Tusken Bandoliers

Bandoliers

To create my bandoliers, I used some vinyl “leather look” I had found at a fabric store on a remnants table.  I don’t know what it was or what it was used for, but it looked fairly good for what it was.  You could use a thin leather to do the same thing.

I used a reference picture (which I has since lost) of one of the screen used bandoliers.  They were “British Pattern 1903 Leather Bandoliers” and you can find pictures of them around the internet.  After some experimenting with my favorite prototyping tool, Brown Paper Bag, I was able to come up with a pattern that looked pretty good.  You can check Parts of Star Wars for pictures, they say they are from Episode 1.  If you’re making a screen accurate replica, be prepared to pay a lot, I wasn’t able to afford it, so I went with “good enough”.

Sewing them together was pretty simple, I would recommend trying a couple with paper, or scrap fabric till you get it.  The way I did, the pouch forms it’s own sleeve for the belts I used to complete the whole thing.

Step 1. Sew the wings together like in this picture below.

Step 2. Flatten the wings like so, and press the edges down to make it more flat.

Step 3. Fold it to form the bottom and loop for the belt.  Make sure that the sides are not showing around the edges.

Step 4. Use the sewing machine to sew down the back top edge.  It’s pretty easy to pull back front top edge to get your sewing machine foot in side.

Step 5. Fold the top flap over, and press it down.  Voila! Pouch.  I also added some snaps to keep it closed.  I chose the antique looking colored ones to fit with the theme of used/beaten/worn.

Not perfectly screen accurate at all, but on a budget they worked out pretty well.  No one has ever commented on them, and I got accepted into the 501st with no comment on them.

Finished two sets, and attached them to leather belts I found at thrift stores.  One for the waist, and one over the shoulder.

Badger