Rey Build Walk-Thru

Rey's costume is, so far, one of the few where I've made almost the entire thing myself. There were only a few pieces that I actually bought and used as is (or almost as is).

To start off, I got the McCall's pattern set, which I used for all the pieces except the shirt and cuff. There were a few little adjustments I made to make certain pieces more accurate, but generally I followed the given instructions. So here's what I did.

Shirt

As I mentioned before, I didn't use the shirt included in the pattern. If I had, it probably would've been a little closer to screen accurate, but I bought my shirt before I even found the pattern. The shirt I got was a light tan basic v-neck tee, originally from Target (I already had the same shirt in a different color so I recognized it) though I got it at a thrift store. I cut off the sleeves to make it a tank (though looking back I probably should have just cut them a bit shorter to make them cap sleeves instead).

Pants

For the pants, I used the pattern pretty much as directed, I just lowered the waistline a little to my own taste. I used a lightweight linen-esque fabric in a shade of beige just a little darker than my other fabrics.

Wrap/Tabard

The wrap (referred to in the pattern as the tabard) was made out of a stretchy gauze fabric in a creamy beige. I followed the instructions pretty much directly for most of it, though if you want to be perfectly screen accurate, you should leave the edges raw instead of hemming like I did. When it was finished, I discovered that the width of the drapes made them all fan out into almost a dress, which wasn't right (some of this may have been because I'm so tiny). While trying to find a solution, I consulted my reference pictures and noticed that the left-side drapes are actually connected at the bottom in a loop, presumably because the original costume is made with all one piece of fabric. So I took the two left side drapes and sewed them together at the bottom to form a loop.

Arm wraps

Lots of people just use ace bandage wraps for the arm wraps, which works well enough but runs the risk of them coming loose halfway through a con or photoshoot and needing to be redone. The pattern's cheat for the wraps is one thing that I did exactly as instructed. I used a stretch knit fabric that had some light flecking in it, giving it more of a gauzy look without it being the same fabric and color as my wrap/tabard. If you're not using the McCall's pattern but still want to make your own wrap instead of using bandages, here is a similar tutorial online.

Cuff

I was originally going to use the pattern for making the cuff, but by chance I found a costume replica of it at Hot Topic among the jewelry. It's a bit stiff and might be slightly on the large side, but it works really well and saved me from having to sew suede any more than necessary. I have no idea if Hot Topic still carries this item, I tried with no luck to find it on the website, but you can always keep an eye out for it.

Belt

The way the pattern has you do the belt is kind of confusing and, while it works for being on a tighter budget, is not necessarily the sturdiest. So basically I just used the pattern piece for a guide. I got a roll of suede from Tandy Leather and scotch-taped the pattern piece onto it so I could cut it out. I used an Exacto knife for puncturing the center section so I could cut it out. I highly recommend doing a test run first on butcher paper just so you know what you're doing before cutting into your suede!

To close the belt, the pattern says to use velcro, but since I was using real suede, I didn't think that would be sturdy enough. So I got some snaps and attached two snaps at the right tightness for my size (I recommend measuring your belt around yourself while wearing the rest of the costume so you know it'll be the right tightness around the tabard). The fasteners should be on your left side.

Finally, I got some light brown twine and wrapped it around the front portion of the belt, between the fasteners and where the two tiers split off. I used Elmer's glue to tack it down on the inside of the belt.

Pouch

I bought this screen accurate bag off Amazon. It's great quality and holds up beautifully carrying your stuff around all day at a con. In order to attach it to my belt without it being permanently affixed, I undid the stitching on the bottom of the two straps on the back of the bag and sewed on velcro instead.

Boots

The shoes used in the movie are Po-Zu's piper v brown linen boots, but they're on the expensive side. Other people have made boot covers that look like po-zu's. I just got these boots off Amazon. They're not perfectly screen accurate and they were a little uncomfortable to walk around in all day at comicon, but they still work really great.

Staff

I used this tutorial that I found for adding the details to Rey's staff. I used a light wooden staff that I had lying around instead of PVC pipe, and for the grips I used scrap fabric from my wrap/tabard. For the sling strap, I used a spare luggage strap. To make the attachments for clipping the strap to the staff, I referenced this tutorial. I used some of the suede from my belt, snaps, D-rings, and some scrap fabric to back the cross sections (you put the D-rings between the suede cross section and the backing so it doesn't slid around and rub all the paint off your staff).  Fair warning, sewing suede is a pain.

And there you have it! That's how I made my Rey cosplay. I have lots of other resources in my Pinterest board if you're needing references, other tutorials, or want to branch out and try things differently. And now for the final results:

Happy cosplaying, and may the Force be with you!