If you know anything about our family it is we LOVE Star Wars. Little Red’s newborn pictures were Star Wars themed, his room is Star Wars themed, we are just big fans of the movies. Since Disneyland opened Galaxy’s Edge last year that is pretty much where you can find us when we go to the parks. Little Red has been asking me for years to make him Luke’s black outfit from Return of the Jedi; back then I didn’t have a sewing machine let alone even know where to start. Fast forward a couple of years and a couple of sewing projects completed I am finally going to make his little dreams come true. I love that he thinks I can make anything though; he truly challenges me to try new things.
I searched high and low for a pattern on line for Luke’s Return of the Jedi costume but I didn’t find anything I liked. Other bloggers were using existing shirts they had but I didn’t have anything to use. One glorious day I found Blank Slate Patterns and their Prepster Pullover pattern was near perfect for what I had imagined Luke’s costume to look like; with some minor adjustments. To complete Luke’s outfit I used black pants we already had, I bought the black boots from Target ( I wasn’t able to find tall boots for kids like Luke wears but we have these boots in brown and my son loves them), and I bought the black Jedi belt from Galaxy’s Edge.
Products used:
- Prepster Pullover pattern from Blank Slate Patterns
- Scissors
- Tape
- Paper
- Pen
- Tailors Chalk
- Ruler
- Black fabric
- Black Thread
- Light Grey fabric
- Interfacing
- Velcro Sticky Back for Fabrics
- Black Hook and Eyes Size 2
- Sewing machine
- Black Pants (we used Cat and Jack chino pants)
- Black Boots (we used Cat and Jack Cowboy boots)
- Jedi Belt from Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge
Let’s get started!
Before you start remember to wash your fabric to allow for any shrinking and iron your fabric before starting.
Step 1: Purchase and print out the pattern from Blank Slate Patterns. Follow her instructions exactly on printing out the pattern. I had to actually download Adobe Reader (it’s free) for my pattern to be the correct size. When you have printed the pattern you will need to cut along the grey lines to match the circles and letters together. Tape all the pages together. I found it helpful to highlight the size I wanted so when I cut it out I wouldn’t accidentally cut the wrong line.
Step 2: Pin the patterns to your fabric and cut them out. You will not need the pocket or button tab patterns. Before you cut out the collar you are going to make a small adjustment; instead of having a round collar you are going to make it have a sharp corner like the picture below.
Step 3: Mark all the wrong sides of all the pieces with a small “x”; after awhile all the black pieces look alike and it gets really hard to tell which is the right side and which is the wrong side.
Step 4: After you have all your pieces and interfacing cut out, follow the instructions from Blank Slate Patterns starting with the Placket.
Step 5: You will skip the pocket part of the tutorial and move onto the Back Pleat and Yoke steps.
Step 6: Follow the steps for the Shoulder Seams. Moment of truth, I really struggled with the shoulder seams. I actually had to have my husband help me because I just couldn’t wrap my head around how step 2 and 3 for the pattern was suppose to work.
Step 7: Follow the next steps for the Sleeves.
Step 8: For this next step you are going to set the shirt aside and jump ahead to the Collar section of the tutorial. Before you trim the seam in step 1 of Blank Slate Pattern’s tutorial you are going to cut a straight line in the top two corners of the collar so when you turn it right side out your edges will be nice and sharp. Then proceed to trim the rest of the seam and follow the rest of the steps for the collar. If this is your first time making a collar my biggest suggestion is to take your time with these steps. This was my first time making any type of collar and sewing it to a shirt and I will admit I messed up several times.
The corners trimmed. 
Step 9: Next you are going to put a pin in the tutorial from Blank Slate Patterns (hehe; did you catch that pun?) and we are going to make the flap that will go in front of the costume. I had my son put the Prepster Pullover on so I could measure where I wanted the flap to go. For my son I wanted it about 1/2” below the bottom of the collar; mark it with tailors chalk.
Step 10: Next we are going to measure the length of the flap; you want to make sure to leave enough room for the hem at the bottom of the shirt. I wanted mine to be 12”. Now you are going to measure the width of the flap; mine came out to 5 3/4” wide.
Step 11: Tape two (ore more) pieces of tape together and draw the measurements on the paper; this will be your pattern for the flap.
Step 12: Pin the pattern to the gray material and cut it out. Set that aside.
Step 13: Grab your black material and pin the pattern to it. With your tailors chalk and ruler mark 1/2” from the edge of the pattern all the way around. Connect all the marks you made and cut it out. It should look like the picture below.
Step 14: Now with your iron, ruler, and black fabric (right side facing down) you are going to fold the edges in 1/4”. Start with the long edges then move on to the shorter edges. Place the grey fabric right side up on top of the black fabric. Starting with one of the long sides; fold the black fabric in towards the gray fabric then fold it 1/4” in again towards the gray fabric so this creates a nice border (see picture below for reference). Pin in place and sew. Tie and trim the thread; then press and continue with the other long side, then the two shorter sides (see pictures below for reference).
Fold and iron 1/4″ in towards the wrong side of the fabric. 
This is what it should look like when all the sides have been ironed in 1/4″. 
Lay the gray fabric in with the right side facing you and fold that 1/4″ in 
Fold it 1/4″ in again so it creates a nice clean border. 
Pin the right long end first. 
Sew 
Pin and sew the left side next. 
Then you will pin and sew the small sides last. 
It should look like this when you are done.
Step 15: Next we are going to attach the flap to the front side of the top. Lay the top on your work area flat making sure the shoulder seam are even. Place the flap with the gray side down where you marked earlier; for me it was 1/2” below the bottom of the collar. Pin the right top corner of the flap in place making sure you are only pinning the front of the shirt. Then pin the rest of the flap like the picture shown below. The two pins by the top right corner is my start point and the two pins by the bottom left corner is my stopping point. Your starting point and stopping point will differ from mine since we are making different sizes; but you want to leave enough room for the flap to go down but also you still want your child to be able to fit their head inside the neck hole. The pineapple buttons are for reference for where your velcro will go. Sew the flap to the front using the seam of the flap as your guide.
Step 16: Now it’s time to head back to Blank Slate Pattern’s tutorial to finish Luke’s shirt. You are going to go to the Button Tabs and Sleeve Plackets part of the tutorial; skip down to step 5 since we are not doing the button tabs. This was my first time sewing plackets and it took me several times to get it right; so take your time and be patient with this step!
Step 17: Move to the Side Seam part of BSP’s tutorial.
Step 18: Next you are going to finish the sleeves with the cuff part of BSP’s tutorial
Step 19: Now go to the Finishing part of BSP’s tutorial; you will only be doing step 1.
Step 20: I didn’t like the look of the buttons to keep the cuffs and center of Luke’s shirt in place so I chose to use sticky back velcro for the center of Luke’s shirt and hooks and eyes for the cuff. Lay your shirt flat and move the flap to the side so the gray part is showing. Place two velcro pieces (I used the soft half of the velcro) on the center of Luke’s shirt and another piece of velcro on the collar (mine happened to over lap; if your collar doesn’t over lap then skip the third piece of velcro). Next place the other half of the velcro (the scratchy one) on top of the smooth velcro you just put on. Carefully line up the center of Luke’s shirt and press firmly to ensure it adheres to the fabric. Let the velcro “cure” for 24 hours before you use it.
Step 21: Next we are going to velcro the flap using the same steps in step 20. I added a piece of velcro to the black side of the flap to keep it down as well.
You have just made Luke Skywalker’s shirt from Return of the Jedi, just pair it with some black pants, boots, and belt and you/ your little one will be ready to rule the galaxy! Thank you for following along and be sure to subscribe to our page to get notifications on all our new DIY projects. Be sure to tag us on Instagram of your own Luke Skywalker inspired costume, I love seeing your creations!
