Oola the Twi'lek: Return of the Jedi Costume

I got so tired of seeing nine million slave Leias at Comic Con that I decided to try out a lesser known Star Wars beauty for a costume. Oola the Twi'lek is the dancer that Jabba the Hutt throws down to the rancor.. (This is right before Luke Skywalker arrives to save Han Solo).

It's a great costume that is not only easy to make but is refreshingly non mainstream. And that's really something rare for Star Wars costumes. Here's what it takes to make this costume

Step 1: What You'll Need

- green bodypaint
- green catsuit or zentai
- golf netting
- elastic band (black)
- polyfill stuffing
- black bikini bottom
- Sculpty or Fimo
- velcro
- egg carton (white styrofoam)
- black vinyl or similar fabric

Step 2: The Body

Fortunately Twi'leks have bodies just like humans so you won't have to worry about a complex build here. All you'll need is a green zentai suit with the head removed. I originally had a custom bodysuit made that was more of a halter top and painting the exposed skin with body paint. I chose this method because I was concerned about getting too hot in a full suit; which turned out not to be an issue. trust me: save yourself the grief of flaking off body paint and get a full zentai suit (NOTE: If you are concerned about not being able to use your touch screen phone while in the zentai, you can either make the gloves of the suit detachable or sew thermal thread onto the fingertips of the suit to allow you to dial)

Now for the "overalls". Believe it or not, this was made from the netting used at gold ranges. As this netting is obviously made mainly of holes, you don't have to be a good or even passable seamstress (tailor) to easily put together the overalls. Just remember there are two shoulder straps in the front that meet in a single strap in the back (I apologize for lack of pics of the back). Sew a little elastic band around the ankles of the overalls to tighten up the bottoms.

Then all you'll need over that is a pair of black bikini bottoms

Step 3: The Headpiece

First, the lekku or for you Star Wars n00bs, the head tentacles. Get ready for easy folks because these are simply green tights I purchased from We Love Colors stuffed with polyfill. Yuip, si,ple as that. I will give you a heads up though that even though polyfill is light, it still can weigh you down a bit after a long night of wearing the lekku. Be sure to give your neck a break by periodically resting the lekku on your shoulders.

For the headband, there are three easy steps.

1) Measure your head for the headband and cut out a thick headband strap from your black vinyl fabric. Make the closure at the back of the headband with velcro for easy removal.

2) Create the symbol on Oola's headpiece using Sculpty or Fimo. For those unfarmiliar, this is a clay like product that you bake in the oven to harden. Once the symbol is hardened, attach it to the front of the headband using hot glue

3) To make the small, bony nubs sticking out from the side of her head, cut off half of one of the egg cups from a carton of eggs and glue gun them to either side of the headpiece. They get the desired look and don't add extra weight to the headpiece. Go ahead and paint some detailing on them if you'd like to give them a real bony look.

And that's it! You're Oola!