For all the information below, I mainly addressed making Ahsoka's boots, however the arm guards are made exactly the same way, just with changes to the shape. Toward the bottom of the page there's information about Ahsoka's buckles on her arm guards and boots. All of this information came from an email I sent to a fellow Ahsoka fangirl who asked me about them, so feel free to email me at becomingahsoka@gmail.com if you have any questions!
My own boots and arm guards are still a work in progress! I tried one method which I will describe below that didn't work at all, but I've learned from it and now know (I think) how to go about it the right way!
Ahsoka's boots are made of two parts: the shoe part and the "gaiter" part. I had always heard the upper or "gaiter" part of Ahsoka's boots referred to as "spats," but I later found out that the term gaiter is in fact correct. Basically, the upper boot cover.
Now that I have utterly confused you, I'll tell you what I tried to do for my boots that didn't work and then I'll tell you what I plan to do differently.
I started out trying to make a pattern by stapling together pieces of printer paper and then taping and cutting it around my leg to make a pattern. With some trial and MUCH error, I finally got an ok pattern. There is a muchhhhh easier method of doing the pattern making that I will get into below, but that was my problem #1 with my first boots attempt: I had a pattern that didn't fit right.
I decided to do the support of my boots out of yoga mat foam, based on another tutorial I read. I bought a yellow yoga mat from Walmart and then decided to cover that in a brown vinyl leather-like material from Hobby Lobby. I know that Ahsoka's boots are really a shade of reddish-brown, however I couldn't find any vinyl that was a close enough color. Disney's Ahsoka uses more of a shade of brown, so that's part of why I decided to just go with that.
Because I used paper to draft my pattern, it didn't conform to the shape of my leg at all, so I ended up with a tube-like shape, which I really didn't want. The second problem was that the mat foam was too thick and dense, so the sewing machine wouldn't cleanly sew the leather vinyl to the mat. That left hot glue as the only option I could think of. Cutting the vinyl and getting it to wrap around the mat was so difficult and then the hot glue just peeled off from the mat. It was a mess. I tried to make my arm guards with all the same steps as above and those pretty much failed too.
So, I did some more research and shopped for different materials and I think I've come up with an ok way to go about Ahsoka's boots this time. The first change I'm going to make is to draft an all new pattern. The fit of the boots was the main reason I decided to trash them, though it wasn't the only reason. The best way to draft a pattern off your body shape is the duck tape method, something I didn't know about when I first tried making Ahsoka. Cosplay is so much trial and error and learning through your errors! I did some research and found this tutorial by Jen Thompson on her blog, Festive Attyre that walks you through step by step to drafting a pattern for gaiters. The tutorial is for victorian style gaiters, but you just need to make the necessary modifications for Ahsoka when you draw on your shape. I love their suggestion to make a mockup out of felt, as it is sturdy enough to get a feel for how your final pattern will work (and it's really cheap!).
Another problem I've had when thinking about Ahsoka's boots and arm guards is a way to securely fasten them. Velcro isn't very strong for boots and sticks out too far if you buy the tougher stuff. Same problem with snaps, they stick out. I've been meaning to ask cosplayer Victoria Schmidt how she closes her boots, but I haven't messaged her yet. I asked Ashley Eckstein how her boots closed, since she has a pair of Ahsoka boots like the ones Ahsoka wears in Disney. She said they close with snaps, but depending on the material you use for your boot support structure, it might be tricky to get the snaps to "sink in" to the foam enough to not stick out, if that makes sense.
As for a change in materials, I found this thin foam at my local fabric store, Hancock Fabrics, that I'm going to try and use as the base this time around. I believe it is mainly used as the ceiling in cars; it has that feel to it. It's not a dense, spongy foam like the yoga mat was, but just a thin, lightweight foam with a fabric backing on both sides. Slightly thicker foam than you find in your typical store-bought fashion boots, but still much thinner than my old yoga mat. It's easy to sew through, which will allow me to add curved seams to the back of my boots that I couldn't do when I was trying to use the foam. The instructions for the seams are in the duct tape tutorial above. But I think finding that magic foam material is critical for these boots, even if you have to look online. I recently think I found the foam online from Fabric.com! I suggest getting a sample first, however, just to make sure it's the right kind of material.
For the exteriorbuckles on Ahsoka's boots, I read that Victoria Schmidt cast her buckles out of resin. When I first read that, I immediately thought that resin casting was out of my ability. However when a Hobby Lobby opened up in our area, I found a resin casting kit there for about $20 with a coupon. The kit included the silicon needed to make the mold as well as the two-part resin to make the copies. I was super excited, because previously I thought I was going to have to sculpt all 16 buckles by hand.
The casting kit has all the instructions inside the box on how to make the mold and everything, which was super helpful! I made a perfect buckle out of clay, made a silicon mold with the silicon from the kit, and then used the 2 part resin in the kit to make copies. Made those buckles super easy. I just threw away my resin since I'd had it for over a year and a half (shows how long my Ahsoka costume has been on standby XD), but I've thought about selling casts of my buckles through Etsy if people are interested. But I would say that resin is definitely the way to go about all those buckles for sure. It sounds overwhelming, but the kit I bought comes with really good instructions on making molds and such.
I hope this helps!If you have any other questions, feel free to email me and I will answer any question you have! becomingahsoka@gmail.com
