Rey Costume-The Last Jedi-Thrift Store DIY

I've been searching the internet for months now trying to find a simple DIY for this costume. All the tutorials I kept finding usually involved using a sewing machine and other sewing skills I don't have. Finally, I just decided to go to my local thrift store and craft store to see if I could recreate something similar to her costume with my small set of skills and small amount of funds. I ended up purchasing the following items (and then some extra fabric paint) and spent about $56 overall for all the costume pieces as well as the crafting supplies.

In this tutorial I'm going to explain everything I did to create my own Rey costume using thrift store clothing, crafting supplies and the very few crafting skills I have. Not all of these steps may apply to you since what you purchased at the thrift store may be different from what I had.

The following video had and inspired some of the steps I used in this DIY:

Step 1: Modifying the Shoes

The shoes I had purchased at the thrift store had been black and had buckles in three different spots. Two were on the outside of the shoe, and one was inside near the zipper. Since Rey's shoes don't have buckles on them, I used a pair of scissors and removed all three buckles that surrounded/wrapped around the shoe. If you experience the same issue, do the following:

1. Cut the sides of each strap and remove the entire buckle strap around the shoe.

2. Trim the edges as best and as close as you can to make them seem more flush with the rest of the shoe so the raised and cut fabric isn't as noticeable.

3. Do this to all the buckles on the shoes (in my case 3).

Step 2: Color the Shoes

4. Cut some of the stitching from any left over parts from the buckles so you can remove the remaining fabric off.

5. Do this for any and all reaming fabric from the buckles on both shoes.

6.Take the shoes outside somewhere to spray them with Brown fabric spray paint (use a plastic garbage bag if you don't want to stain the ground below the shoes). Be sure to coat the shoes entirely in this paint, this way you can end up with a more brown colored shoe instead of black. I also suggest you coat the shoes at least twice in the fabric paint.

Step 3: Tunic

1. Cut the sleeves from below the armpit and up at a diagonal to the shoulder to create the short sleeves for the tunic. To make sure both sides were cut at the same spot, I cut one side to my desired length/look and then pulled a white string straight across to indicate where to start cutting the other sleeve. Depending on the thickness of the dress, you could also fold the dress in half and just cut both sleeves at the same time.

2. For the middle of the tunic, cut from the middle of the dress up to about half way up the dress.

3. To cut the back of the dress, use the front part of the dress you just cut as a guide to where you need to cut the back of the dress.

4. For the sides of the tunic, use the seams on the side as a guide to where you'll cut up the dress. Cut to the same spots where the front and back slits meet. To do this, I took the dress and separated it where I had cut the front and back slits. Use the top of both of those slits as a marker as to how high you need to cut. I used the white string as a marker again to see where I needed to stop cutting.

Step 4: Creating the Grey Wrap

1. Before starting on your wrap, make sure to trim off the sewn/hemmed ends of the sheets. You don't want to look like you're wearing an actual bed sheet.

2.Cut the sheet vertically into 3 identical strips with the same height and width. Each of my strips were about 91 inches long by 21 inches wide.

3. After cutting the strips, take two of the better cut sheets and pin and hand stitch the two pieces of fabric together. I suggest sewing over it 2 times just for extra strength.

Step 5: Putting on and Adjusting the Wrap

5.To put the wrap on, take the section you just sewed and put it over your left shoulder, make sure the length in the front is longer than the length in the back.

6. Take the front part and bring it over to your right hip diagonally. Wrap it up and around your right shoulder and cross it diagonally to your right hip. Their should be two loose ends on the right side and on the left there should be a loop.

7. If the wrap is too long and you need to trim it, be sure to mark where you want to cut while you're wearing it.

Step 6: Belts

1. Find the longer of the two belts and make that one the one you plan to wrap around your waist.

2. After wrapping it around your waste as tightly and as comfortable as you want, cut off the excess belt strap off on the longer belt.

3. Wrap the smaller belt around and figure out where you want the two belts to connect/overlap. Then using the piece you cut off in step 2, put it in between the two belts and clip it in place.

4. Take the belts off and use hot glue to glue the two belts to the piece you just clipped in place in step 3.

5. If you have more than one strip from the belts, you can also use those as well.