Tabards Research

In regards to Obi-Wan's tabards, one of the main things about his tabards that make them a bit different than most of the other jedi costumes, is that while they extend past the obi and skirt of his outer tunic in the front, they do not in the back like Anakin's and others.  Instead, Obi-Wan's tabards end at his obi in the back.

In the Simplicity 4450 pattern, the tabards extend below the obi in both front and back, but this is easy enough to adjust.  The pattern also calls for a shoulder seam on the tabards, which I will be drafting out of the pattern, because from pictures, it's obvious that Obi-Wan's tabards do not have seams at the shoulder, and look a whole lot better without a seam there anyway.

The Simplicity 4450 pattern also calls for the front of the tabards to be all one piece, but with a curve at the waist.  However, this also seems to be incorrect for Obi-Wan's tabards.  His tabards appear to also have a waist seam in the front under the obi.  If you look at the grain of the fabric on his tabards both above and below the obi, you can see that the grain of the fabric runs parallel with the edge of the tabards both above and below the obi.  Meaning, they have to be cut out as two separate pieces and attached with a waist seam, since the grain of the fabric wouldn't curve like that.  And if you were to cut the tabards out with a curve in them like the pattern calls for, the grain of the fabric would run parallel to the edge of the tabards below the obi, and run on a diagonal above the obi.

So I will definitely be redrafting the tabard pattern.  It needs to be a little narrower for my shoulders, since it's a men's pattern.  I'm going to make the pieces that run from the back of the obi and over the shoulders to the front of the obi be one piece to eliminate the shoulder seam.  And I'll definitely be cutting the bottom part of the tabards out separate and attaching them to the rest of the tabard with a waist seam.  And you definitely need some kind of a waist seam or dart or something under the obi in the front anyway, so the tabards hang nicely parallel to each other below the obi.

Instead of hanging with the "x-factor" look.

Another thing I noticed about Obi-Wan's tabards, is that they do overlap each other ever so slightly in the front at the obi.



As well as in the back just above the obi.

It also looks like his tabards extend a wee bit further past the hem of his outer tunic in Revenge of the Sith than they did in Attack of the Clones.



One more detail I was curious about, was whether there was actually a seam at the base of the tabards in the front, or was the fabric simply cut on the fold and only had seams along the sides.  Yes, this is a stupidly minor detail, but hey, I can't help it, I'm trying to get this as close to correct as I can.  So for the heck of it, I started flipping through all the reference pics I have saved of his costume, and I didn't have to go very far before I got my answer.  Yes, his tabards have a seam at the bottom.

So I think that's all the details I've noticed so far, so on to making the tabard mockups.

"You don't want to sell me death sticks.....

You want to go home and rethink your life....."

- Obi-Wan Kenobi  (Attack of the Clones)