top adornments to your sewn boots

There are many different methods of doing this, here are the most common:

- Use a strong gel-like glue.
- Use velcro (sew on for the boots and adhesive for the boot toppers)
- Drill small holes in your boot tops and sew them on to your boots, with either thread or suede cord (this method was used for Carrie's.)

For my boots, I glued the toppers on with E-6000, and then I used velcro for the clawed portion.

So finally, here are my boots compared to the originals



I hope this tutorial helps ladies!!

The boots have always been one of my favorite parts of this beautiful costume.

Please reply here if you have any questions or comments!

MTFBWY!


_________________
Blue Ridge Base
Legion Costume Judge: Royalty, Fringe, and Rebel Supporters
501st Legion member DZ-11177
Rebel Legion Costumer of the Year 2013

[KnoXxVille ()]

This is the post I definitly need *_*
I was desperatly wondering how to dye the boots for a reasonable price, and now I've the product and found a retailer in my country!
Thanks for sharing !
_________________

[Lora Skywalker ()]

I used that dye for my flamegown. It was hell for that project, but good to see it can be used for this.
_________________
DXO of Royalty & Senatorial detachment

Detachment website: http://www.senate.rebellegion.com/

[barkster ()]

where did you get your boot toppers? Thanks