I am in the planning phase of putting together a set of Female Mandalorian Armor. I won't be doing a full Mando tutorial on here because there is more than enough information on TheDentedHelmet.com and The Mandalorian Mercs which is the best resource out there, and an excellent forum of friendly people who'll help answer questions. But, I'll be adding my own notes on the progress on mine, and notes on making a female Mando.

-EDIT 05/28/08- I was requested to do a tutorial on making a female flightsuit, so it's posted on a separate page. I tried to include what pictures I took during construction, but if something doesn't make sense, feel free to E-Mail Me or contact me via the Mando Mercs board under the username Verdaera.

Female Flightsuit Notes and Tutorial

I probably won't be attempted the armor itself until after I graduate in June and move. I am, however, planning the flightsuit and putting together my armor concept. I just finished the flightsuit, which is made in a "platinum" colored stretch twill. I have it somewhere between a relaxed fit, and more fitted in the torso, because the armor will be more contoured than men's, so I need the vest and flightsuit to be more fitted. The short oversleeves are shorter than on the male version, mostly so the gauntlet tubing will be visible. Flightsuits are usually one-piece, but I was able to make mine two piece by making a hidden area for snaps on the bodice waistband. Practicality is always a plus. I wanted a more Jango-style leg on the pants instead of the fitted and spats Boba version. The vest over top I am thinking of doing in a dark gray twill.

The armor itself will be in a shade of deep blood red/crimson with golden yellow and black accents. I haven't decided if I want two smaller blasters or a larger rifle blaster. I probably won't worry about a rocket pack until the armor is done, and I will add a singed cape. I don't want to do a cod piece because obviously I have no need for one, so I will be doing a leather kama for the armor there, that's combined into the utility belt. Below is my concept sketch for my flight suit.

-update 03/22/08- I've been sketching trying to think about how to put together a 2-piece jumpsuit that looks like a one-piece jumpsuit, and I think I have it, concept wise anyway, and it looks like I'll have 21 pieces to the jumpsuit! The sketch shows a seam down the center of the leg cause I thought ending the seam of the bodice at the waistband would look weird, but that will be covered by the vest anyway so I think I'll scrap that. Right now I am ripping apart of holey jeans that fit well so I can think about drafting a pattern out of these to start my initial jumpsuit pattern. The princess-seamed bodice I did for my Capstone Project for college is a perfect fit so I think I'll use the pattern I already made as a template, but I have to wait until my instructor is done grading it so I can get it back :p I think I might try at the least making my muslin for this before I move.

[FLIGHTSUIT] Update 03/26/08 - I found a nice color bottom-weight stretch twill called "Aluminum", it's a nice mix of gray and khaki, the other gray they had was just too bright. This might be the final flight suit fabric, it might not... I'm going to try and perfect my pattern making muslins first... making pants aren't my strong suit, let alone attaching it to a bodice... with sleeves, which I also hate, but I'm fairly excited. Right now I'm patterning the pants part using a pair of old jeans I ripped apart. I'm trying to loosen them up as I don't want them skin-tight like my jeans. I bought 5 yards, it's 60" wide, I should be able to get my flight suit and flackvest (dyed darker) out of it and if I'm lucky, I might have enough left over for my cape (If I decide to make it out of twill, might be too stiff)

Bought 6 yards of $4 50" wide gray twill to make my mock up... $14.40 after 40% discount...

-Update 05/11/08 - I finished my flightsuit save the pant hems, I haven't found my boots yet. I had to do many bodice drafts because I'm not good at patterning sleeves yet, but I finally got a workable version. See pics below. I also did up my basic helmet concept in Illustrator.