So you want to make your own Rey cosplay? You’ve come to the right place!

First, take a look at how I built Rey’s staff and created her base outfit. Once you’re up to speed, let’s go into those “extra” pieces that make Rey’s costume so recognizable.

Tabards

To start, I had a bunch of gray gauze left over from my first version of Rey, so I figured if I just made them a little more brown, I could match everything.

Oh how wrong I was.

Not only did I not get the colors right, but I also mismeasured the fabric I had left. After I’d spent two full days of unemployment dyeing gauze with different mixes of dye, tea, and coffee, I tried them on and realized I needed about 2 more feet to get the length right:

At that point I had dyed everything so much that I wouldn’t have been able to get that color again in a million years, so I decided to start from scratch with a fresh batch of white gauze that I could dye to the perfect colors – and cut long enough to reach the right length.

Once I had them dyed and measured properly – again with a mix of different dyes and tea and coffee – I did some ninja stitching that ended up saving me TONS of time and fidgeting attached them to the shirt at the shoulders.

You see; so much of Rey’s look is strategically placing those stupid tabards in the right spot so they look effortless, but let me tell you – there is a LOT of effort involved in getting them just right!

First I gathered the fabric at the shoulders and sewed them through with a few gathering stitches. To get them the right width, I threaded the needle and thread through the whole width then scrunched it up on my shoulder while looking in the mirror, and tied off the thread at the right width.

After the shoulders were shirred, I then draped everything at the right length and direction, then added a few stitches at the shoulder. This makes it easy to get in and out of the shirt and keeps me from having to re-affix them every time I get dressed.

Lastly, I put the whole thing on – belts and all – and fidgeted and futzed with the wraps until they laid just right. Then I sneakily safety pinned the spot where the fabric criss-crosses in the front and where they nearly connect in the back. The catch with these: the pins are hidden by the belts!

Once they were on, I finished them with some weathering courtesy of my trusty eyeshadow weathering technique I learned while working on the shirt. And I even mopped up some eyeshadow spills with pieces of tabard for the uneven splotchy look with some success too! The fun thing about Rey’s outfit is that it doesn’t need to stay CLEAN!

Arm Wraps

Yet another great thing about the Rey Cosplay Community on Facebook is that it’s international – meaning those UK Reys get all the good Boots wraps!

These are apparently the screen accurate wraps that Daisy Ridley wore in the films, and I have to admit: they are pretty badass and accurate.

To get them to look right, I discovered a tip from another Rey: Take Dollar Store knee high pantyhose and cut the toes out, then use them as makeshift compression sleeves which you tucked the edge of each wrap into and wind down the arm to the wrist then tuck the edge in.

While other Reys have used two wraps on each arm or cut one in half for more layers, I found success with just one wrap on each arm, with minimal gapping or slippage. The pantyhose act as a kind of grippy liner but don’t choke the life out of my not-very-toned bicep or create that unpleasant sausage-casing look that a full on compression sleeve would do to me.

Once they’re wrapped, I then take the same approach to weathering them as I did my shirt and tabards: a bunch of eyeshadow and a big brush. This ends up coating the edges just right. While I have to go back each time and re-apply the weathering, it actually adds to the rough and tumble kind of feel of the whole thing. Win-win!

Next, we’ll take a look at how I finished my Rey with the 4 B’s: bracer, belts, boots and butt bag!